Buttercream Dreams

Yum!!! If you are looking for a delightfully fun cookbook, this is it. Not only do you get recipes for unique cupcakes, but also lucious looking ice creams. What could be better???

Though I haven't tried baking any of them yet, the recipes appear to be do-able for the typical baking fanatic. The ingredients are attainable.

I loved the temptimg photos sprinkled throughout. This book will make your favorite baker smile.

A digiital copy of this book was provided to me by NetGallery in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Yes, this is the second cupcake book I've read lately. I LIKE cupcakes.
The other one I read was way over my head. Dare to Bake!: Cupcake Recipes to Awaken Your Sweet Tooth. The author of this book was also on Cupcake Wars, but unlike the Dare to Bake author he didn't win. They sent him home not because his cupcakes were nasty, but because he forgot the pumpkin in his Pumpkin Cardamom cupcakes. His book is the better of the two though.
He owns the business "Small Cakes" and get a gander at these bad boys.

Plus, his recipes are easy to follow and don't require you having to google ingredients to figure out what they are. The man has a Peanut Butter Pretzel cupcake. I'm dying.
The only thing I didn't like about this book is that there isn't enough cupcake recipes. There is a small section at the front of the book for them and then the second part is ice cream recipes followed by cookie type one. I WANT damn cupcakes.

Great book, clear and concise directions and great imagery.

The title certainly lives up to its name. One man's dream turns into several stores and some of the tastiest recipes you'll find. I made the Cornflake Marshmallow Chocolate Chip Cookies. They were fantastic! Full of pictures, you'll know exactly what the recipes are suppose to look like. I highly recommend this book for anyone that likes sweet treats. The recipes are simple, yet sophisticated enough to please any palate. Most of all, the recipes work and the reward delicious!.

Chock full of such delicious recipes I really didn't know where to start.
As a total bonus there was a section on Ice Cream and another with some cookies and other baked treats.
I was very impressed with the range of different cupcake recipes and also the way they had their own matching icing recipes.
They are all very simple to make with their wonderful differences in flavour and looks.
I have now made 3 of the different varieties and they have all been very easy and so delicious once cooked.
I have also had a go at one of the ice-creams and it worked out very well even though it was my first time making ice-cream.
This book has made my family very happy and increased my dessert inventory substantially.

Look at all those delightful, mouth-watering images and easy to follow recipes! What an absolute dream, even for a complete kitchen-klutz like myself.

I feel strangely compelled to make cornflake and marshmallow chocolate-chip cookies immediately. And ice-cream. Lots of ice-cream. Could it get any better? Right now, I doubt it.

It's encouraging to find a book that doesn't talk down to you and you know it's a winner when you're already looking forward to trying all of them out!

What a treat! Jeff Martin has given us a great cupcake book with some unusual flavors. I particularly like the bubble gum flavor. The recipes are easy to follow and most use simple ingredients that are not difficult to find. This would be a great add to a baking collection.

This is a cute recipe book that is divided into 3 sections: cupcakes, ice cream, and misc. desserts (like cookies, fudge, and whoopie pies). The photos are cute and book is laid out nicely.

Although I'm not much of a baker, I always look through the ingredients lists in cook books to see if I could actually make one of the recipes if I tried. Surprisingly the recipes in this book are quite simple and don't leave you scratching your head over the ingredient lists like most of the cook books I look at.

This is a good pick for anyone looking to go beyond the Betty Crocker boxed mixes and make a good cupcake on their own.

I LOVE cupcakes, cookies and ice cream. Granted the only baking I really ever have time for is out of the box or picking something pre-made at one of the local Korean bakeries. The recipes included in this cookbook don't seem too difficult to make. They are easy to follow and the ingredients aren't too hard to obtain.

The photographs alongside the recipes look so scrumptious that I almost tried to eat my tablet while I was reading. If you are looking for a cute, easy-to-follow cookbook for desserts then this one is for you!

I'm hoping to get some free time in the future to try a few out--for sure the Pumpkin Cardamom Cupcakes !

This was written by pastry chef and owner of Smallcakes Jeff Martin. This was a fun book of some of the recipes he uses in his shop. The book is split in to three parts: cupcakes, ice creams and misc desserts (cookies, fudge, etc). I found the recipes easy to follow and the ingredients easy to come by. There were pictures throughout showing what the final product should look like and those were all beautiful. I tried two recipies in the cupcakes and misc sections and they all came out well. Big hits with the whole family. Up next is the ice cream section.

Overall a really well done cookbook. Great pictures and layout, easy to follow and delicious recipes.

A delightful little recipe book for cupcakes, ice creams and treats. The instructions are clear and straightforward. The story from humble beginnings is nice to put it into context, make the recipes homely, and yet professional at the same time: everyone loves the underdog.

