Book-It 'o12! Book #32
Oct. 1st, 2012 11:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alivemagdoleneThe Fifty Books Challenge, year three! (Years one, two, and three just in case you're curious.) This was a secondhand find.
Title: Cupcakes, Cookies & Pie, Oh, My! by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson
Details: Copyright 2012, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Synopsis (By Way of Publisher's Overview): "Two million copies later, the New York Times best-selling authors of Hello, Cupcake! and What’s New, Cupcake? are back, applying their oversized imaginations not just to cupcakes but to cookies, pies, cakes, and other treats.
Hello, Cupcake! inspired millions to become cupcake artists and launched an international sensation. Now the talented pair who started it all returns, with projects that are more hilarious, more spectacular, more awe-inspiring—and simpler than ever.
But they don’t stop at cupcakes. No sweet treat is safe from their ingenuity: refrigerator cookies, pound cakes, pie dough, cheesecakes, bar cookies, and Jell-O are all transformed into amazing and playful desserts. There’s something for everybody in this book, and every single item you need can be found in the neighborhood supermarket or convenience store.
Playing with your food has never been so exciting—or so easy."
Why I Wanted to Read It: I enjoyed the first two books by these authors, Hello, Cupcake! and What's New, Cupcake? and it seemed likely I'd enjoy this one, too.
How I Liked It: A constant criticism of the authors and these books is the fact that while the style might be staggering, the taste comes up short (and there are also practical concerns about, say, putting the not-intended-to-be-swallowable, like chewing gum, in with the edible decorations). The authors appear to not only have ignored that criticism, but defied its value entirely.
There isn't a project in this book that isn't an impressive work of art. Does that mean they're delicious? In many cases, probably not. However, the techniques and tricks that make up each complex project could easily be borrowed and added to a proven-delicious recipe for flair. Perfect waterlilies crafted from white chocolate dried on the back of a spoon (!), marshmallows snipped to make hog's ears, cupcakes trimmed to make a frog's mouth, a high-heel shoe... there is enough here that even if you decide the finished projects are too much, even just one or two highlights borrowed from this book could make a more simple project sparkle.
The photography, as it was in the past two books, is beautiful and this book more than the others (particularly the first) featured much improved visuals as far as the "how-to" gets there. Given the complexity of these designs (and the fact that unlike the first two books, this book is not limited to cupcakes-- whether or not that's a sign of the cupcake's wane in popularity or a matter of expanding their sweet empire is up for debate), it's more necessary than ever, and the book not only offers the (artful!) photo tutorials, but encourages the reader/potential chef to use his/her own imagination in re-imagining cake decorating.
In conclusion, it's fairly certain this book will not win over culinary critics of the franchise, but even they would have to applaud the sheer artistry involved and made do-able (at least theoretically) by the average baker.
Notable: Skeevy bit in the last book in this series concerned the fact one recipe was intended to create cupcakes that looked like giant, squishy roaches. While this book has a few "ick" moments (oozing blood bandage cookies with "bruised" scar cupcakes would probably be number one), the most probably come from a different kind of taste.
While I cringed at the chapter "Guys and Dolls" which illustrates extremely (to unintentionally comically) stereotypical gender-interest treats (boys: skateboards, camouflage ducks, dartboards, bumper cars; girls: make-up, shoes, dolls, purses), it was actually a picture in the chapter that made me queasy.
Guess which cookie is the problem cookie:
Title: Cupcakes, Cookies & Pie, Oh, My! by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson
Details: Copyright 2012, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Synopsis (By Way of Publisher's Overview): "Two million copies later, the New York Times best-selling authors of Hello, Cupcake! and What’s New, Cupcake? are back, applying their oversized imaginations not just to cupcakes but to cookies, pies, cakes, and other treats.
Hello, Cupcake! inspired millions to become cupcake artists and launched an international sensation. Now the talented pair who started it all returns, with projects that are more hilarious, more spectacular, more awe-inspiring—and simpler than ever.
But they don’t stop at cupcakes. No sweet treat is safe from their ingenuity: refrigerator cookies, pound cakes, pie dough, cheesecakes, bar cookies, and Jell-O are all transformed into amazing and playful desserts. There’s something for everybody in this book, and every single item you need can be found in the neighborhood supermarket or convenience store.
Playing with your food has never been so exciting—or so easy."
Why I Wanted to Read It: I enjoyed the first two books by these authors, Hello, Cupcake! and What's New, Cupcake? and it seemed likely I'd enjoy this one, too.
How I Liked It: A constant criticism of the authors and these books is the fact that while the style might be staggering, the taste comes up short (and there are also practical concerns about, say, putting the not-intended-to-be-swallowable, like chewing gum, in with the edible decorations). The authors appear to not only have ignored that criticism, but defied its value entirely.
There isn't a project in this book that isn't an impressive work of art. Does that mean they're delicious? In many cases, probably not. However, the techniques and tricks that make up each complex project could easily be borrowed and added to a proven-delicious recipe for flair. Perfect waterlilies crafted from white chocolate dried on the back of a spoon (!), marshmallows snipped to make hog's ears, cupcakes trimmed to make a frog's mouth, a high-heel shoe... there is enough here that even if you decide the finished projects are too much, even just one or two highlights borrowed from this book could make a more simple project sparkle.
The photography, as it was in the past two books, is beautiful and this book more than the others (particularly the first) featured much improved visuals as far as the "how-to" gets there. Given the complexity of these designs (and the fact that unlike the first two books, this book is not limited to cupcakes-- whether or not that's a sign of the cupcake's wane in popularity or a matter of expanding their sweet empire is up for debate), it's more necessary than ever, and the book not only offers the (artful!) photo tutorials, but encourages the reader/potential chef to use his/her own imagination in re-imagining cake decorating.
In conclusion, it's fairly certain this book will not win over culinary critics of the franchise, but even they would have to applaud the sheer artistry involved and made do-able (at least theoretically) by the average baker.
Notable: Skeevy bit in the last book in this series concerned the fact one recipe was intended to create cupcakes that looked like giant, squishy roaches. While this book has a few "ick" moments (oozing blood bandage cookies with "bruised" scar cupcakes would probably be number one), the most probably come from a different kind of taste.
While I cringed at the chapter "Guys and Dolls" which illustrates extremely (to unintentionally comically) stereotypical gender-interest treats (boys: skateboards, camouflage ducks, dartboards, bumper cars; girls: make-up, shoes, dolls, purses), it was actually a picture in the chapter that made me queasy.
Guess which cookie is the problem cookie:
