175 Inspired Ideas for Everyone's Favorite Treat - Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

The photography is about the best part of the book. If you're looking for ultra-fancy recipes with somewhat complicated decoration, then this is the cupcake book for you. I found maybe a handful of recipes I'd like to try. Most of the recipes yield odd quantities. Last I checked, most muffin tins are in multiples of 6. Most of the decorations are WAY too elaborate. The majority of recipes suggest applying the topping immediately before serving, which won't be practical for most people. Regret this addition to my cookbook library.

I received my item in great condition and am very pleased with the excellent value from the store.com! The book is in perfect condition and came in a timely manner from when I ordered it. I am very happy with this purchase!

I made three different kinds of cupcakes and one frosting for my daughter's Baby Shower. Each one was delicious! Couldn't decide which was my favorite because they were all soooooo good! Photos oustanding as well.

First recipe I tried was a total disappointment. The chai tea cupcake was so dry and hard. Upon reviewing the recipe again, I noticed that there was not enough liquids in the recipe. One would think maybe the recipes may not taste good, I would never thought something that would actually not work!!!

Purchased both of Martha's books, cookies and cupcakes, and love both of them. The recipes are easy to read and the pictures add something extra to the recipes. And the prices were great. Could not have found them cheaper anywhere else.

I bought this for my sister for her birthday. She loves it. I've looked through it as well and I can truly appreciate that Martha Stewart is the queen of all things domestic. There are some really cool recipe ideas in here, as well as some classics.

I am delighted to have received my Cupcakes book so quickly - good work the store.
The presentation of this publication is excellent - just like its sister the Cookies book.
Family and friends are very happy with my exploration into these two books.
Many thanks.

I really love this book, recipes are perfect and they taste better. I already made 4 or 5 recipes and also made some combinations by myself.
For sure I'm going to continue trying until I finish the book.

5 stars for Martha Stewart's Cupcake book.

I really love this book. Lots of Great color pics and ideas for presenting these amazing cupcakes. I refer to this book even when I just want ideas for presenting baked goods for parties and for friends. Highly recommend it.

I bought this book for my brother for Christmas since he loves baking. We chose the red velvet as our first recipe and we ended up having two trays of sunken cupcakes instead of those that matched the pretty picture on the front of the book. We followed all of the ingredients to spec so it was not a mistake that they turned out this way. After much reading I discovered it could be fixed with a substitution of the baking soda instead of the baking powder (as the recipe calls for). I have not tried it yet but I expected not to have to tamper with recipes when I bought this book. Overall though, lots of great ideas within and has some fun decoration tips as well.

I bought this book for my brother for Christmas since he loves baking. We chose the red velvet as our first recipe and we ended up having two trays of sunken cupcakes instead of those that matched the pretty picture on the front of the book. We followed all of the ingredients to spec so it was not a mistake that they turned out this way. After much reading I discovered it could be fixed with a substitution of the baking soda instead of the baking powder (as the recipe calls for). I have not tried it yet but I expected not to have to tamper with recipes when I bought this book. Overall though, lots of great ideas within and has some fun decoration tips as well.

What I expect from Martha: lots of practical, detailed information, with well-tested recipes - some simple and quick, others tremendously involved and over-the-top. Each of the ten recipes I've tried so far have gotten rave reviews.

. . .this is an amazing book. The ideas are fantastic, very innovative, and really creative decorating. The fact that I cannot stand the woman and could get past it to give this 5 stars tells you a lot.

I just threw this book away. I have now prepared four of the cupcake recipes. All were dreadful. Very dry and nearly tasteless. I do not believe that ANYONE had tested the recipes that I tried. The topping for the Streusel Cupcakes was so dry and flour-y that they were inedible. Luckily I had made only a half batch. I ate half of one and gave the rest to the chipmunks. They seemed pleased. Unfortunately, I prefer a recipe that can be enjoyed by humans. DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!

