Monday 12 September 2011

Cupcakes and Muffins - Ann Nicol Flame Tree Publishing

I have recently been approached by Flame Tree Publishing to review my first cookery book. I was excited to receive a copy of " Cupcakes and Muffins" by Ann Nicol to review, this is a lovely chunky wipe clean softback filled to the brim with delicious looking recipes.




The author Ann Nicol is an expert on cake baking and cake decorating, having written for many leading magazines such as BBC Good Food, Women's Weekly and Home and Freezer Digest. Her passion is all things baking and she has published many books in this topic area.

The book is divided into 8 sections which cover all you need to know to bake and decorate great looking and more importantly great tasting cupcakes and muffins.Sections such as basic techniques, once they're done and decorating lead you through baking and decorating the cakes and muffins.

The book has lots of recipes for you to try, some that are more unusual as well as the basics and has many ideas for novel ways to decorate your creations. Each recipe is illustrated and all are easy to follow and include storage details as well. Whilst loving the looks of cupcakes and muffins, some tend to be all topping and have little or no flavour when it comes to the cake part, so I was keen to try recipes from the book which were more about the cake and its flavour than the topping. I wasn't disappointed.

I tried the recipe for Banoffee cupcakes which used up some over ripe bananas I had in the kitchen, with the following results.


I also baked the Gingerbread Cupcakes as well




Both recipes gave great results and tasted as good as they looked. The book has a lot to offer both the beginner and the more experienced baker and has in particular a strong section on decoration and one on  basic cake recipes which can be used in a variety of different ways.


I would thoroughly recommend this book and this is seconded by the 5 star ratings it has on Amazon, where you can purchase a copy. It would make a great gift for a girlfriend or the bride to be.


The publisher also has a facebook page and is currently running a competition as well if you would like to enter.

3 comments:

Susan said...

They both look good but the banofees would be a winner for me! x

Cats_cupcakes said...

This book looks fab - I'll def have to try and get my hands on a copy! The banoffee cupcakes look really good! Loving the blog :)

Cat x

Carrie said...

Having bought 2 of her books, I am very delighted with the contents of this book. There is so much to bake and the choice is wonderful, a must have for any occasion.

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