Martha Stewart's Cupcakes: 175 Inspired Ideas for Everyone's Favorite Treat: A Baking Book

by Martha Stewart

The perfect cupcake for every occasion.Swirled and sprinkled, dipped and glazed, or otherwise fancifully decorated, cupcakes are the treats that make everyone smile. They are the star attraction for special days, such as birthdays, showers, and holidays, as well as perfect everyday goodies. In Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes, the editors of Martha Stewart Living share 175 ideas for simple to spectacular creations–with cakes, frostings, fillings, toppings, and embellishments that can be mixed and matched to produce just the right cupcake for any occasion. Alongside traditional favorites like yellow buttermilk cupcakes swirled with fluffy vanilla frosting and devil’s food cupcakes crowned with rich, dark chocolate buttercream, there are also sweet surprises such as peanut butter and jelly cupcakes, dainty delights like tiny almond-cherry tea cakes, and festive showstoppers topped with marizpan ladybugs or candy clowns. The book features cupcakes for everyone, every season, and every Celebrations (monogram heart cupcakes perfect for an elegant wedding); Birthdays (starfish-on-the-beach cupcakes sure to be a hit at children’s parties); Holidays (gumdrop candy ghouls and goblins ideal for Halloween revelers); and Any Day (red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for a picnic, or caramel-filled mini chocolate cakes for grown-up gatherings). In singular Martha Stewart style, the pages are both stunning in design–with a photograph of each finished treat–and brimming with helpful how-to information, from step-by-step photographs for decorating techniques to ideas for packaging and presenting your cupcakes. Whether for any day or special days, the treats in Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes will delight one and all.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Reference, How To, Foodie

352 pages, Paperback

First published June 2, 2009

About the author

Martha Helen Stewart is an American retail businesswoman, writer, and television personality. As the founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, focusing on home and hospitality, she gained success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing publishing, broadcasting, merchandising and e-commerce. She has written numerous bestselling books, was the publisher of Martha Stewart Living magazine and hosted two syndicated television programs: Martha Stewart Living, which ran from 1993 to 2004, and The Martha Stewart Show, which ran from 2005 to 2012.
In 2004, Stewart was convicted of felony charges related to the ImClone stock trading case; she served five months in federal prison for fraud and was released in March 2005. There was speculation that the incident would effectively end her media empire, but in 2005 Stewart began a comeback campaign and her company returned to profitability in 2006. Stewart rejoined the board of directors of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia in 2011 and became chairwoman of her namesake company again in 2012. The company was acquired by Sequential Brands in 2015. Sequential Brands Group agreed in April 2019 to sell Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, including the Emeril brand, to Marquee Brands for $175 million with benchmarked additional payments.

Reviews

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went to the bookstore today armed with a list of cupcake books and flipped through about 20 of them before deciding that Martha Stewart's Cupcakes was the only book that had everything I wanted. It was organized in a very logical way. It starts with the simple "any day" cupcakes and moves along at a balanced pace to more involved processes or thematic cakes. And no one cupcake category dominates -- but there are some nice surprises -- there's even a vegan chocolate cupcake recipe included. This will be my go-to resource for everything 'cuppy.'

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Cupcakes on pg 104 are easy and heavenly - I've made them twice now. Martha usually makes things waaaay more complicated then they need to be (and there is a good deal of that in this book - no way am I piping icing grass onto the top of cupcakes. Or crafting mushrooms out of meringue. Hell. No.), but there are a few recipes in here that are simple and delicious. I can only give it 3 stars due to Martha's typical over-the-top ways, but there are some gems in this cookbook.

[Laurie Garrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daughter and I wanted to make more cupcakes for the simple fact we eat less cake this away, I have no clue why. I kept looking for a good cupcake cookbook and found most of them just had cupcakes designed for kids. In the back of my mind I new Martha Stewarts cupcakes would be the only one for me. So I bought it. While listing to my daughter saying "don’t we have enough Martha Stewart cookbooks"? I say “so than what’s one more added to the kindle.” LOL.

