Hello, Cupcake!: Irresistibly Playful Creations Anyone Can Make (Paperback)

by Alan Richardson (Author), Karen Tack (Author) "WITH JUST A HANDFUL OF CANDIES, a can of frosting, a ziplock bag, and some cupcake batter, you are on your way to having fun..." (more)
Key Phrases: chocolate melting wafers, candy melting wafers, green paper liners, M's Minis, Famous Chocolate Wafers, Jelly Bellys (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"...whimsical, inspiring, and utterly gorgeous." (Associated Press )

Product Description
Witty, one-of-a-kind imaginative cupcake designs using candies from the local convenience store.

America's favorite food photography team, responsible for the covers of America's top magazines, shows how to create funny, scary, and sophisticated masterpieces, using a zipper lock bag and common candies and snack items.With these easy-to-follow techniques, even the most kitchen-challenged cooks can

• raise a big-top circus cupcake tier for a kid's birthday
• plant candy vegetables on Oreo earth cupcakes for a garden party
• trot out a line of confectionery "pupcakes" for a dog fancier
• serve sausage and pepperoni pizza cupcakes for April Fool's Day
• bewitch trick-or-treaters with chilly ghost chocolate cupcakes
• create holidays on icing with turkey cupcake place cards, a white cupcake Christmas wreath, and Easter egg cupcakes

No baking skills or fancy pastry equipment is required. Spotting the familiar items in the hundreds of brilliant photos is at least half the fun.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co; 1 edition (April 24, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618829253
• ISBN-13: 978-0618829255
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (183 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #318 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

95 of 97 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Grand Slam right out of the cupcake ballpark!, April 11, 2008

By	Toni "the bookworm" (Chicago, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

SUGAR ALERT: I will be fawning and tripping all over in talking about this book!

If you are a closet cake-decorator but you don't feel up in the ranks of Duff or Colette or Martha, then grab this book and hold on to your socks, because Karen Tack and Alan Richardson will take you on a fabulous decorating ride!!

Wow, wow, and WOW! This veritable encyclopedia of "mini-cake" decorating is so fun and easy that there is absolutely no excuse for anyone to lament "they can't". With the use of food items found anywhere, you will be making the cutest, and most impressive cupcake creations you can possibly think of, and Karen and Alan will make you legendary to boot!

This team of talent has come up with extremely amazing and irresistable cupcakes like giraffes, Van Gogh paintings, clowns, aquariums, etc that will all fit on top of a little poof of cake batter.

The book size itself is large with big print which lends itself to the purpose of the photographic detail that is so big, sharp, and clear, there is no doubt or question on sequence or step. Karen Tack is the recipe creator and food stylist and Alan Richardson is the text writer and photographer; both are brilliant and incredibly talented individuals, so as a team, they are a match made in cupcake heaven.

The Acknowledgement page was itself fun and relaxed, not something plodded through; you can tell it was done with real gratitude and thought, which is part of the overall charm of how this book was put together.

There are 8 chapters between the "Introduction" and the "Sources"; got those socks gripped?........

INTRODUCTION: Your text page begins the journey, and right after, you are given an impressive section of pages that visually, and with text, show you how you will make the many creations through the use of candies, cookies, and types of sugars.

CUPCAKING TECHNIQUES: This was invaluable for those who are novice cupcake bakers or wannabe's. Hints and instructions on methods for pouring batter, spreading frosting, making frosting, and melting chocolate for designs, are shown in close detail. They show you how to make "fur" for the lion cupcakes and "leaves" for flowers. This is followed by methods used to draw "bugs", people faces, and hairstyles by using melted chocolate and candies. The next section shows how you will literally build up these creations, like the bowling pin cupcakes, so instruction is shown in simple and fascinating detail. Part of the more complex designs require a grouping of cupcakes, like "corn on the cob", "rabbits in a hole", or the "alligator", and you are given an idea of the schematics involved in getting them just right!

APRIL FOOL'S THEME:
Corn on the Cob
Bagels and Lox
Buttered Popcorn
TV Dinner ("peas & carrots", "drumsticks", & "mashed potato" cupcakes!)
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Box of Chocolates
Van Gogh's "Starry Night" in frosting (he'd love it!)

