Wednesday Review: What's New, Cupcake?

Karen Tack & Alan Richardson's follow up to their first book, Hello, Cupcake! is fantastic. What's New, Cupcake? has everything I loved about the first book plus new and quirky cupcake designs. Let's jump into the review!

What I like:

·         Just like their last book, this one begins with very helpful design tips. They show how different candies can be used, what tools you will need (all of which are simple things you most likely already own), the best way to fill a cupcake liner and frost cupcakes, and "cupcaking with custom cookie shapes" You definitely don't need to own Hello, Cupcake! to get the full effect of their second book.

·         They have some new delightful themes. A whole section is dedicated to cupcakes that look like other foods - french fries & ketchup, hoagies, and chinese food to name a few. There's another section that shows you how to make a handful of different animals.

·         There is a new "EZ Cupcake" indicator for cupcake designs that only require a few ingredients and simple techniques. There is a least one EZ cupcake in each chapter - so even the most unskilled person will be able to make over a dozen amazing looking cupcakes.

·         One that I really want to try this coming Christmas is a stained-glass ornament made out of cookie and melted down hard candies.

·         Recipes!! There are  10 recipes for different cakes, all of them starting with a basic cake mix and then adding different ingredients to improve the structure and flavor.  There are also 9 different frosting recipes (Espresso Buttercream?! YES PLEASE) and 2 cookie recipes.

What I don't like:

·         There are some odd ingredients used for decorating. One is gum - it looks cool on the cupcake, but I know I personally wouldn't really want to eat gum with my cupcake, and it seems such a waste to throw it away.

Obviously I can't find too many things I don't like about this book. It's just as amazing as their first - I highly recommend both!