This is the kind of book that, after flicking through in the bookstore, I would easily buy for baking with my 6-year old nephew. Most of the recipes are ones I want to bake. I can't wait to try the Nutella ice cream on my nephew, and I think he'd love making the cupcake recipes.

This book is amazing. I loved the pictures of each recipe. I can't wait to try the key lime cupcakes and the Nutella Ice cream. It just doesn't get any better than that. I really enjoyed reading the story on how they got started. I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves cupcakes and ice cream.

Buttercream Dreams sounds like a fabulous new dessert right out of my imagination and this new cookbook lives up to the name. I'm a HUGE fan of cupcakes, have been ever since I was little. Cupcakes are fun, fit in your hand and bring a sense of nostalgia to dessert or tea time.

The author Jeff Martin is the owner of Smallcakes and has been featured on Food Network's Cupcake Wars (love that show). His whimsy for creating mouth-watering works of art comes across in this adorable cookbook. The photographs are gorgeous and the recipes are easy to follow. Being a baker myself, I had to try a few (okay who am I kidding, I tried them all) recipes. Some of my favorites include:

Cookies 'N' Cream cupcakes

Key Lime cupcakes

Orange Creamsicle cookies

Red Velvet Whoopsie pies

The best thing I can say about this colorful cookbook is that each recipe turned out even better than the picture. In the world of food, that is a big deal! :)

This cookbook is ideal for any baker or someone who loves cupcakes. Mother's Day, Weddings, Birthdays are just a few dynamite gift-giving occasions that are a perfect reason for buying this book.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for allowing to read and review this amazing cookbook!

Review Title: Delicious and gorgeous cupcakes and more

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 frostings. 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 via Netgalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

Starting a successful cupcake shop and then taking it further into franchising allowed the author to share his love of sweet treats with us all. An excellent assortment of recipes and an uplifting success story at the same time.

The cupcake recipes seem easy to follow and inclusions of what the mixture should look like and how they should behave (for example, "you should be able to make a figure eight in the batter") really help you to gauge whether you're doing the right thing as you go along. Ice cream recipes are a little more involved (as might be expected) but still seem approachable. Ingredients are also pretty common to most kitchens with nothing seeming too 'out there' to find at a local convenience store. The sweet treats interested me least personally, but seem to follow the same easy-to-follow instructions with common enough ingredients.
It's a shame that these cookbooks tend to assume the user has an electric mixer for certain recipes. It doesn't say whether it is advised, in these instances, *not* to mix by hand or if it will be just as good without one.
I love photos in cookbooks, and these photos are really great! The inclusion of metric conversions and equivalents was a thoughtful one.
Engaging, vibrant graphic design. I like that there was a lot of information provided about the baker and the bakery. It is interesting to know, but also I think it brings even more personality to the recipes somehow.
I'm really excited to try some of these recipes and will probably post a public review on my blog once I have tried several of them.

This is the sort of book I'm looking for. There are lots of pictures of yummy looking food that the kids will want to eat. The recipes aren't at all threatening looking and I can see the kids trying them. They don't require hard to get ingredients. This is definitely on my t0-buy list.

Here is a direct link to my review for this title. Thank you for allowing me to review it.
https://www.nightowlreviews.com/v5/Reviews/Diana-Coyle-reviews-Buttercream-Dreams-by-Jeff-Martin Diana Coyle, Night Owl Reviews - Book Reviewer

This is a fabulous cupcake cookbook with a great sense of humor. Mr. Martin begins the book with the history of his cupcake career, including his appearance on the first season of "Cupcake Wars" where he baked an incredibly delicious Pumpkin Cardamom cupcake and forgot the pumpkin. He admitted that openly, was sent home, and used his faux pas as very popular marketing tool.

The recipes are well written, easy to follow and yummily illustrated. His sense of humor and love of family and business are neatly interwoven into the book. This is makes the reader feel that he's in Mr. Martin's shop having a friendly chat, sharing recipes and family lore. Very likeable book. And the ingredients are easy to find and not expensive.

Don't read when hungry!!

Yum! What a great book! Buttercream Dreams is filled with gorgeous images and wonderful recipes. A must have for every wannabe baker or Small Cakes lover!

This has become my favorite reference guide for cupcakes and frosting. The peanut butter is by far my family favorite. This also has ice cream which I have not tried yet but plan to soon. I have read through the ice cream and it sounds amazing! I did purchase this as I got so impressed by this that I had to have it!!

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4 Stars

My opinion: I must say that Andrews McNeel is my favorite in cookbook publishers. I have yet to review one from this publisher that isn't unique, yet simple enough for even the novice of novice bakers.

Jeff Martin's Buttercream Dreams is no exception. Mr. Martin's cakes are simple, elegant and sometimes fun, but easy to prepare treats for any occasion. The recipes are laid out with very simple instructions and then partnered with outstanding photos. This book will create dessert ideas outside of the run of the mill cakes.

Great book with delicious, dreamy, ideas