`Hey There, Cupcake!' by culinary writer, Clare Crespo answers the burning question of where can I find a good cupcake recipe when I need one. This is actually the second cupcake book I am reviewing and I am happy to have both; however, if asked, I will definitely recommend Ms. Crespo's opus over `The Artful Cupcake' by Marcianne Miller.
First and foremost is the fact that Ms. Crespo's book is simply more fun, and I suspect that is what cupcakes are all about, aside from being, in Ina Garten's words `a delivery system for icing'. Both books are a bit light on recipes for the `cake' half of the cupcake team. Neither has a recipe of, for example, a carrot cake cupcake. I have also just noticed that neither has an index, although you will probably not really miss it, unless you happen to be looking for a carrot cake cupcake recipe.
Ms. Miller is less a culinary writer than a `crafts' writer, as I pointed out in detail in my review of her book. Oddly, `The Artful Cupcake' has a lot more general information on cupcake tools, general techniques, and ingredients. Ms. Miller handles the writing on baking and the cupcake designs are actually done by visiting crafts people. So, Ms. Miller is more of an editor than a true author. Ms. Crespo, on the other hand, seems to have done all the writing and cupcake designing chores on her book. As proclaimed by her subtitle, '35 Yummy Fun Cupcake Recipes for All Occasions', I repeat that Ms. Crespo's book is simply more fun. Among other things, this means it is a much better book for younger bakers. In fact, while Clare does not push this point too much, there is a sense about the book that it was written for a young audience, without actually talking down to the reader.
Aside from fun, one excellent advantage of Ms. Crespo's book is the fact that it does offer a lot of designs for specific occasions, especially specific occasions not generally covered by other pastry design books such as a knitting party (Ball of Yarn, Needle and Thread), New Years Eve (Clocks), atypical Halloween (Brain, Buried Alive, Eyeball, Brain), graduation (Brain, Coin), Superbowl (play-off) and so on.
Unlike some of Ms. Miller's designs, most of the decorations by Ms. Crespo are relatively easy, making excellent use of the kind of props you will find in a well-stocked craft store. I got the sense that these designs are very similar to the kind of skill and sense of humor we find behind some of Thomas Keller's more famous dishes where one kind of dish is made out to look like another, as with his famous doughnuts and coffee dish. Speaking of which, there is even a cupcake here that does an excellent job of masquerading as a cup of coffee, if served in a plausibly heavy white diner mug.
The book begins with a simple recipe for THE classic cupcake with white crumb and a vanilla butter cream icing, tinted pink, with a cherry on top. If I were teaching from this book, I would definitely encourage students to do this first. All cupcakes in the book are based on ten (10) cake recipes and six frosting recipes. This means that if you master a fair number of these sixteen recipes, you are well on your way to impressing friends and family with great cupcake improvisations.
My only reservation about the instructions in the book are that some directions for the decorating schemes would have been greatly improved by a few simple diagrams, especially if the book is to be tackled by young adults. It took me at least two or three tries to adequately visualize how one was to accomplish the design from the words in the directions. Compliments to Ms. Miller for providing such illustrations on a few of her more difficult designs.
As both of these books are relatively inexpensive, especially with a reasonable discount, I recommend them both. Ms. Miller's designs are much more suitable for grown-up occasions while Ms. Crespo's designs work much better for kids as both audience and sous chef to an adult who knows their way around a bag of King Arthur.
Highly recommended for original, entertaining cupcake designs.
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