500 Cupcakes: The Only Cupcake Compendium You'll Ever Need (ISBN 1569065977)

A great idea... but fails:
I bought this book over a year ago, thrilled at the thought of 500 cupcake recipes. I'd read the reviews which stated there were a lot of muffin recipes, but I was ok with that- they're not cupcakes, but I do like a good muffin now and then. There are some great ideas in this book, with a lot of flavor combinations that I never would have thought of. However, my gripe with the book is that I have yet to have a recipe turn out well. They are almost always dry and tasteless. I have been baking for many years, especially cupcakes, so I know my technique is not the issue. I haven't yet nailed down what the problem with the recipes is, but I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone, unless you're just looking for some inspiration.

500 Cupcakes, the only cupcake compendium you'll evr need:
I am very disappointed in this book. I was looking for a book with lots of cupcake recipes. The last 90 pages of this book are muffins. I don't know about you but in my book, muffins and cupcakes are entirely two different items. Then, for each recipe, they have three variations of the recipe and will call that four different cupcake recipes. Any idiot can do the variations. They are simple as if you want lemon cupcakes, substitute the vanilla extract for lemon juice. If you want walnut cupcakes, substitute the pecans for walnuts. I haven't counted them but I bet there aren't a dozen different cupcake reciples in the entire book. The only thing that makes them different is the way they are iced or decorated. The cupcake is basically the same recipe and using self rising flour at that. There are not nearly as many pictures as I would like to see which makes some of the decorating instructions hard to visualize. It is a pretty little book and the pictures that are there look wonderful but the title of the book should be how to ice and decorate 75 different cupcakes, not advertise as being 500 recipes.

Food Porn:
This is a very attractive cookbook. The photos of the cupcakes and muffins are breathtaking and have really inspired me over the past few months to adapt my own time-tested recipes to create new things. Past that, though, the book's usefulness has run out. I don't have a problem with the fact that the recipes are largely variations on theme, or that not all 500 are "true cupcakes." My problem lies in the recipes' inaccuracies. Due to the lack of milk, the batters have consistencies closer to scones than real cupcakes, and when a recipe tells me the yield is "one half dozen" I shouldn't end up with twelve. Two cups of flour, a cup and a half of zucchini and a half cup of olive oil is way too much for six muffins, unless you're using a giant muffin pan, and those weren't even mentioned. These little problems make me wonder if the recipes were even tested at all. Use the book for inspiration, but stick to your own trusted recipes.

Beautiful pictures/Poor Formulas:
I've made several of these recipes, and have generally gotten terrible results. And the quantity each recipe says it makes is way off on the ones I tried. It appears as though the author has taken one recipe and then extrapolated what *might* work in other situations--without actually testing the formulas. I'm not even talking about the "variations" that help bolster the "500 cupcakes" claim. The basic recipes simply don't work well. So this is really more of a theoretical cookbook, and unfortunately the theory doesn't hold up in real life. The pictures, however, are lovely.

A few important tips before purchase:
The Good: - The variations are clever- and often inspire me to new and delicious ideas! - There are lots of pictures and cute, simple decorating ideas. - There really is something for every occasion and every person- A section for gluten free, sugar free, and some that can easily be made vegan. What you should know: - Maybe half of the recipes are "sweet" treats, the rest are more in the muffin category (but really- who doesn't love amazing muffins?) - The instructions are a little vague, unless you are familiar with baking (As in- don't just dump it all together like the directions indicate- cream the butter and sugar first, and put the eggs in last so you don't over beat them) The Bad: -The book is small and bulky, so it's often difficult to keep it open to the right page if you don't have a book stand. - And now I can't seem to find enough occasions to bake for! Hahaha Overall: Fantastic and fun book, I would certainly buy it again!