Tidbits Book Review - Cupcake Kit

Written by Rosemary Mantini | 30 September 2009

Cupcake Kit – Elinor Klivans (Raincoast Books) ($26.95) 

Score: 4.5/5 - This cookbook is packed with fantastic recipes, although one of them did need some tweaking.

Pros: I love how this cookbook is packaged. It comes in a small pretty box with a ribbon for a handle and contains a cookbook with 14 recipes, 250 decorative baking liners, a reusable pastry bag and assorted piping tips. The recipes are very easy to follow. The introduction lays out all the basics. Klivans offers up lots of useful information about pans, batters, frostings, baking, storing and transporting. She also gives very detailed tips on how to finish and decorate cupcakes so that they look fabulous.

The recipe section starts out with two basic cupcake recipes (one yellow and one chocolate) and two basic frosting recipes (cream cheese and chocolate). Klivans suggests that we try those first before moving on to the remaining 10 more advanced recipes. It’s good advice. I would have been disappointed if I had invested a lot of time and money in a cupcake recipe that, for whatever reason, didn’t work. Starting out with a simple recipe means that you can always toss it out and start again, if necessary. Because the basic mixes came together so easily and produced very good results, I had the confidence to try something more complicated. The liners that come with the cookbook are really cute. They come in fanciful designs in pink, green, yellow and orange, stripes or polka dots. The liners are also different sizes allowing you to make medium or mini cupcakes. The best part is that the package comes equipped with a reusable pastry bag and tips making decorating quick and easy. I’m not an avid baker, so having the accessories all together in one package really came in handy for me.