Cupcakes. Cuppies. Mini-cakes. Cake-shrimpies. Some of the names that have been given to this delicious little confection that are perfect anytime and anywhere and which somehow make us think that they are the perfect diet dessert as well because after all, they're so small!

This book contains many ideas and recipes collected over the years of the MSL magazine and programs along with some new and exciting offerings. Another wonderful treat within this book is that the reader is not limited just to the generic "cupcake" batter itself; there are some fabulous directions that take you to cupakes, mini-cupcakes, and cheesecakes, just to name a few, that let you think outside the typical cupcake box.

And once you are comfortable with making the treats, then you are given some of the most elegant or fun or whimsical ways of decorating these confections: piping techniques, chocolate, fondant, spun sugar (this was a FABULOUS presentation idea that is not at all difficult to achieve; wait until you see the photo!). Cupcake decorating is also a really great way of spending some fun times with kids; the section for Halloween is a blast and the steps to making those cupcakes are all laid out step-by-step so even the wee ones will have fun! For the more grown up occasions, there are pretty floral cupcakes that will make your guests really "oooh and aaahhh" over your creations. The holidays are aptly given attention with decorating-appropriate themed cupcakes with cookies and sprinkles, and piping. Regardless of the occasion, there are bountiful idea's for you to use or adjust, that will match the theme of your party.

From the Domestic Diva herself comes her compilation of 175 ideas, recipes, and presentation for this all-American treat. The book offers cupcakes that range from plain and simple to decadent and elegant; it's up to you how creative you're feeling that day!

Size-wise, it's a smaller book than most but it's very heavy both in weight and photographs; the close-up, detailed photographs, which are a hallmark of Martha's, are perfect.

This is a wonderful way to make single-serving, unique, and tasty desserts that you can serve without fussing with plates, knives, forks, etc.

As per usual Martha standards, there are excellent recipes, detailed directions, and absolutely pristine photography; that's always a given with her and you have to appreciate that as it is necessary when creating some of these confections. There are 8 sections of cupcakes with assorted recipes and ideas per each area.

INTRODUCTION

SWIRLED and SPRINKLED: chocolate chip cupcakes, carrot cupcakes, yellow buttermilk cupcakes, coconut cupcakes (light and fluffy!), red velvet cupcakes, rhubarb cupcakes with whipped cream, Devil's food cupcakes, chocolate malted cupcakes, tiramisu cupcakes (forget counting calories!), banana-pecan cupcakes, blueberries and cream cupcakes, zucchini-spice cupcakes, mocha cupcakes, tres leches cupcakes, date-nut mini cupcakes, ginger and molasses cupcakes, applesauce-spice cupcakes, peanut butter and jelly cupcakes.

DIPPED and GLAZED: brown sugar cupcakes, streusel cupcakes, triple citrus cupcakes, coconut-pecan cupcakes with chocolate ganache, iced pistachio cupcakes, pumpkin-brown butter cupcakes, apricot-glazed black and white cheesecakes, Mrs. Kostyra's spice cupcakes, sticky toffee cupcakes, stout cupcakes, chai-tea mini cupcakes , chocolate-spice cupcakes, coconut rum-raisin cupcakes, and lavender-iced cupcakes.

SIMPLE and SWEET: marble cupcakes, tiny cherry and almond tea cakes, cookie cupcakes (chocolate chunk, peanut butter, and oatmeal raisin), raspberry marble cheesecakes, blondie cupcakes, blackberry-cornmeal cupcakes, cookie and cream cheesecakes, pistachio-raspberry tea cakes, flourless chocolate cupcakes (attention all celiacs and gluten-sensitive folks), and allergen-free chocolate cupcakes.

FILLED and LAYERED: Boston cream pie cupcakes (mercy!), strawberry jam teacakes, peanut butter filled chocolate cupcakes, Martha's Meyer Lemon cupcakes, mint-filled brownie cupcakes, lemon yogurt cupcakes with raspberry jam, german chocolate cupcakes, meringue cupcakes with berry compote, amaretto-pineapple cupcakes, jumbo cream filled chocolate cupcakes, and Black Forest cupcakes.

