Rux Martin/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt What's New, Cupcake?: Ingeniously Simple Designs for Every Occasion

Fun loving cupcake designs to keep you and your kids entertained. Has something for every occasion and different ideas to help with your own.

Genauso süss wie das andere Buch von den Autoren - sehr praktische Tipps, um mit einfachen Mitteln große Wirkungen zu erzielen. Niedlich und für Tüftler mit ruhigem Händchen geeignet. Allerdings sind die Verzierungen "sehr englisch" - mit anderen Worten etwas kitschig. Also für Englandliebhaber oder Liebhaber englischer Kuchen genau richtig. ;-)

I enjoy this book immensely and find the recipes to be very creative. Anyone else who whines that the recipes are cute to look at but inedible should stick to their boring cake recipe and frosting duo. I can tell you right now, they will never garner as much attention at a party as the recipes in this book do. The first recipe I tried from this book was the Easter eggs which requires molding eggs out of candy melts from plastic Easter eggs. After a frustrating hour of maybe getting one egg out of 8 to not break while unmolding I ended up with barely three and a half candy eggs and a pile of shattered attempts. The second recipe I tried was the "all cracked up" or the eggs on the back cover of the book. I dreaded doing egg molding again, but this time I came with several ideas and they worked!! So, I'm passing along my ideas so they can maybe help someone else who ran into the same problems I did. First, I filled the inside of the eggs with the candy melts and then used a brush to cover up the bare spots. A knife or spoon will not work because they scrape the sides. Don't be stingy with the candy melts. If the candy is spread too thin it will shatter. If I could see the color of the egg clearly through the candy I would add more. Using a plastic squeezable bottle I would spread an excess layer of candy melts along the inside edge of the plastic egg on one side. After it chills this layer will harden and create an overextended "lip" of candy to grip with your fingers so you have a place to grip and won't create so much pressure on the sides and shatter the candy in the egg I put the molds in the freezer simply because I was too impatient for the fridge. I'm not sure if that changed anything, but they were very hard when I took them out. Next came the unmolding which was always a challenge because even with the plastic eggs greased that candy would not come out no matter how much you tapped the top or pull from the inside of the egg. So, I tried a different approach. While still cold from the freezer I took a hair dryer and used it on the outside of the egg. It only takes seconds and you need to evenly distribute the hot air on all sides (not underside obviously) otherwise you'll melt the candy. Exerting careful pressure and gripping the "lip" you created the egg will easily slip out. If it won't, heat it up a little more. With this technique I had none break which was a certain change from my experience with the previous recipe. The end result was amazing with candy eggs that when served in the egg cartons made many guests assume that they were real eggs. I will certainly do this recipe again and I hope that these hints will help someone not give up on the "egg" recipes

Not all of us are bakers or want to spend hours and hours in the kitchen. There are tons of cookbooks with scratch recipes for cupcakes and frostings. This book plainly states that it's recipes are from mixes and store bought icing, so it's a really nice option if you want something faster than scratch. Nice selection of cupcakes for adults and kids themes, and I found the instructions pretty clear. Nice photos, and great details about what kind of candies to use, including brand names. Also has good source section for supplies. Lots of inspiration, too. For instance, the squirrel cupcakes are just a few changes away from becoming skunks, and I could see how they could just as easily become cats.

I can't recommend this book enough. Have not only got one myself but they have made awesome gifts for my baking friends. Definitely the wow factor - fun, and very good price.