'Cupcakes, Cupcakes and More Cupcakes!' - Cookbook Spotlight

Photo: Amazon.com

'Cupcakes, Cupcakes & More Cupcakes'
Recipes by Lilach German
Photographs by Danya Weiner
Imagine Publishing -- 2009
Buy it on Amazon

This book joins the club of an already saturated market of cupcake cookbooks. With ho-hum flavors like pumpkin, marzipan, blueberry and peanut butter and jelly, it proved a tad underwhelming.

On a positive note, one entire chapter is devoted to healthier cupcakes, including recipes that are whole wheat, dairy and gluten-free to please almost every palate. The remaining chapters are broken down into Classics, Cupcakes for Kiddies, Cupcake Celebrations and Cupcakes for Connoisseurs.

Takeaway tips: A basic cupcake essentials introduction includes a breakdown of Equipment 101 as well as dissection of ingredients and serving and storage suggestions. Most readers will find reading the ingredient section quite helpful. For example, many people use large eggs in baking recipes because that's what they typically pick up at the grocery store. Author Lilach German recommends using medium sized eggs that are cracked at room temperature.

See what we tested and find out whether the book's worth buying after the jump.

Quality of pictures: Though we were thankful that almost all the recipes include a bright, colorful photographs, it doesn't necessarily make the cupcakes appetizing. Over-frosted cakes, cakes too tiny for their wrappers and frosting made to look like smoked salmon and fish roe where among the curiosities we spied.

We tested: Pavlova Cupcakes

Pavlova, typically a meringue layered with whipped cream and fresh berries, is the perfect summer dessert. It was interesting to see how adding the cake element would affect the results. Turns out a simple cupcake recipe combined with this classic resulted in a moist, doomed final product. While the meringue is usually the star of the show in a classic pavlova, here kiss-sized meringue bites are placed on top of whipped cream, then finished with a fresh berry sauce. While the dessert was sweet and tasty, the cupcake to meringue ratio was overwhelming and we could hardly taste the meringue, which was slightly disappointing.

Worth the investment: If you're a cupcake or baking fiend, this book is for you. On the other hand, if you only pick up a baking cookbook once and a while, you might want something more thorough and tantalizing.