I have never had a cupcake from Smallcakes – the cupcake business founded by Jeff Martin but am eagerly awaiting the opening of one of their shops in my city in Texas. In the meantime, I have this wonderful book “Buttercream Dreams” with which I can make my own version of some of their tried and true recipes.
Visually, the book is amazing to look at. It isn’t overly long at less than 100 pages but there are many recipes for both cupcakes and for some fantastic types of frosting. In addition to the cupcakes, there are also a number of ice cream recipes and some other sweet treats (including cookies.)
From Chocolate malted milk ball cupcakes (with black and white malt frosting) to Infamous pumpkin cupcakes (with cardamon buttercream), each of the 15 cupcake recipes are more delicious sounding than the last. Jeff tells the story of how his pumpkin cupcakes became infamous – very funny and sounds like something I could do under pressure. For those who have watched “Cupcake Wars” on television, you probably already know what Jeff did. I have only watched the show sporadically, so the story was new and very humorous to me.
There are also eight ice cream recipes included as well as seven other sweet treats. I must admit that the Salted Caramel Ice Cream has my name written all over it. The Blueberry muffin flavor as well as the Red Velvet ice cream are going to be made over and over again at my house. In the treats chapter, the Oatmeal cream pie cookies and the Mom’s Holiday Fudge are easy to make and follow recipes that my husband has offered to try his hand at.
I really enjoyed the preview of this book and am planning on purchasing the book for myself and for my elder daughter (who loves to make cupcakes.) I’m also planning on visiting Smallcakes when the shop is opened here in my town and see if my version of their recipes holds up to the real deal.
I received a temporary digital copy of this book from the publisher, Andrews McMeel Publishing, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.
