Cupcakes [Hardcover]

Joanna Farrow (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: Hamlyn (2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0600610446
• ISBN-13: 978-0600610441
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 7.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,527,051 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Library Check-Out at Best, June 1, 2006

By 

Charlie Bates (Mission Viejo, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cupcakes (Paperback)

Hi there!
What you should know before you buy:
There are basically 3 cupcake recipes in this 64 page (that includes table of contents and index) book. They are Vanilla (for chocolate you sub 2 Tbsp cocoa powder for 2 Tbsp flour), carrot, and fruit & nut. What??? They're are some variations where you add citrus zest or berries (for example). Am I the only one that feels like a chocolate version deserves it's own recipe?
You may also want to know there are 4 basic recipes for frosting: buttercream, cream cheese, chocolate fudge, and white chocolate fudge. FYI the cream cheese recipe is cream cheese, sugar, and lemon juice. No butter? (I'll stick with the recipe I already have).
Perhaps this book could've been called "Fondant Cupcakes," because nearly half of these cupcakes are decorated with fondant which is just cut out in different shapes from different colors. I guess that explains why we didn't need/get more frosting recipes.
Furthermore, there is no resource guide. Can you list recipes that call for flaked chocolate bars (no this does not mean a chocolate bar that you flake) and not tell us where to get them? Which is not to mention a source for all that fondant, candied citrus peel, etc.
Finally, I felt there were a decent amount of photographs, but not where they would've been most helpful. For example on page 42 for Feather Cakes, step 3:
"Spoon a thick layer of icing onto a cake and spread it to the edges." (okay, I'm with you so far) "Using the jam in the piping bag, pile large dots of jam, 1/2 inch apart, onto the icing in a spiral, working from the edge of the cupcake to the center. Draw the tip of a toothpick or fine skewer through the dots so they almost join up." Huh? What does that look like? (It isn't the web you make by drawing the toothpick through one large spiral centered on the cupcake).
In all fairness I haven't tried the recipes yet (they better be exceptional!), but I wanted to post a review to save others the possible mistake of buying this book.
Bottom line: I recommend checking this one out of the library before paying money for it, so you can make an educated decision and not be disappointed like I was. Good Luck!

29 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and Glad to Review!, March 24, 2005

By 

Lily - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cupcakes (Paperback)

I originally purchased this product as a gift for a friend from Anthropologie and I am glad to see it is not a unique as I first thought. It has great color photographs of almost every cupcake and is entirely devoted to cupcakes! The recipes are easy and simple and I would highly recommended this book for cupcake lovers and cake decorators.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nice pictures, shame about the recipe, November 3, 2006

By 

R. J. Williams "Robster" (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cupcakes (Paperback)

This is a very attractive little book, and I was eager to try out some of the recipes. But as other reviewers have said, there are only a couple of basic recipes, and the one for vanilla cupcakes, while it is very simple, doesn't produce much flavour and is rather heavy in texture. I have to say I was having my doubts about the recipe while making it, but thought I'd give it a try anyway. I am known for my baked goods and when I gave these cupcakes out to people, they looked puzzled after eating them, and even said they weren't my best efforts! Anyway, the actual decorating ideas are very cute, I would use those, but just use different cake recipes for the cupcakes themselves.