When I revived the book and looked it over, I was very pleased with the over look of the book and how the pictures and pages followed, I couldn’t wait to start. This book has just basic cupcakes from chocolate chip, yellow buttermilk, carrot, red velvet, coconut, devil’s food and more. You get the icing recipe for each one too. Then there is the dipped and glazed cupcakes which is, brown sugar pound cake, streusel cupcake, pumpkin brown butter cupcake and more. Then you go to Simple and sweet cupcakes like marble cupcakes, raspberry marble cheesecakes and more. Next we have filled and layered mint cupcakes like filled brownie, black forest, peanut better filled chocolate and the categories goes on. You get tips on how to decorate cupcakes for the holidays. What I have made I’ve really enjoyed making and eating them. Well I guess the eating more;)

[Marie Z Johansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who doesn't love cupcakes? I am about as far away from being a 'Martha' as far can get. Granted, I would love to be more organized and, if I had more space, I probably would be. One thing that Martha always does, however, is put out a wonderful cookbook! I love this cupcake cookbook. There is something for everyone within it's pages from simple to super cute and fussy. I was happy to find this at our wonderful local library and can highly recommend this great cupcake compendium!

[Becky Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now we're talking, cupcake! This book is what baking is about. Every formula is amazing! There is are basic chocolate and white cupcakes for beginners and then there are the fun advanced cupcakes for bakers to try! I love a challenge when I bake and this book delivers with heavenly cupcakes that are sure to please!!!

[Ari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Todo en el me encanta, creo que he realizado la mitad de las recetas y hasta ahora todas han sido un éxito (unas más que otras). Las imágenes son fabulosas, la preparación es completa y fácil de replicar, nada de ingredientes extraños, mi sección favorita es la de "holidays" y me gusta mucho que tenga una sección de básicos. De mis favoritos para la cocina!!

[Rachel Yoder · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the BEST cupcake recipe book ever.

[A · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel a bit of a sap, publicly promoting anything Martha Stewart, but I definitely lingered over this one and kept the book 4 days past the due date.

I read the whole thing twice, certain parts more than that. There are some top-notch decorating ideas in this book. I love how the step-by-step instructions and accompanying pics make complex looking designs suddenly seem quite do-able. Even the meringue mushrooms, tho I'm not rushing to try them. I've tried the grass with ladybug which turned out easy enough to teach to a class of newbies. And the basketweave with strawberries was the same difficulty level. There are many cleverish ideas and the monster cupcakes are fantastic. If the cake and frosting recipes turned out, then this book would've been upgraded to 5 stars.

Well I tried the basic yellow cupcakes and although they did not taste awful, they did not taste good. After that bomb, I wasn't real enthused to try another recipe, but the applesauce spice cupcakes turned out yummy with unexpectedly superior texture. I also liked the accompanying brown sugar cream cheese frosting. This was my kind of cupcake. But not for everyone, especially those who don't love spice cakes or cream cheese frostings (sorry Justin). Also tried the swiss meringue buttercream. Mixed feelings about it. Silky smooth, slightly shiny, melt in your mouth, not too sweet and distinctly different. BUT, my stomach couldn't handle much of it, maybe the high butter content? And refrigeration seriously alters the frosting. Annoying to have to wait for it to come to room temp before eating. A high effort frosting compared to many others, but I'm glad to have finally tried it.

The recipes were kind of a wash, but the book still warrants 4 stars for its decorating ideas and beautiful presentation.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exciting and inspiring ridiculousness abounds in this gorgeously presented book from homemaking queen, Martha Stewart.

Cupcakes are all the rage, cute, easy to serve and available in a diverse range of classic and more contemporary flavors. Martha's latest kitchen offering shares recipes for the most basic vanilla cake and buttercream frosting to elaborately decorated mini-cakes. This book is idea inspiring and should you pull off one of the more challenging recipes, you will impress the crowd. One of the benefits of this book is that Martha shares a number of techniques that can be used beyond making cupcakes. How to spin sugar (a daunting, messy looking feat, not for the faint hearted) or how to pipe frosting to achieve a certain texture are skills that you can teach yourself and take to other desserts.

