View source for Eat Me!: The Stupendous, Self-raising World of Cupcakes and Bakes According to Cookie Girl by Xanthe Milton

{{infobox1
|title=Eat Me!: The Stupendous, Self-raising World of Cupcakes and Bakes According to Cookie Girl
|author=Xanthe Milton
|reviewer=Sue Fairhead
|genre=Cookery
|summary=The most amazing book of baking recipes I have ever come across.  The only disadvantage is that the cover is bright pink...
|rating=5
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=160
|publisher=Ebury Press
|date=March 2010
|isbn=978-0091925116
|cover=0091925118
|aznuk=0091925118
|aznus=0091925118
}}

What a stunning book this is.  The inside, that is.  I was almost
stunned in a less positive way by the brightness of the front cover.
I don't like pink at the best of times, and this book is very, very
pink.

But that is my single - and rather petty - complaint.  For I can
forgive even pinkness in such an incredible recipe book.  The subtitle
describes it as stupendous, and I would agree.  Most superlatively
positive adjectives could accurately describe these recipes put
together by 'Cookie Girl', who, I gather, has an online business
providing cakes and cookies, at rather high prices.  Having now tried
and tested a couple of the recipes myself, I can see why people would
pay almost any amount to get their hands on these confections.

The book itself is (well, other than the outside cover) a total
delight.  The recipes are divided into four seasonal sections. Each
section begins with a couple of pages describing the author's
childhood memories of shopping and baking at different times of year,
with mention of special celebrations and the cakes created for them.
The writing is sensory and rich, inviting the reader into the author's
home and kitchen.

Then the recipes themselves have brief introductions at the top, and
most of them have sumptuous photographs attached.  I thought I'd made
quite a few cake and biscuit recipes in my time.  What could be so
special about these?  Cupcakes are, after all, just a mixture of
butter, sugar, eggs and flour with optional flavourings such as cocoa
powder or lemon rind.  Right?  Well, so I have fondly imagined for
more years than I care to count.

That was until I paged through the book to find something for which I
had the ingredients.  I didn't have to look far to find 'hazelnut
marble cupcakes'.  These two-tone delicacies have chopped roasted
hazelnuts in part of the mixture; melted chocolate AND chocolate chips
in the rest.  The combination is inspired.   And since I only had
fairy cake size cases, I made 20 rather than the predicted 12.  They
were incredible.  They didn't even rely on a rich topping or
decoration to make them special.

The next recipe I tried was the chocolate oat cookies.  Supposed to
make about 20, I managed to produce 40 by using heaped tablespoons of
mixture. The recommended ones must have been huge.  I wondered if they
would prove to be different from the usual chocolate chip oat cookies
I've made before.  I did as the recipe told me, chopping a mixture of
milk and dark chocolate rather than using a bag of chocolate chips.  I
confess that I grumbled inwardly at the hassle of chopping blocks of
chocolate.  But I will not do so again.  They were, without question,
by far the best cookies we and our friends had ever eaten.

It would be very tempting to work through this book from start to
finish, sampling such delights as lemon meringue cupcakes, or
passionfruit sandwiched biscuits on a regular basis.  But as I was
browsing through, yet again, I glanced once more at the front cover.
In what might have been a prophetic moment, I imagined the bottom
horizontal bar of the first E vanishing.  Now the title said not 'EAT
ME!' but 'FAT ME!' Alas, that would be the most likely result of too
much indulgence in these recipes.  While the photographs of the author
show her as reassuringly slim and healthy, she's rather younger than
me.  So, reluctantly, I'm putting the book back on my shelves, to keep
for special occasions.  I expect to find many special occasions this
year.

Disclaimer: Please don't buy or borrow this book if you're
gluten-free, or dairy-free, or sugar-free, or anything else-free
(though it should be fine for vegetarians).  Substitutions can be made
for most ingredients but they wouldn't be the same.  And if you
seriously need to lose weight, then it would probably be best not even
to give it a quick glance in the bookshop.

But if you enjoy baking, and aren't worried about calories or
allergies, then I recommend it extremely highly.  Even if it is bright
pink.

Thank you very much indeed to the publishers for sending this to the
Bookbag.  And to Bookbag for sending it to me.

If you enjoy this book, you will probably never want another recipe
book for cakes or cookies.  But for a bit of balance you might also
like to look at [[Easy Indian Cookbook by Manju Malhi]].  Or perhaps you
could glance at [[The Thrift Book: Live Well and Spend Less by India Knight]], which might leave you with more grocery money available for
cakes and cookies...

{{toptentext|list=Bookbag's Christmas Gift Recommendations 2010}}

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