Once upon a time, cupcakes were only a kid-friendly party favorite. No longer! Cupcakes are now the treat of the times, at once simple and chic. 500 Cupcakes is just that: a storehouse of recipes, written in clear instructions and appealingly packaged in bright, modern colors. 500 Cupcakes from front to back provides what bakers of all levels need to produce tempting creations. The introduction provides a comprehensive look at equipment and ingredients, plus a description of the cupcake-making process, from getting started to storing and transporting the yummy results. The collection of recipes span from classic flavors and shapes to new favorites for every style and taste including recipes for alternate diets. Each recipe is written in clear language (great for the novice baker), and every one features three variations on the basic recipe (great for the experienced baker seeking new flavors). The page design is attractive, featuring over 200 enticing pictures of cupcakes in the pan and on the serving plate 500 Cupcakes really is the only cupcake compendium you ll ever need !
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Ah the cupcake--for those who forego the conventional cake route, it's the next best thing. With alluring photography and easy ingredient and instruction listings, it makes even a non-baker want to test the waters. Look for and laugh at the Eggy Cupcakes while coveting the Sticky Toffee Pudding Cupcakes. This cookbook delivers with a cupcake for every occasion including variations on every recipe giving you loads of options. You might whine that you have nothing to wear in your closet, but in the litchen, you'll never run out of cupcake ideas. Recipe Goldmine: A++ Kitchen Credibility: A-" --On-The-Town Magazine, July 2006
About the Author
Author Fergal Connolly is a chef and food stylist in London. Fergal studied culinary arts at Scotland s Abertay University and has worked at restaurants throughout Europe and the United States. Fergal has worked on UK food magazines such as Delicious and BBC Good Food. He has also worked on the Silvana Franco High Low series of cookbooks (BBC Books) and has been a food stylist for television commercials and programs. Fergal tested all the recipes for 500 Cookies, also published by Ronnie Sellers. This is his first book.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
187 of 205 people found the following review helpful
By cheesefairy
Format:Hardcover
I just got this book today, and even though I haven't made any of the cupcakes yet, I wanted to post this review to make you aware of a few things when you're thinking of whether to buy this book. First, the majority of the recipes require self-rising flour. I don't know about you, but hardly any of the recipes in my other cookbooks require self-rising flour so either I have to buy it or convert these recipes when I use my all purpose flour, which is slightly annoying. Second, two chapters are muffin recipes. He considers muffins to be a subset of cupcakes. I consider cupcakes and muffins to be two different things. Finally, as noted in the editor's description of the book, each recipe has 3 variations (like changing the type of fruit or extract or type of chips from the main recipe). I'm assuming he's counting the variations towards the 500 total. That doesn't bother me, but maybe it matters to you. Knowing all that, I think I still would have bought this book since it's relatively inexpensive, although I would have thought about it longer. The reason why I would have still bought it is because there are many color pictures of the cupcakes, and there are a wide variety of recipes. We'll see how the recipes work when I have a chance to try them.
65 of 68 people found the following review helpful
By R. Rappaport
Format:Hardcover
Yesterday I received my long awaited copy of 500 Cupcakes (billed as "The Only Cupcake Compendium You'll Ever Need") from Amazon. Now, 500 cupcakes is a lot, and I figured a fair amount of them would be variations on each other (ie. base recipes with several variations) but what I didn't expect was that many of the "cupcakes" would be in fact, muffins.
This is not a "what makes a cupcake a cupcake and not a muffin" issue but there were actually a few chapters devoted to muffin recipes. Dozens of them. Which is well and good, I enjoy a good muffin but I was expecting a cupcake book.
Another bit of oddness was how many of the actual cupcake recipes were savory. To me, this makes several of them, in actuality, muffins. These were in addition to all of the actual muffin recipes.
There were also few icing recipes and many of the cupcakes were not supposed to be iced. Which raises the question: when a cupcake is a flavor like rhubarb and you are not icing it, is it a cupcake or a muffin?
Now, there were some good points, all of the recipes are fairly easy and contain few unusual or hard to find ingredients. There were also a few cupcake recipes for those with dietary concerns, for example, vegan or gluten free.
All in all, it is an affordable book ($10) with lots of ideas for cupcakes and muffins. Just don't buy it thinking you will end up with 500 different cupcake recipes.
This is not a "what makes a cupcake a cupcake and not a muffin" issue but there were actually a few chapters devoted to muffin recipes. Dozens of them. Which is well and good, I enjoy a good muffin but I was expecting a cupcake book.
Another bit of oddness was how many of the actual cupcake recipes were savory. To me, this makes several of them, in actuality, muffins. These were in addition to all of the actual muffin recipes.
There were also few icing recipes and many of the cupcakes were not supposed to be iced. Which raises the question: when a cupcake is a flavor like rhubarb and you are not icing it, is it a cupcake or a muffin?
