Karen Tack

Cupcakes, Cookies, & Pie, Oh My!, one of the most creative books I’ve seen, is full of dessert-decorating ideas developed by Karen Tack (a food stylist known as “the cake whisperer”) and photographed by Alan Richardson.

To be clear, it’s not a cookbook -- the projects begin with store-bought goodies (think pound cakes, packaged cookies, frostings and candies; you could substitute home-baked goods for some basic items). But that doesn’t mean the projects are simple or quick, in fact show more they’re complex and laborious, requiring the goodies to be transformed by rolling, cutting, melting, mixing, etc., and then assembling. To give an example, the sheep project featured on the cover involves:

-- cutting slices of Sara Lee pound cake to form the sheep bodies, dipping the leg portions into melted frosting and setting it to dry, then covering the rest of the body with regular frosting onto which you stick mini-marshmallows (some of which have been shaken with cocoa powder for the black sheep);
-- cutting Milano cookies to form the sheep heads, coating them with melted frosting as above, attaching the heads to the bodies and then decorating the faces with piped frosting, mini-chocolate chips, decors and Jelly Belly beans;
-- then there’s still the pretzel-fences and patches of coconut-grass to make.

The directions are extremely well written and are presented with a mise en place methodology that gets all of the components prepared and in stand-by mode before beginning the overall assembly. And there’s meticulous clarity, for example (my emphasis added): “For the eyes, pipe two dots of vanilla frosting onto the cookie. For the pupils, attach the mini chocolate chips, flat side out, to the frosting.” In most projects, there’s room to get children involved. Each project includes a beautiful photograph of the finished product; most have additional photos showing the techniques of interim steps.

My favorites are the rainbow-trout cupcakes that have fish scales made of M&Ms and swim in waves of blue and green Jell-O; high-fashion shoes composed of decorated cupcake fronts, tapered and coated (in melted frosting, as above) graham-cracker soles and Pirouette-stiletto heels; cupcakes baked in tall popover molds and decorated to look like soda-fountain drinks; and a pumpkin pie (one of the few actual recipes in the book) decorated with colored leaves and a rake made from extra pie dough. My only quibble is that most of the projects end up being mostly decoration (i.e. sugar overload).

These projects are special-occasion treats, not everyday, and they’re WOW-worthy -- hugely fun and inspirational to browse through and then destined to be the talk of a birthday party, shower or family gathering.

(Review based on an advance reading copy provided by the publisher.) show less

"Cupcaking," it seems, has joined the ranks of verbs like "scrapbooking." Where once a cupcake was a tasty treat, now it's an arts and crafts project. I must admit that I came to this book with a misconception. I thought the point was to create something good to eat. It is not. What's New, Cupcake is a triumph of style over substance. To eat the creations in this book is not only beside the point, it's bordering on sacrilege.

Clearly, I am an old-fashioned baker, or at least one cut from a show more different cloth. "Recipes" from cake mixes and the use of twinkies and mini-donuts as additional construction elements are anathema to me. Now that my biases have been disclosed, I will admit this: The photographs of the projects in this book are AMAZING. The finished projects are gorgeous--more akin to sculptures than snacks. For the, er, baker who aspires to such feats, this book should be equal parts instructive and inspirational.

For Luddites like myself, who are as interested in the edibility of their cupcakes as the attractiveness, there is definitely useful information. I advise using real recipes as a starting place. But there is much that can be learned about types and manners of icing and frosting, how to achieve textures, creative ways to use candies and other decorative elements, and more. It may encourage you to a more ambitious level of creativity.

This is a book for an extreme cupcaker. Perhaps there are far more of you out there than I realize. For you, this book may well be the bible of cupcaking. For the more moderate cupcakers like myself, take what you can from the book and then ooh and aah over the pretty pictures. show less

By far, one of the easiest to follow, well written cookbooks - with lots of cute ideas for making special "themed" cupcakes.

For anyone looking for an easy way to add fun to your baking, check out this book. Use ingredients that can be found in pretty much any supermarket to make all kinds of fanciful cupcake designs. This book shows you how to make cupcakes that look like dogs, fine art, flowers, and even a plate of spaghetti. Great fun for kids and kids at heart.