Book Description There's no better authority on delectable desserts than Martha Stewart. She and her ingenious team of editors have consistently created the most delicious recipes, and their dedication to simple instructions, how-to photographs, and beautiful styling is unparalleled. And there's no more in-demand dessert right now than cupcakes.
Martha Stewart's Cupcakes
Martha Stewart's Cupcakes also includes templates and clip art for decorative flourishes, an equipment glossary, and step-by-step instructions for basic and advanced decorating techniques, plus ideas for presenting and packaging the cupcakes in Martha's trademark style.
From Martha Stewart's Cupcakes: Martha's Meyer Lemon Cupcakes
The mild and sweet flavor of Meyer lemon is one of Martha's favorites; these zest-flecked cupcakes are filled with Meyer lemon curd, which peeks out from the tops. The fruit, which is actually a lemon-orange hybrid, is generally available at specialty stores in winter and early spring. If you can't find Meyer lemons, use regular lemons instead. The recipe yields a lot of cupcakes, so you may want to consider these for a bake sale or large gathering, such as a shower or special birthday celebration.
Cupcake Ingredients
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
2 tablespoons finely grated Meyer lemon zest, plus 2 tablespoons fresh Meyer lemon juice (from 1 to 2 Meyer lemons)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 3/4 cups (3 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups granulated sugar
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
7 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting
Lemon Curd (made with Meyer lemons; ingredients and directions below)
(Makes 42)
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour, zest, baking powder, and salt.
2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in cream cheese. Reduce speed to low. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in lemon juice and vanilla. Add flour mixture in three batches, beating until just combined after each.
3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 28 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.
4. To finish, dust cupcakes with confectioners' sugar. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a coupler and a medium round tip (#8) with curd. Insert tip into top of each cupcake, and squeeze some curd below top to fill the inside, then lift the tip and squeeze more curd in a pool on top. Filled cupcakes can be kept at room temperature up to 1 hour (or refrigerated a few hours more) before serving.
Lemon Curd A high proportion of lemon juice gives curd its intense flavor. As an acid, the juice also prevents the yolks from curdling when heated (unlike when making pastry cream, which requires the extra step of tempering). You can substitute an equal amount of juice from other citrus, such as lime, grapefruit, or blood orange.
Lemon Curd Ingredients
2 whole eggs plus 8 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 6 lemons)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, room temperature
(Makes about 2 cups)
Directions
1. Combine whole eggs and yolks, sugar, and lemon juice in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Cook, whisking constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat. Add butter, a few pieces at a time, whisking until smooth after each addition. Strain through a fine sieve into another bowl, and cover with parchment paper or plastic wrap, pressing it directly on surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled and firm, at least 2 hours (or up to 2 days).
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Lack of high altitude adjustments:
I purchased this cookbook with high expectations and am now left utterly deflated. After following the devil's food recipe exactly, I was left with a cupcake that fell apart and would not come out of the cupcake liner. After rereading the recipe, I noticed that there was not a spot with a high altitude adjustment recommendation. Living at 6000 feet, such a recommendation would have been helpful and would likely have saved my cupcakes. I find it appalling that Ms. Stewart does not have a high altitude... more info
Pretty Good:
I received this cookbook and Cupcakes Galore for Christmas, and to be honest I use the other book more often. I've made two recipes from this book, the banana pecan cupcakes and the chocolate peanut butter ones, and they were both very good. A lot of the other recipes look good, but what stops me from using them is the huge yield. It's not unusual for one recipe to make 36 cupcakes and be nearly impossible to scale down to a portion more appropriate for someone who lives alone. In addition, a lot of the... more info
disappointed with recipes:
I bought this book as i love the cupcake stores that are now opening. I have been disappointed with martha because I have now realized she does not test her recipes. I have made 8 of the cupcake recipes, and there is something "off" on every one, and all of these things are recipe flaws;
1- the tiramisu cupcakes call for coarse salt - the salt does not dissolve in the recipe and while eating the cupcake you will crunch into a large piece of salt
2- the rich chocolate frosting is very expensive... more info
Good Ideas:
I tried making the Chocolate Salted-Caramel mini cupcakes (in standard size), and everything went perfectly. Until it can time to taste them. The batter was simple and came out great, the caramel came together easily (who knew I could make caramel), they all tasted great...seperately. The problem came when the caramel cooled to room temp, as would be the case if you were bringing them somewhere. Instead of having a nice soft, flowy caramel (like I was expecting) it was a lump. Not real hard like the wrapped... more info