Now, there were some good points, all of the recipes are fairly easy and contain few unusual or hard to find ingredients. There were also a few cupcake recipes for those with dietary concerns, for example, vegan or gluten free.
All in all, it is an affordable book ($10) with lots of ideas for cupcakes and muffins. Just don't buy it thinking you will end up with 500 different cupcake recipes.
49 of 50 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Beware of other reviews! Notice that many are only excited to *begin* trying recipes, very few actually have tried them.
I saw this book at Barnes & Noble and had been baking cupcakes for the local farmer's markets. This seemed like a wonderful idea... 500 cupcake recipes, interesting flavors, many seemed like they'd be wonderful.
However, when I got home with the book, I noticed that nearly every recipe excluded milk, water, buttermilk, etc. There were not enough liquids to make the mix into a (cup)cake batter. Instead, it was the consistency of a cookie dough, much too thick for your basic cake batter. Nonetheless, I persisted, thinking that the author knew what they were writing about. The cupcakes (2 different types) turned out so dry that you had to have a drink or you'd choke on them.
Honestly, I think most readers of this "compendium" would agree that the basic vanilla recipe has been altered in many ways. It is obvious that the flawed vanilla recipe was copied and pasted into every other recipe, but the original was flawed, and thus so were all the rest. Please don't buy this book. I am rarely displeased in a purchase and I actually ended up taking this book back to B&N. Instead, try 125 Best Cupcake Recipes or Crazy About Cupcakes. I've tried about 10 total recipes from both and all have worked out beautifully with repeat customers at the farmer's markets. Happy Baking!
I saw this book at Barnes & Noble and had been baking cupcakes for the local farmer's markets. This seemed like a wonderful idea... 500 cupcake recipes, interesting flavors, many seemed like they'd be wonderful.
However, when I got home with the book, I noticed that nearly every recipe excluded milk, water, buttermilk, etc. There were not enough liquids to make the mix into a (cup)cake batter. Instead, it was the consistency of a cookie dough, much too thick for your basic cake batter. Nonetheless, I persisted, thinking that the author knew what they were writing about. The cupcakes (2 different types) turned out so dry that you had to have a drink or you'd choke on them.
Honestly, I think most readers of this "compendium" would agree that the basic vanilla recipe has been altered in many ways. It is obvious that the flawed vanilla recipe was copied and pasted into every other recipe, but the original was flawed, and thus so were all the rest. Please don't buy this book. I am rarely displeased in a purchase and I actually ended up taking this book back to B&N. Instead, try 125 Best Cupcake Recipes or Crazy About Cupcakes. I've tried about 10 total recipes from both and all have worked out beautifully with repeat customers at the farmer's markets. Happy Baking!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
500 cupcake
I havent received the book yet but Iam very anxious to receive the cupcake cookbook. We are bakers at heart in my family and Iam excitted to try the different types of cupcakes.
Published 2 months ago by Katherine S. Casper
5.0 out of 5 stars
cupcake book is great
sister liked this book alot, I also did. I bought it as a gift to her. bought it used and it was in nice shape.
Published 2 months ago by Cindy
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great buy
I needed recipes for my daughters babyshower as she wanted cupcakes. So I purchased this book found some awesome recipes and so am pleased with my purchase.
Published 3 months ago by Linda Springer
5.0 out of 5 stars
cupcake book
Very happy with book, cute cover, lots of recipes to choose from savory and sweet don't know where to start. Delivered quickly, thanks.
Published 16 months ago by Milly
2.0 out of 5 stars
Cute cover! But lacking
I've been given this book as a gift on three different occasions, probably because it's such a cute little book about something seemingly impossible to mess up - cupcakes! Read more
Published 23 months ago by S. Woodward
2.0 out of 5 stars
No red velvet??!! The "incomplete comependium"
I was highly disappointed in this book. Aside from what other reviewers have noted, I find "The Only Cupcake Compendium You'll Ever Need" part of the title to be very... Read more
Published on May 6, 2011 by mcel
1.0 out of 5 stars
Baker Beware
If you have never baked a cupcake except from a box do not buy this book! If you have been to Pastry School and need some new ideas do not buy this book. Read more
Published on February 16, 2011 by bscooks
1.0 out of 5 stars
Recipes don't work
I found this pretty-looking book in a used book store for a quarter. It looked brand new. The photographs are lovely, and the varieties endless (500? What more could you want? Read more
Published on February 5, 2011 by Don Spinetta
2.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty book but....
I wish I read reviews before attempting to make cupcakes for the first time from this book. It's true that what you bake will be more on the dry side...or more like muffins. Read more
Published on January 28, 2011 by Lisa Mychols
1.0 out of 5 stars
Don't waste your time
This is a terrible cookbook. Every recipe I've tried is a disappointment. And I'm not new to baking. The recipes seem untested and the results always leave much to be desired.
Published on November 30, 2010 by Amy Rawson
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