Review: Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

Okay, it will come as a surprise to absolutely no one, that I shed a little tear of excitement when I caught wind of Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book. Her Cookies book is probably the most used cookbook on my shelf -- it's design is a work of genius and the recipes are beyond delicious. Cupcakes sticks to the same basic formula -- big pictures, one recipe per page, and a smart breakdown of sections. I have yet to try any recipes, but I think it's a reasonable assumption that they're all going to be amazing. I don't always trust the MS people on entrees (Everyday Cooking has steered me wrong plenty of times), but when it comes to baked goods, they're pretty consistent.

So. Cupcakes don't take to this particular book form ask well as cookies do, but this book is still pretty awesome. Since there's only so much you can do with a cupcake (unlike cookies, which can take many forms, these are all essentially tiny cakes in cups, right? So, the latter sections in the book, the special occasion cupcakes, are basically just decorating variations (which I can't really be bothered with), but there are still more cupcake varieties in here than I could ever dream up.

The recipes start off with your classic cake with buttercream frosting jobs (why mess with perfection?), but the MS team get really creative from there. There are loads of non-frosted cupcakes for those of us who don't want to get fussy, plus some really fun filled and layered cakes for those of us who do. I'm particularly interested in things like Tiramisu Cupcakes, Sticky Toffee Pudding Cupcakes, Stout Cupcakes, and Peanut Butter-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes. Oh, and Mint-Filled Brownie Cupcakes. And Lemon Meringue Cupcakes. And Chocolate Salted-Caramel Mini Cupcakes.

So, you get the point. I can't see myself jumping in to this the same way I did with cookies, because how many cupcakes can a girl eat (especially when, like me, she's trying to lose a few pounds)? Plus they are a bit of a pain to make, compared to cookies at least. But you can expect to see a few cakes on these pages soon. Mmmm.