Customer Reviews

Cupcakes Year-Round: 50 Recipes for Every Season and Celebration

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I love the gingham on the cover and the sturdy easel, which is why I bought it in the first place, but what you need to know is that the vanilla cupcakes in here are THE BEST EVER (completely trump New York's Magnolia Bakery)! That recipe alone is worth buying the book for. I've only made two of the icings so far (chocolate and vanilla buttercreams), but I can't wait to combine some of the many different flavors and try some of the decorating ideas.

"Cupcakes Year-Round" was a gift to myself, as I love sweets! Who doesn't like cupcakes?!

Sara Neumeier is a food writer, food stylist and recipe developer. She works with the Martha Stewart kingdom, and it is evident when you see the gorgeous color photographs of her food styling.

The recipes are easy-to-follow. There are cupcake recipe and decorating ideas for each season. Plus, Neumeier helps explains the reason behind baking techniques, such as sifting flour. I feel these tips are magnificent at helping educate the new baker to understand what is going on in the kitchen! Also, the book can be set up as an easel for easier use while cooking! That was a cute idea.

I, recently, made her Easter cupcakes for my son and his friends. They loved them.

This cookbook is fun, easy and tasty. Her recipes are great for adults and children.

This book caught my eye and that of my daughter who loves to bake. When we found out that the book becomes a self-standing cookbook, all the better! There is so much imagination that goes into the decorating of these cupcakes! Who knew that a single cupcake could be a spider, an ice cream cone, or a sand castle? The photography is simple, crisp and inviting. I recommend this cupcake book for children and adults of all ages.

Here's the dealio: this ain't no coffee table book, but if you can get over the format, the recipes rock.

Looks like a number of people have expressed some frustration over the top-bound format of the book. I confess that this well-intentioned format (which operates as a stand so you can put the recipe up on the counter as you cook), was also a little frustrating for me. But wait, there's more! Here's what I like about it:

Her recipes work perfectly every time. I've now tried several of them and there's no messing up. That's "key" when you've got obligations outside the kitchen (it just has to work the first time). Moreover -- and this is what's important for a cupcake book -- the batter recipes are all "thick" batters, which makes them completely scoopable. This saves time, a messy clean-up, and consequently, my nerves when I'm baking.

The Swiss meringue buttercream recipe is the most stable and delicious buttercream I've made and it doesn't call for a candy thermometer, which also makes it pretty easy. People literally rave about the frosting when I make it, and I can take it to a Summer picnic or a Winter party and not have to worry about it separating, tasting gritty, or bending to the will of the weather.

She also gives little extras that you can choose to add to your cupcakes to make them sophisticated. For instance, she suggests (and gives recipes for) flavored glazes that can be brushed on the cupcakes warm from the oven, and for curds that can be used to fill the cupcakes. I don't waste these on kids, but for adults, wow, it takes them over the top.

Her decorating ideas go from very simple to highly stylized, but in all cases, they're completely doable no matter what your skill level. For instance, she has these beautiful little petit fours for which she uses a pourable glaze instead of a frosting. They take only minutes to decorate and they look like they came from a French pastry shop. Another one (I used for my kid's birthday last year) was a cupcake baked in a flat-bottomed ice cream cone and piled with stabilized chantilly cream so they looked like soft-serve cones. Easy and delicious. Even the parents were impressed. There are lots of books with more impressive decorations, but these are all decorations that, when completed, will look like the photograph.

I also like her concepts for cupcakes as being a dollop of a good thing. If you think about cupcakes, they're really just a "bite" of something. Neumeier really gets that, I think. She has cupcakes like PB&J (where there's a jam filling, and PB frosting, giving you a wonderful taste sensation. I like her linzer cupcakes (where there's a cookie on top of the raspberry jam glazed cupcake), because it's soft and crunchy at once.

In short, yeah, I hear all those people who don't like the format, and I did give it only 3 stars because of that. It's really tough to find the recipe you want. But once you find them, they work logistically and taste great.

I bought a few cupcake books when I got my new Kitchenaid mixer. I've definitely tested out numerous recipes from each, and BY FAR this book has the best recipes. They always come out delicious. My favorite so far, is the red velvet recipe--the best red velvet I've ever had!
I highly recommend this book.

This is my favorite cupcake book ever. The recipes are great. Each one has a color picture. I'm not sure what buyer "whoru" is talking about by saying no pictures. The flip design is a LITTLE difficult sometimes but its nothing that would make me regret getting this book. I would recommend this book to anyone likes cupcakes.

I took a chance on this book and - wow - it's awful. I'm going to be returning it to Amazon.

The "flip chart" design is a real pain! And - because of the weird design - a lot of the recipes have no picture.

I'm still looking for the perfect "cupcake" book. This is not it!

Save yourself the hassle of having to send it back and try to look at this one at a bookstore first!

If you're looking for a cupcake-specific book, this is the one for you. I originally purchased it for myself and used it to make cupcakes for coworkers' birthdays and holidays and have gotten nothing but rave reviews, and have since given it as a much applauded gift to a few coworkers. This book is very easy to use, has pictures for almost every recipe- which is great for getting decorating tips, has recipes for every time of year and gives great suggestions for making "new cupcakes" out of some of the different recipes. All of that said, it's a great buy!

This is such a great book. I love it for the recipes, for the fun text & commentary. I like the unusual book-in-an-easel format; it's very creative. It would make a very nice gift for anyone who likes to bake or eat treats.

I've made 3 of the recipes myself for the one bowl vanilla, sour cream chocolate, and the jam cupcakes, and my mother has made the hummingbird cupcakes. The recipes so far have been great, and who ever said the book was worth the price for the one bowl vanilla cupcakes was dead on. Those cupcakes were legendary in my book. I still crave them. However, I have to agree with everybody else about how the book was made. It's nearly impossible to find the recipe you want... I usually have to search thru the book page by page twice to find what Im looking for... luckily it's a slim book. The problem is the whole flipping the book around and reading from back to front for the 2nd part after you've read it front to back on way.... It's habitual for most of us to turn the page and read the back of the page to get the next recipe or get the next set of directions, and here the back side of the page is a different recipe... when you're in the middle of a recipe it can be confusing and disorienting, but like i said, those vanilla cupcakes were worth it.