Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery: Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery

I've owned this book now for almost 2 years and I can safely say it's the cupcake book I use most out of my extensive collection - so much so that the pages are stuck together with cake batter and buttercream! I have tried lots of recipes from this book including carrot cake, vanilla, chocolate, raspberry & white chocolate, coconut & lime, strawberry & cream, orange, lemon and amaretto to name just a few that come to mind. I have been told many times that the carrot cake cupcakes are the best people have ever tasted.I read previous reviews about dense or heavy sponge and to a certain extent I agree. There seems to be a bit of a battle between  The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook  and this one. I own both books and as far as I can see the main difference between them is that the Primrose Bakery book uses the creaming method (and no baking powder) to make the mixture rise whereas the Hummingbird bakery favour the all in one method (using baking powder). I think the omission of baking powder is the reason the primrose Bakery's cakes are slightly heavy, so all I do is add 1 teaspoon of baking powder to the mix and the cakes are perfect. I bake, on average, 2 batches of cupcakes from this book every fortnight to take into work and have always had favourable reports and they certainly disappear very quickly.Another tip I would give is that the icing amounts are very generous so if you are just spreading the icing with a knife you will probably have enough if you halve the mixture. I ice the buttercream with an icing bag and nozzle for a more professional finish. This uses more buttercream but even so I still have some buttercream left over. I have found that the more you use this book, the more comfortable you become with the recipes and you can tweak them to your own tastes. All in all, this is one book I reach for time and again in the kitchen.

There's a bit of a fad for baking at the moment - for cup-cakes in particular, it seems - and this book is one of many currently cashing on that trend. What sets it apart from the competition, in my opinion, are firstly, really tasty and appealing recipes, secondly, inspiring photography and cake-decorating ideas, and thirdly, lots of genuinely helpful tips from the authors, who bake cakes not just for their own 'Primrose Bakery', but also for Liberty, Fortnums and Selfridges. I particularly liked the fact that the recipes give quantities and cooking times for both full sized and mini-cupcakes.Examples of treats to try include :- raspberry cupcakes with a jammy centre and white chocolate butter cream, festive brandy butter topped chocolate cupcakes, and white amaretto cupcakes with amaretto cream. There are also some traditional full sized cakes such as lemon layer and coffee and walnut. I tried the vanilla cupcakes with vanilla butter cream first, in the mini sizes. The cake batter went further than the recipe suggested - I got more than 40 mini cakes, and very nice they were too. Not overly sweet, with a nice texture and slightly crispy golden top. The icing seemed slightly looser than the butter creams I've made before, though that did make it easier to spread.Ideas for presentation include the use of whole flowers, blueberries dusted with icing sugar, coffee beans, and peppermint candies.Great xmas gift, especially if paired with a mini muffin tin and some foil cake cases.

Great book just damaged in transitArrived in plastic bag rather than normal cardboardBrought as gift for daughter

The Primrose Bakery is one of the many Gourmet Bakeries that are springing up in London. They have two shops in Primrose Hill and Covent Gardens.And like many of the of these Bakeries they have published their own cookbook written by co-owners Martha Swift and Lisa ThomasAlthough it has been billed as a book for Beginners, it is not, the recipes are "clear" and "concise". This is a great addition to any cupcake bakers library.Split to sections, the main ones cover the Basics... Festive and Seasonal and then those for special occasions. The chapters cover both the cakes and the icings... Each cake has recommended toppings but with other suggestions as well.And I love it, over the course of one weekend and the icing on a batch of Lemon Cupcakes I now have a new favourite staple cupcake cookbookStrengths Clear Recipes - Builds on the Basics A very wide range of suggestions for Icings and Frostings - Can't wait to try the Brandy Butter Cream Icing Well written instructions An excellent book for both beginners and experienced cupcakers

I run a small business making cakes and cupcakes and, after trying hundreds (maybe slight exaggeration, but lots) of different recipes these are some of the best. The cupcake recipes in particular are really good - they work really well and turn out lovely little cakes each time. The basic buttercream recipe is very good and is the one I use all the time now and there are great ideas on how to decorate cupcakes too. The one thing I would say is that I tried the chocolate cake recipe in the book which said to use 20cm cake tins but it spilled ALL over the oven so it must mean deep cake tins - just a tip to save you spendng an afternoon scraping chocolate cake off your oven as I had to :) Apart from that I highly recommend it.

I bought this book after owning and loving 'The Primrose bakery Book', as with that book the recipes are gorgeous, with photos of every recipe, with a great layout and delicious recipes. I would advise buying this one before The Primrose Bakery Book, rather than after, as I felt that there was a lot of repetition (more recipes in the latter.) However, there are great recipes in this book that I'm not sure I would've wanted to miss out on had I not bought this book as well! It would make a great gift and is a great place to start if you're a beginner as they're are a variety of basic cupcake recipes with easy to follow instructions.