6/5/09

Cupcakes-o-plenty!

I had a cupcake lesson the other night and my students did a great job making beautiful cupcakes. Here are just a few from Connie, Paula and Regina.







It seems cupcakes are all the rage now-a-days. I mean everybody’s into making cupcakes and hey, why not! They are perfect pint size treats that can adapt to any occasion. Cupcakes aren’t just for bringing in to your kids class anymore. People are having cupcake wedding cakes! It’s not very traditional but doesn’t it sound like a great idea?
Ambiebride.com showed this lovely "wedding" cake on their site, calling cupcake wedding cakes an affordable alternative. I am not sure I agree with that because as a baker and a decorator, it all depends on what the bride wants and what it will take to produce the end result. Afterall, depending on the design alone, icing/decorating 250 cupcakes versus a cake serving 250 is a completely different thing.

Martha has been very busy on the web lately promoting the art of cupcaking since the infamous media mogul just released a brand new book on cupcakes. Check out her site for some truly amazing pictures of the Cupcake challenge at Martha Stewart Living Radio: open only to folks on Sirius XM! radio. I almost hate to share this as I want to steal all their ideas but the cuteness and cleverness of the ideas is so awesome I am bursting to show everyone! Let me know what you think by posting a comment.
In addition to Martha’s new book on cupcakes, which I haven’t managed to get my hands on yet, there are two other books that I think are great cupcake books

First is the "The Cake Mix Doctor, Cupcakes". Her technique is very simple and she spells it all out. Use a ready made cake mix, any brand you like and add the ingredients she suggests, bake it and you will have some amazing flavor combinations with the frosting pairings she suggests. The second book I love is, "Hello Cupcake!" by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson. The author completely floored me with her creativity and using only ready made ingredients to decorate cupcakes with anything from sharks, sunflowers or an incredible cupcake cake decorated to look practically dead on like a Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”. I laughed out loud, chuckling and snorting like a child, unconscious of being in a public place when I starting leafing through this book. I hear her vanilla cupcake recipe is the best!

Check out the book carousel on the right side of this page if you are interested in purchasing any of the books I’ve mentioned.
Here is an example of Karen's creativity, just in time for all those graduation parties. She used Mallomars(YUM!), Andes mints, red licorice and phyllo dough(ready made in the freezer section of most chain grocery stores).

I can hardly wait for her next book!

One last batch of cuteness before I sign off for the day.
Love it!


1 comment:

Tracy Sang said...

Ok Loveing these!! It would of been great for my daughter's "TeaParty" birthday party! You have to tell me how these are made!