Great Books for Mom! Mother’s Day Boutique
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Mother’s Day Boutique – Get Great Books for Mom!
Title: Cupcakes & Mini Cakes
Publisher: DK Publishing, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4654-3005-2
Visit the Mother’s Day Boutique to find Great Books for Mom!
My First Pick is Cupcakes & Mini Cakes – a recipe book with more than 100 recipes for little cakes & Cake Pops!
I think you will love this one too!
Cupcakes & Mini Cakes is filled (to overflowing!) with delicious recipes for you (and me!) to make.
This books contains 256 pages filled with gorgeous colour photographs and amazing recipes to try!
The initial section is a Recipe Chooser and shows photographs of different selections of recipes included in the book. For example:
- Celebration: Chocolate and Vanilla Whoopie Pies, Blueberry and Pistachio Angel Cupcakes, Raspberry Macarons, Mini Banana and Chocolate Topped Cheesecakes, Cupcake Bouquet, Coffee Kisses, Cherry Granola Bars, Orange and Lemon Cupcakes, Butterflies and Blossoms, Wedding Mini Cakes, Strawberry Shortcakes, White Chocolate and Coconut Snowballs, White Chocolate and Macadamia Nut Blondies and Vanilla Cupcakes
- Weekend Brunch: Lemon and Blueberry Muffins, Danish Pastries, Pains au Chocolat, Cinnamon Palmiers, Hot Cross Buns, Pistachio and Orange Biscotti, Apple Muffins, Almond Crescents, Croissants aux amandes, Cinnamon Rolls, Apricot Pastries
- Great for Kids:
- Chocolate Lovers: Chocolate Truffles, Chocolate Orange Profiteroles, Chocolate Muffins, Chocolate Fondants, Chocolate Palmiers, Chocolate Fudge Cake Balls, Chocolate Cookie Cake, Triple Chocolate Crunch Bars, Chocolate Cupcakes
- Afternoon Snack:
- After Dinner: Chocolate Brittle, Toffee Apple Bars, White Chocolate Cakes, Cherry and Chocolate Brownies, Profiteroles, Apple and Almond Galettes, Mocha Bars, Sticky Toffee Puddings, Banana and Chocolate Crumble Tartlets, Coconut Cream Tartlets
The next section in the book explains the Techniques you will need to know to make the yummy recipes – tips about baking ingredients, baking equipment, decorating equipment, how to test eggs for freshness, how to separate eggs properly, how to whisk egg whites, prepare and line a cake pan, prepare chocolate (yum!), make a ganache (with a recipe), how to whip whip cream and pipe with a bag and nozzle. There are instructions for making and baking cupcakes and miniature cakes, as well as, tips on how to fill the cupcakes and tricks for piping cupcakes. Making cake pops is also explained clearly in the Techniques section – both by hand and by using a cake-pop pan (with a handy recipe to make the cake-pops dense enough to work in the pan!).
Other Techniques included are:
- Buttercream Frosting Recipe
- Royal Icing Recipe
- Piping Buttercream Borders
- Piping a Buttercream Rose
- Piping dots, beads, and flowers
- Melting and tempering in a microwave
- Piping with Buttercream Frosting (with specific examples and tip recommendations for piping shell border, ziggzag border, swirl border, dot border, stars and star border, piped leaves, basketweave, grass, longer grass, rosette border, pulled bead border, c-scroll border, rope border, ruffle border).
- Piping with Royal Icing (with specific examples and tip recommendations for piping scrolls, rope, filigree, beads and stringwork, shells and stringwork, ruffles and rosettes, shell border with stringwork, star border, pulled beadwork, swirl border, zigzag ruffles, damask 1, damask 2, swirls and picot dots and trailing branches).
- Piping with Chocolate
- Brushwork Embroidery
- Painting a Color Wash
- Using Sugar Gems
- Strengthening Fondant
- Crumb Coating a Cake
- Stippling and Sponging
- Piping Filigree with Royal Icing
- Using Icing Sheets
Then we move to the recipes.
The recipes are broken down into categories for:
- Cupcakes and Muffins
- Mini Cakes and Cake Pops
- Mini Bakes and Bars
- Patisserie and Tarts
The outer edges of the sections are colour coded too – to make it easier to flip to the section you want quickly!
There are more than 100 recipes for Little Cakes & Cake Pops included in Cupcakes and Mini Cakes.
DK Canada Books has kindly granted me permission to share the following excerpt from Cupcakes & Mini Cakes.
Excerpted from Cupcakes & Mini Cakes – copyright 2015 Dorling Kindersley Ltd.
Raspberry, lemon, and almond bars
Sweet almond cake topped with tart raspberries is a delicious treat.
Serves 8
Prep 20 mins
Cook 35-40 mins
8 in (20cm) square loose-bottomed cake pan
Freeze for up to 2 monthsIngredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ cup ground almonds
⅔ cup unsalted butter, cubed
1 cup superfine sugar
juice of 1 lemon (about 3 tbsp)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
7oz (200g) fresh raspberries, chopped
confectioners’ sugar, to dust (optional)
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Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line the base and sides of the cake pan with parchment paper. Sift the flour into a bowl, add the baking powder and ground almonds, and mix well. In a pan, melt the butter, sugar, and lemon juice together, stirring until well combined.
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Stir this syrupy mixture into the dry ingredients, then mix in the vanilla extract and the eggs, one at a time, until the mixture is smooth and well combined. Pour into the pan, then scatter the raspberries over the top of the mixture. Bake for 35–40 minutes, or until golden, and a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
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Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out and cool completely on a wire rack. Dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving (if using). To serve, cut into rectangles.
If your Mom loves to Bake, this book will make a fantastic gift – the instructions make even the more elegant recipes included achievable!
You can purchase your own copy of Cupcakes and Mini Cakes from Amazon.
Shopping from Canada:
Shopping from the United States:
Shopping from the UK:
Other books featured in the DK Mother’s Day Boutique are:
- Natural Beauty
- What Plant Where Encyclopedia
- Canadian Gardener’s Guide
- Dressmaking Step-by-Step
- Grow All You Can Eat in 3 Square Feet
- Grains as Mains
- Quilting
- The Shakespeare Book
- High Intensity Interval Training For Women
- Style Your Perfect Wedding
- Smithsonian Great Maps
- Photography
- Smithsonian History of the World in 1,000 Objects
- Coffee Obsession
- Smithsonian Fashion
- Healing Foods
- Complete Family Nutrition
- Strength Training
- Wine A Tasting Course
All images are used with permission from DK Canada Books. For more information about DK Canada Books – visit their Website, Facebook or Twitter!
Photography by: Steve Baxter, Clive Bozzard-Hill, Martin Brigdale, Tony Cambio, Nigel Gibson, Francesco Guillamet, Michael Hart, Adrian Heapy, Jeff Kauck, David Munns, David Murray, Ian O’Leary, Roddy Paine, William Reavell, Gavin Sawyer, William Shaw, Howard Shooter, Carole Tuff, Kieran Watson, Stuart West and Jon Whitaker.
Recipe Writers and Cake Decorators: Yvonne Allison, Ah Har Ashley, Anna Guest, Asma Hassan, Mrs. J. Hough, Carolyn Humphries, Tracy McCue, Sandra Monger, Juliet Monteforte, Amelia Nutting, Catherine Parker, Jean Piercy, Emma Shibli, Karen Sullivan, Penelope Tilston, and Galina Varese.