PIPED and TOPPED: snickerdoodle cupcakes, roasted banana cupcakes, lemon meringue cupcakes, orange-vanilla bean cupcakes, strawberry cupcakes, chocolate salted-caramel mini cupcakes, s'mores cupcakes, one-bowl chocolate cupcakes with gumdrops, white cupcakes with pastel buttercream peaks, and mint chocolate cupcakes.

BIRTHDAYS: dotted letter cupcakes, gelato topped mini cupcakes, By-The-Sea Cupcakes (sand dollar, starfish, fish, shark and sand dune), ladybug cupcakes, buttercream blossom cupcakes, flower power cupcakes, cookies monogram cupcakes, mini-menagerie cupcakes (pig, mouse, monkey lion), dinosaur cupcakes, game day cupcakes (home run, match point, slam dunk), pretzel topped cupcakes, beetle and butterfly cupcakes, coconut chick cupcakes, clown cupcakes, ice cream cone cupcakes, flock of sheep cupcakes, maple-sweetened carrot cupcakes, cupcake caterpillar.

HOLIDAYS: New Years clock cupcakes, Valentines cupcakes, St. Patricks Day cupcakes, springerle Easter Buny cupcakes, Easter-egg cupcakes, chocolate walnut cupcakes for Passover, Mother's Day Hummingbird cupcakes, Father's Day tee-time cupcakes, 4th of July cupcakes, creepcakes, wicked witch cupcakes, candy ghoul cupcakes toppers, pumpkin patch cupcakes, marshmallow turkey cupcakes, maple cupcakes, candied sweet potato cupcakes, sparkly Star of David cupcakes, gingerbread cupcakes with cookie cutouts, fruitcakes with meringue mushrooms, candy Christmas cupcake toppers, wreath cupcakes.

CELEBRATIONS: monogram heart cupakes, nesting baby bluebird cupcakes (perfect for a baby shower), piped shells and pearls cupcakes, meringue bouquet cupcakes, chrysanthemum cupcakes, graduation day cupcakes, fresh flower topped pound cakes, sunflower cupcakes, honey bee cupcakes, almond hazelnut cupcakes with faux-bois toppers (very cool way with chocolate), strawberry basket cupcakes, piped buttercream rose cupcakes, candied hazelnut cupcakes, spun-sugar crowned cupcakes (this would be a spectacular presentation at any party, even a fancy one!).

THE BASICS: If there was a chapter that should be a required reading, then this wouold be it. This covers the entire spectrum within this book, of what you need to start cupcake decorating. It will also set a good foundation in which you could build upon with other cupcake decorating books and skills. You get a description of what dry and wet ingredients are needed, the tools for baking, the tools and candy embellishments used for these projects, how to use a piping bag, working with fondant and marzipan (these are such great mediums), pastry tips (what they are and photos of what they pipe), then all the frostings, fillings, creams, and glazes to help put your plan in action.

DISPLAYING AND GIVING: Once you've made your creations, how would you like to display them? Well, this is the section that makes it all worth is because we are visual people and to draw the eye to the work, you need imaginative and creative ways of presenting the cupcakes. This chapter accomplished that task, with what you probably already have in your home. Many of these ideas are so simple yet so strong that you realize how much impact is in their simplicity (for example, placing mini-photos glued to a toothpick in a cupcake to celebrate an anniversary or birthday, or making "handles" that turn a cupcake into a mini-basket for an Easter celebration. What about placing a simple paper scallop around a cake platter to make a dainty and delicate presentation?

TEMPLATES AND CLIP ART: The artwork used in each project for you to use by photocopying.

SOURCES: A multitude of sources for the items used throughout the book.

PHOTO CREDITS: All the wonderful and talented folks who helped bring you the visual impact of these great baking projects.