At the very least, this is a fun book to just look at and ooh and aah over. At best, it's a creativity inspiring cookbook on how to make today's most popular treat and suitable for the novice baker or expert pastry chef.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gives cupcakes the respect they deserve. I thought twice about getting a Martha Stewart book for fear she would include desserts that were more fancy than delicious, and the book would be overloaded with recipes for muffins masquerading as cupcakes with only a few delicious recipes. While there are recipes for pistachio raspberry tea cakes and zucchini spice cupcakes (I guess that is to be expected when you include 175 recipes for cupcakes), they are the exception rather than the rule. The book mainly focuses on delicious sounding treats like peanut butter chocolate filled cupcakes, mocha cupcakes, and red velvet cupcakes. And, there are many entries that capture my favorite phenomena – when two dessert forms collide into one, such is the case with tiramisu, cookie, S’mores, and Boston cream pie cupcakes. Glorious.

The photographs in this book make me drool.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was going through my to-read list and was surprised I didn't rate this sooner. This is one of my go-to books when I'm making treats for an occasion. Cupcakes may seem like a passing phase, but for me, they have earned their place. They are easy to make and decorate, easy to clean up, and easy to eat. How can you go wrong?

I've had this book for a while and I tend not to rate cookbooks until I try a few recipes to make sure I can have an informed opinion. I have tried many recipes from the book and some are better than others. But the ones that are really, really good are absolutely worth it. I've used this book so often that I've broken the spine in several places. Even if I didn't necessarily like the finished product (some of the chocolate cupcake flavors are one-note), I've always gotten great feedback from others who were eating them.

[Catherine Woodman]

This is a very good cupcake cookbook, with some fancy ideas for cupcakes (not as good as the Shelly Kaldunski cookbook)--but it has a couple of presentation ideas that are very good--like making twelve cupcakes with Roman Numerals 1-12 around a clock, so a NYE party that is small, and doing cookie either inthe shape of a letter, or a circle with a letter cut out, for the top of cupcakes for a celebration--or little diploma cookie on top of a cupcake for graduations)--there are some muffins in here as well, and it is a good cookbook if you are starting to think aobut getting really good at cupcakes as small desserts and want some good ideas--her recipes are really above average and she does a reasonably good job of explaining how to make things come out more or less the way they look in the picture. This is recommended for a good baker.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Since I've been thinking about Sophia's birthday, I've been browsing lots of cupcake books lately. After making two recipes from this book, I'm sure my good old-fashioned buttermilk cake recipe (from the Gourmet cookbook) is the way to go for kids' birthday parties. Perfectly light with a well-rounded flavor thanks to the mysterious properties of buttermilk, they knock Stewart's flavorless cupcakes out of the park. Too-fancy cupcakes seem pretentious and kitschy; old-fashioned nuanced simplicity is nostalgic and makes all the kids (including me!) happy. Stewart's cupcake book isn't something I'd recommend unless you aspire to something cutesy and a little too thick in smack. (Yes, I've got that much to say about cupcakes. Time to go find a real book.)

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Please note that the title of the book is 175 insired IDEAS for cupcakes not RECIPES. There are a dozen or so recipes for basic cupcakes and then a handful of recipes and descriptions for various fillings, glazes and frostings. All of which look delicious and tempting. All of which are available for free from her website.

The main thrust of this book is miniature cake decorations and flipping through it certainly is inspiring, but not particularly tempting. After all, a fancy faux bois white chocolate frosted chocolate cupcake is, at the end of the day, still just a chocolate cupcake.

[Purplepaperreader · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a lot of recipes and basic information - this book is about the content of your cuppies rather than a lot of elaborate decoration. There are some decorative ideas (mostly in the kid's section of the book) but I would say this book leans towards the basics. I've made many of the recipes in this book and have been happy with them, but I also haven't had anything that I would classify as absolutely knock your socks off amazing so try the recipes and adapt them to your liking. Lots of icing variations as well with great instructions

[Jennifer Haydon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just bought this book from amazon - that's how cool I think it is. It has tons of variations of cupcakes - from the everyday vanilla with vanilla frosting to the fantastically whimsical and creeptastic monster cupcakes. Every recipe has a color picture so that you get to see all of the different ways you can decorate your cupcake. I already knew that I would love this book because of how happy I was with Martha Stewart's Cookies and I have not been disappointed!