PARTY ANIMALS:
March of the Penguins
Fat Cats (cats with their paws on fishbones!)
Fishbowl (you use those Pepperidge Farm fishies for this one!)
Panda-monium
Westies
Crazy Horses (this uses candy circus peanuts and wafers)
Pup Cakes (a whole bunch of poochies to choose from!)
Monarchs (what a great Spring party or bridal shower presentation!)
Shark Attack (you'll want to go into these waters!)
Old Swampy the 'Gator

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CUPCAKE!:
When I Grow Up
Party Princess (any little girl will just LOVE these!)
Slumber Party
Big Birthday Party
Bowl Me Over (this is soooo darn cute; pins and a bowling ball!!!)
The Big Top (definitely a more time-required, but great, project)

HOSTEST with the MOSTEST:
Sunflowers (a veritable burst of green and yellow and Oreo cookies!)
Black and White Party
Play Pool (no one will mind the 8 ball!)
Baby Shower
Petit Fours (very elegant and delicate)
Garden Party ( a "garden" of carrots, peas, radishes, and cabbage)
Easter Eggs
Rabbit Holes (so unbelievably clever; Karen Tack is a genious!)
Candy Stars and Stripes Forever
Family Tree
Wedding Cake and Monograms

NIGHTMARE BEFORE THANKSGIVING:
Alien Invasion
Creepy Crawlers (almost good enough for goin' fishin')
What a Hoot
Pumpkin Patch ( absolutely adorable; Alan's photography is superb!)
Howling Werewolves
Autumn Leaves (how did they think of this great project?!)
Larry the Turkey

HOLIDAY ON ICING:
Edible Ornaments (incredible boxed "ornaments"!)
String of Delights
Snow Globes (this was sheer genius by placing the cakes on their side!)
Gingerbread Boys
Partridge in a Pear Tree (fantastic!)
Nutcracker Sweet (you'll be dancing!)
Frosting the Snowman (too darn cute!)
White Wreath (Christmas glory in white and red! Awesome!)

CUPCAKES AND FROSTINGS:
(Cake mix recipes): Pumpkin Spice, Chocolate Chunk Surprise, Chocolate Mint, Orange Spice, Banana Chocolate, Gingerbread

(Homemade recipes): Chocolate Cupcakes, Banana Cupcakes, Carrot Cupcakes, Almond Cupcakes, Lemon-Poppy Seed Cupcakes, Vanilla Cupcakes

(Frostings): Next-to-Instant Ganache (melted chocolate), Homemade Ganache, Almost-Homemade Vanilla Buttercream, Cream Cheese Frosting, Chocolate Frosting

SOURCES

OK, OK.................I have gone beyond fawning but if you're a cake decorating fool like myself, you understand the passion. My deep gratitude to Karen and Alan; you guys ROCK!

43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Do I Really Need Another Cupcake Book? Yes!!, April 5, 2008

By	MiloJRT "milojrt" (East coast, USA) - See all my reviews

When I saw this book featured on the Martha Stewart show, I thought, "Do I really need another baking book? I have so many..." I decided to get it anyway, thinking I could always pass it along to someone else if I was not fond of it. Well, I am SO GLAD I made this purchase! The book is beautiful- and I really mean that- the book itself is beautiful, large in size, softcover, with huge color photos and great instructional pages. The recipes are really not that complex (they vary from very detailed to very simple, even though they look challenging at first glance). The author teaches you how to make a variety of adorable cupcakes, and they don't all have to be used for kid parties - there are some showstoppers in there for weddings, party favors, barbeques, holidays, and more. My favorites are the garden patch, the "April Fool's" cupcakes, the alligator, and the pandas. The book is not full of cupcake recipes - it is more of a cupcake design book, as it shows you how to create these fabulous cakes. At the end of the book there is an actual baking recipe section, and I LOVE how the author has two kinds of recipes- simple, quick cupcakes you can make with boxed mixes, and then another section of "from scratch" cupcake recipes. Even if you never make a single cupcake from this book, it is STILL worth purchasing for its sheer beauty. It is fun to flip through the pages and look at the adorable creations and see how they were put together. I LOVE this book. If you are STILL saying you don't need another baking book, do what I did and throw out one old cookbook so that there is room on the shelf for this baby.

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Too Cute for Words!, March 20, 2008

By	B. OBryan (Ypsilanti, MI United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

These are the cleverest, cutest cupcakes I've seen yet and I have many of the cupcake and cake books listed on Amazon. Super Easy using the techniques and supplies mentioned! An absolutely wonderful book!