INDEX

You will not be dissapointed in this latest gift from Martha and company. The only hard part will be deciding which to make! Peace!

ADDENDUM: I just wanted to add a little variation I tried on the "Coconut Pecan Frosting" because I was running out of time and needed to move things along. I omitted the evaporated milk and brown sugar and substituted 1 can of sweetened condensed milk instead. Then I brought the mixture to a moderate boil for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly (!), until the mixture thickened to the consistency written. Ah............be still, my sweet tooth!

Looks like the 'new' condition on this item was true, but the front cover has a bit more scratching than I would have expected. It was probably a book in front of the stack that was constantly handled by customers. No matter, the gift was appreciated.

"Martha Stewart's Cupcakes" is a great buy.

Beautifully styled, like all Martha's books, it's also very practical with excellent instructions, lots of helpful tips & wonderful decorating ideas covering every occasion you could imagine.

I found the decorating ideas inspiring, & easy to carry out in the home kitchen. The instructions were clear & detailed without being overwhelming. The choices in frosting recipes had me dithering over which one to try next. The buttercream recipe is the nicest one I've ever made.

The cupcakes I've made so far are the Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes, the Ladybug Cupcakes & the Nesting Bluebird Cupcakes. The recipe for red velvet cupcakes is delicious, & I was interested to see a flourless chocolate recipe which will be very handy for gluten intolerant cupcake lovers. The cupcakes were all moist & delicious when baked.

I was able to make the recipes without altering the sugar content (in Australia, we use much less sugar in baking than is used in most American recipes) which was a nice surprise.

This really is the ultimate cupcake recipe book. It is well worth buying for anybody that enjoys baking.

I received this cookbook and Cupcakes Galore for Christmas, and to be honest I use the other book more often. I've made two recipes from this book, the banana pecan cupcakes and the chocolate peanut butter ones, and they were both very good. A lot of the other recipes look good, but what stops me from using them is the huge yield. It's not unusual for one recipe to make 36 cupcakes and be nearly impossible to scale down to a portion more appropriate for someone who lives alone. In addition, a lot of the recipes are for cheesecake or muffins disguised as cupcakes. The last nearly half of the book is dedicated to decorating, often saying the same thing over and over (Here are three pages to show how to make a pig! Now here are three for a cow, doing the same thing but with white icing!) But like I said, I've only really tried two recipes and they really were very good, so I can't give this less than three stars, despite the book's flaws.

EDIT: Made the orange vanilla bean cupcakes and they were delicious! Wish more of the book was actually recipes because they're really good.

Purchased this book because I'm a huge cupcake fan and a foodie. I use only the finest ingredients, and always love finding great recipes.

This book is not a book for stellar recipes. Something consistent among all the ones i created from this book is that they end up turning out very dense and thick-cakey. None are light. None are fluffy, and the flavour profile is very amateur.

Two specific ones I'd like to point out are the peanut butter cupcakes - they turned out just gross and thick and bland
The basic coconut cupcakes didn't even taste like coconut.. i even made a 2nd batch and added more coconut milk and flakes..

Anyhow, .. all this to say, and i am convinced of it.. that this book just has Martha Stewart's name on it, but really isn't up to the MS quality you come to expect.
Save your money and get another book. The recipes and photos themselves are presented beautifully.. but regretfully this is not a book you that you'd want to buy expecting to make cupcakes that will dazzle your friends.

quite the opposite infact.

As with all Martha Stewart's compilations, this is a collection of preexisting favourites. New recipes are usually reserved for her magazines and periodicals, so you can be sure that these are some of her most popular and proven recipes.

This book is also the perfect size, not too thick, not too thin, not too light and not too heavy. It has a generous 170+ recipes, each with Martha's signature photography. The recipes are not complicated but are also not overly simplified and most importantly the results taste and look good! A very beautiful book that is excellent for gift-giving. I also love that this book is about cupcakes and not "cutesy" cupcakes, although there is a separate section on decorating styles.

