What's New, Cupcake?: Ingeniously Simple Designs for Every Occasion

By Alan Richardson and Karen Tack

Learn how to make crazy-fun cupcakes with these easy recipes for any holiday or special occasion!

No one knows more about making whimsical, delicious, and eye-catching single-serving treats than Karen Tack and Alan Richardson. And the dynamic duo of cupcake creativity is back with a brand-new batch of easy, entertaining, and unique decorating ideas that will delight the whole family.
 
What’s New, Cupcake? keeps the baking bonanza going with all-new designs, ranging from kid-pleasing robots and race cars to elegant long-stemmed roses to hilarious Chinese takeout container cupcakes that will fool your friends. Drawing inspiration from holidays, hobbies, and adorable animals, and made with only a few ingredients for easy-yet-impressive assembly, this cookbook will provide tons of fun, inspiration, and, of course, tasty desserts for cupcake fans of all ages. It’s a sweet treat almost too good to eat—but definitely too delicious to miss.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Apr 1, 2010
• ISBN: 9780547487519

Alan Richardson

Alan Richardson is an award-winning photographer and designer whose work has appeared in Bon Appétit, Gourmet, Saveur, Food & Wine, and The New York Times Magazine. He has done the photography for countless cookbooks and is the co-author of The Four Seasons of Italian Cooking. He lives in New York City.

Book preview

April Fool's Play

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French fries from pound cake, a banana with crunch, foot-longs with spice drops and taffy for lunch. Lo mein with fruit chews may sound gourmet, but think twice before eating—it's April Fool's Day. These cupcakes are the perfect foil for birthdays, holidays, sleepovers, or any time you need a laugh.

Side of Fries 24

Hold the Anchovies 26

Faux Foot-Long 29

All Cracked Up 33

Chinese Takeout 36

Banana Split 41

The Coals Are Ready 45

Bake-Sale Pies 49

vanilla frosting

pound cake

red food coloring

Makes 1 order of fries, 10 cupcakes, 4 mini cupcakes

SIDE OF FRIES

ez CUPCAKE

Want fries with that? Our clever crinkle-cuts are made from pound cake lightly toasted to look as though they're right out of the fryer. If you prefer straight-cut fries, just slice them into long, thin strips and toast them up. Squirt on the frosting ketchup, and these fries are ready for the drive-up window.

1. Trim the ends of the pound cake. Cut the pound cake into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Using a crinkle vegetable cutter (see Sources), cut the pound cake crosswise into 1/2-inch-wide strips. Transfer the strips to two cookie sheets and spread in a single layer.

2. Preheat the broiler to high. Toast the pound cake strips under the broiler until golden, 20 to 30 seconds. Turn the pieces and continue toasting until all sides are golden. Repeat with the other cookie sheet. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

3. Tint 1/4 cup of the vanilla frosting bright red with the red food coloring. For the ketchup, spread the red frosting on top of the mini cupcakes and smooth. Spread the tops of the standard cupcakes with the

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remaining vanilla frosting to cover. Arrange the cooled fries on top of the vanilla-frosted standard cupcakes, 4 to 6 fries per cupcake. Arrange the cupcakes in a cardboard container or on a platter with the red-frosted mini cupcakes. Serve with more red frosting in a squeeze bottle, if desired.

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Makes 1 pizza pie, 19 cupcakes

HOLD THE ANCHOVIES

One large pizza to go. Pile on the pepperoni (fruit leather), bring on the sausage (chocolate cookies), don't forget the sauce (red frosting)—and make it with extra cheese (grated white chocolate). And be sure to brown that crust with cocoa powder.

1. Melt the white chocolate chips in a microwavable bowl in the microwave for about 1 minute, stopping to stir frequently, until smooth. Spoon the melted chocolate into a small plastic or foil container (about 2 by 4 inches and 2 inches deep). Smooth the top and refrigerate until set, about 20 minutes. When set, remove from the container and let stand at room temperature.

2. Tint 1 1/4 cups of the vanilla frosting light brown with 1/2 teaspoon of the cocoa powder and a few drops of yellow food coloring. Spoon the frosting into a ziplock bag, press out the excess air, and seal. Tint the remaining 3/4 cup frosting red with the food coloring. Place the red frosting in a microwavable bowl; cover with plastic wrap.

3. For the pepperoni, cut the fruit leather into as many 1-inch circles as possible using the back of a pastry tip, a small cookie cutter, or scissors. For the cheese,

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place a box grater on top of a sheet of wax paper and grate about half of the block of white chocolate on the largest openings.

4. Arrange the cupcakes on a serving platter or in a pizza box, if desired (we ask our local pizza parlor for a pizza box; we get it for free). Place 1 cupcake in the center. Surround the cupcake with 6 more cupcakes and surround those with the 12 remaining cupcakes to make a pizza-size circle. Press the cupcakes as close together as possible.

5. Using a serrated knife, cut 6 of the chocolate wafer cookies in half. Using scissors, snip a small corner from the bag with the light brown frosting. Pipe a small amount of frosting on each corner of the cookie semicircle and use frosting to adhere the cookie, rounded side out, between 2 cupcakes on the outer edge. Repeat to fill in all the gaps, making a continuous outer edge. Cut the remaining 4 wafer cookies into pieces that will cover any of the remaining openings in the center of the cupcake assembly to make a solid surface. Attach the cookie pieces with a small amount of frosting.

6. Snip a larger (1/2-inch) corner from the bag with the light brown frosting. For the crust, pipe a steady line of frosting along the outer edge. Use a small spatula to blend the inside edge of the frosting crust onto the

Reviews for What's New, Cupcake?

[rosetyper9 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the first time I have ever reviewed a cook book. I should probably do more because it is either you like it or you don't. So...I liked this one. It has beautiful pictures through out the book that makes you want to eat cupcakes and jump right into cooking.


The recipes are super easy to follow and they are all so cute. You wouldn't believe how easy it is to make some of these beautiful cupcakes (no I am not posting pics of mine ;). The book contains how-tos on actual cupcake batter, how to make great batter from box cupcake mixes and quick easy ways to make your cupcakes beautiful and unique. I guarantee anyone can make great cupcakes from this book.

[suetu_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

"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 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.

[tmtrvlr · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What I found the most striking about What’s New Cupcake is the photography by Alan Richardson. The pictures are so vibrant and colorful that they almost seem to jump off the pages. This is a good-sized book, at about 9” x 10”, so they are also nice sized and detailed photos. The cover photo with the “Rubber Duckies” cupcakes is too cute for words. What’s New Cupcake starts out like a craft book with a list of needed materials and tools. Nothing unusual is needed and most are items that would be already on hand, except for the variety of colorful candies. The instructions for decorating the cupcakes are clear and the Karen Tack's designs are fun and very decorative. The first chapter, April Fools Play, has cupcakes that look like something entirely different. How about cupcakes that look like a sub sandwich or a banana split? There are sections with ideas for all of the major holidays and party ideas for children and grown-ups.Just a couple of examples of the design titles are:Busy Bees (a honeycomb of cupcakes)Mum’s the Word (beautiful flower cupcakes)Fur Balls and String Monsters (You have to see it!)Shower Heads (baby faces)Knit One, Frost Two (knitting needles and yarn - my personal favorite)Along with the decorating instructions there are quick dressed up cake mix recipes for cupcakes, frosting, and sugar cookies.