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the prettiest baking books I've encountered, and the recipes are spot on and accurate (Early Martha was not like that, if you remember). There is a recipe for a chocolate cream cheese sour cream icing that I could (and have) eaten out of the bowl like pudding. Screw the cupcakes - the frostings in this book are to die for. Bonus: no treacly smiling Martha or dog photos. Just cupcakes and frosting.

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must have this book. I would normally hold off and add it to a Christmas gift list but I'm just too excited about it. I checked this out from the library thinking I would just photo copy the recipes I was interested in but that would basically be the whole book. I'm very excited about the frosting recipes, now I can make something other than plain buttercream!

[Katey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm one of those weird people who love to read cookbooks, and this one is great. Chockfull of scrumptious recipes, it left me wanting to race to the kitchen and begin concocting some of these marvelous little cakes! The recipes are clear to follow, and each one has a picture of the cake (always helpful). The only problem is deciding which cupcake to bake first...

[Valerie Sherman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh Martha, you went there. This book is amazing, and I can't wait to make all the cupcakes. What I like is not just the recipes and techniques, which are clearly awesome, but also the layout - the recipes are very mix-and-match (frosting, cake, decorations, themes). I appreciate her recommendations, but I also appreciate that she gives her cookbook users some creative leeway.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cupcakes. I know there's been lots of articles that this trend is "over" but really, how can anyone be over cake and frosting that's been shrunk to bite size form? Now normally, I'm not a huge Martha Stewart fan, but her cooking and baking books are great. Just because I don't cook in a perfectly coordinated blue and eggshell colored kitchen shouldn't be held against me!

[Patricia Florio]

You could eat the pages of this cupcake book it all looks so delicious. It's an inspiration for all of the five senses rolled into one big chocolate, pink, sprinkled cupcake. I gave it away not to be tempted by making cupcakes on a daily basis. So now my daughter-in-law bakes them for me twice a year when I cheat off my diet.

[Debby · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend gave me her spare copy of this cookbook with glowing recommendations and it did not disappoint! I have made the stout cupcakes and the brown sugar pound cakes so far and both were delicious, the photos are beautiful, the recipes are easy to follow, and the book is the perfect size for storage.

[Spotwin]

Formulatic compared to her cookie book, though I do like the photographs for each and every recipe. Layout easy to read. Part of the current fad for cupcakes...following NYC Magnolia Bakery frenzy. Don't we all need atleast one good cupcake book on our cookbook shelves?

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous! Great recipes and tips for making these cupcakes even better (if that's even possible)!

These are not your mother's cupcakes. There are lots of different flavors and creations, not to mention icings and more!

[Kim Forsythe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a big fan of cupcakes (I know, I'm crazy, but they're too sweet). I bought this to make Doug's birthday cupcakes and found that it has many recipes for less-sweet muffin style cakes. This book will get me through many festivities and occasions.

[Judith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely book. I'm disappointed of the lack of nutritional info and healthier options. Most of us can't indulge in these delectable cupcakes outside of special occasions. If I had these tasty treats in my kitchen the temptation would be too much. I'll leave it to you to bake me just one :).

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This cupcake book was a little out of my league, since baking without a "box" is still sort of new to me. But fun, nonetheless. I couldn't page through this when hungry, because my mouth would just start watering.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perused through the recipes and tips. Great selection of cupcakes and there is a picture of each kind (which I love in any cookbook). Plus, there are some really great decorative tips. Can't wait to make some!

[Cara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! I've gotten lots of wonderful cupcake recipes from this book. They have all been amazingly yummy! Though most of the recipes are practical and simple enough, being that this is Martha Stewart, a few are a little pretentious and take a little too much effort for my taste.