Cookbooks

Fanciful peaks in a spectrum of shades crown cupcakes with a motif inspired by a vintage Russian cookbook. You could also opt to use just one color of frosting, or leave it untinted. White cupcakes, made with egg whites only (instead of whole eggs), are very light and delicate. For a stronger vanilla flavor, scrape the seeds of one vanilla bean (halved lengthwise) into the milk in step one, and omit vanilla extract.

Buttery and crunchy, sugar cookies are delicious on their own and make delightful cupcake toppers when decorated with royal icing. This dough is a favorite of Martha Stewart Living food editors for its flavor and texture, which is just right for rolling out and cutting into shapes. Follow the recipe below to make your own designs, or cut and bake as directed in specific cupcake recipes.

Make your own sweet garden with an array of cupcakes in bloom. One batch of Swiss meringue buttercream (page 304) is enough to decorate two dozen cupcakes, including the piped flower versions. See Sources, page 342, for where to find the tools and candies used below.

A well-loved American layer cake is scaled down to cupcake form. Golden raisins give these cakes added texture, but you can omit them. You can also add one cup walnuts or pecans; toast them as directed on page 323, let cool, then finely chop before stirring into the batter at the end, after the flour mixture. Unfrosted carrot cupcakes make delicious snacks.

Mint-infused milk, along with mint extract, adds flavor (but not color) to pale buttercream; the dark chocolate cupcakes are also flavored with mint. A cluster of chocolate mint leaves on top suggests the primary flavor component of the finished treat. The leaves may admittedly not be an “any day” endeavor, but they can be prepared a day or so in advance. You can, of course, serve the cupcakes without any topping other than the frosting, or garnish them with a few chocolate curls (see page 323) shaved from a mint-flavored bar.

Use this dough to make gingerbread boys and girls—or other shapes, such as giant dinosaurs—for topping cupcakes (adjust baking time as necessary). The crisp cookies are flavored with a blend of spice—ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg—and sweetened with a combination of molasses and brown sugar. Follow the recipe below to make your own designs, or cut and bake as directed in specific cupcake recipes.

Spell out a birthday wish—or whatever your celebration calls for—with homemade dot letters on a big bunch of cupcakes. The colorful letters (and numbers) are made of tinted royal icing piped onto parchment paper and allowed to harden before they’re placed atop the cupcakes. To save time on the day of the party, pipe the decorations the day before.

Kids of all ages are bound to adore white cupcakes studded with chocolate morsels. Whipped egg whites folded into the batter produce a light and airy crumb. Tossing the chocolate chips with a bit of flour helps ensure they will be distributed throughout, rather than sink to the bottoms as they bake. The chocolate frosting is so rich and satiny, you’ll want to pair it with other cupcakes in this book, especially yellow buttermilk (page 26) and devil’s food (page 34).

These beautiful piped-flower cupcakes seem to have been just been picked from a spring garden. They may look intimidating, but with a bit of practice (on parchment paper), you should be able to produce the piped designs with relative ease. Stems can be trickier than they appear, so be sure to also try out a few of these; pipe too quickly and the stems break, too slowly, and they won’t be straight. (Any breaks may be filled in with more buttercream.) Before piping onto cupcakes, lightly mark the pattern on the frosting with a skewer or toothpick. When piping, use your writing hand to hold and squeeze the bag near the top and your other hand to steady and steer the tip.

This recipe is used to make the brownie hearts on page 213; some of the batter is baked in muffin tins, the rest in an 8-inch pan for cutting into heart-shaped toppers.

Pastel-colored gelato is used to top mini cupcakes, but you can substitute sorbet or ice cream. The one-bowl vanilla cupcakes are baked in paper nut cups, available at craft-supply stores (see Sources, page 342), or you can use mini muffin tins lined with paper liners. For an authentic Italian touch, serve with small plastic ice-cream spoons.