Beautiful, but Complicated

Anyone who has met me will tell you, I love anything and everything cupcakes, and this book is no different!

And the only thing I love more than cupcakes is Christmas, so naturally I enjoyed making the most of the plentiful holiday section of this book. I absolutely adore both the wreath cupcakes and the adorable penguin toppers. Even being the Christmas fanatic that I am, I must admit that the other holidays were also very well represented with fabulous ideas. I personally adore the Mother’s Day Hummingbird treats!

As far as the techniques used in this book, I’m not so pleased. Although I’m a huge fan of the end result, I wouldn’t say all of the treats are so doable for the average person.  Unlike other cupcake cookbooks out there, these recipes do in fact require a certain degree of culinary skills when attempting to create them. I am highly critical of this fact only because I love her designers, but was uncertain about the possibility of completing them due to difficulty of finding ingredients or making toppers as instructed.  Long story short, if you have some culinary experience or are particularly crafty, you’ll do just fine. To the rest of us, simply be warned you may be getting a little frustrated along the road, but it pays off in the end.

Though I’m not actually a big fan of the author (Martha Stewart) in general, I do recommend this book to everyone feeling adventurous. Her decorations are a crowd pleaser and her cakes are simply delicious. A must own book for all cupcakers.