A cupcake seems to be a very North American thing and visiting friends, family and clients from Europe often ask about American desserts such as brownies, anything peanut butter and especially the cupcake. Even the snobby, elitist Viennese girlfriend of an Austrian buddy loved American cupcakes, and actually asked to be taken around to several cupcake boutiques around town. I made them the red velvet cupcake for their plane ride back to Austria as a sweet reminder of their visit and they were the envy of the other passengers.

I have made several of these recipes and each time they have been a hit both with friends from home and abroad. I just emailed the Meyer Lemon Cupcake recipe over to England for a friend's wedding and she is considering this book as a wedding favour.

I also now know what to give my family, friends and clients as a souvenir of their visit.

Admittedly I have only tried the one recipe for the Devil's Food cupcakes (i.e. chocolate cupcakes), but the results were excellent and a resounding success. I have never had such good results from a cake recipe before and the price of the book is worth it for that recipe alone. I've tried many recipes over the years and this is the first time that I could follow everything to a tee and it came out perfectly. It was easy as well. Would recommend. Can't wait to try out the other recipes.

My daughter and I tried the strawberry cupcakes today and they were delicious! Recipe was easy to follow. The Swiss Merinque Buttercream is excellent. We will be using it from now on for cupcakes! A little more labor intensive than a straight buttercream but well worth the effort. We like how the sections were divided and organized within the book, also liked the pictures.
Aug 2011..have since also tried the Red Velvet which was really good and the s'mores cupcakes...which looked fantastic but were just okay taste wise. My daughter has been baking out of this book quite a bit and finds it easy to follow and for the most part very good.

In the past cupcakes have always been viewed as childish; "Funfetti" with ready-made icing and sprinkles. Many other cupcake recipe books haven take this childhood birthday party approach to cupcakes. This book is different.

Martha Stewart's book has 175 recipes and all of them lean toward gourmet dessert. Cupcakes are perfect single-serving cakes and there is no reason that they shouldn't be beautiful and delicious. In recent years bakeries that specialize in elegant cupcakes have sprung up in New York and Washington, DC, a cupcake paradigm shift that undoubtedly influenced this book.

In addition to the plethora of delicious recipes, the book also explains decorating and preparation concepts so it's not just a book full of recipes for culinary experts. If you are an aspiring cupcaker, this book is a great starting point. I have found it to be excellent and I recommend it highly.

Another book that you should also consider is: The Cupcake Diaries: Recipes and Memories from the Sisters of Georgetown Cupcake

I have tried countless recipes for cupcakes, and these from Martha Stewart trump them all. I love that the cakes come out moist and fluffy, and the frostings are not too sweet. I've tried about half of the recipes and I swear by all of them!
I noticed the bad reviews claim that they come out dense or don't taste right- these people probably over-beat their batters and or cooked the cupcakes for too long. I've found that all ovens are different so you can't always follow the exact time in the recipe. So if you're a novice baker you may need to experiment a little if they don't come out right the first time!

There are currently three items here in the store that are all this same book. I recommend reading the reviews of the other matching items, because there aren't any reviews on this one yet, and the reviews are worth reading. I can't really recommend this cookbook. I at least expected that each recipe would be reasonably yummy. They weren't. I made the chocolate devils food cupcakes. I expected rich and dark - like devil's food. It wasn't rich, or particularly moist - not even that chocolatey. Tonight I made the Chai Latte Mini Cupcakes, and they're a little boring. If I'm going to take the time to make cupcakes, and spend some of my fats and sugars quota to eat some of them, I want them to be Really Good. What this book may turn out to be good for is the creative ideas and presentations. There is a ton of inspiration in this book. If I make any more cupcakes, though, I'm going to add more of certain ingredients to make them richer, moister, ... tastier. I had the same reaction as another reviewer - I wondered how much they really tested these recipes.