Things We Like Thursdays -- What's New Cupcake?

I harbor deep, unrealized fantasies of learning to decorate cakes, cookies, and cupcakes like a pro.  But honestly, the quest scares me a little bit.  There's fondant and gumpaste, gel coloring, rollers, and a whole slew of specialty language and tools to learn before I can even begin.

Or so I thought.

What if creating gorgeous, fun, whimsical cupcakes was easy?  What if anyone could do it with stuff they picked up at their local 7-11?  Well, seems Karen Tack and Alan Richardson have unlocked the secret code to do exactly that and shared it in their two cookbooks Hello, Cupcake! and What's New, Cupcake?.

Easter Flower cupcakes from Hello Cupcake's blog

Autumn Leaves and Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes

Recipes located here

What I love about these books is that the recipes use everyday items like M&Ms, Tootsie rolls, jelly beans and Circus Peanuts to make gorgeous cupcakes.  And the recipes are all accessible.  Instead of being intimidated I find myself inspired that I, too, can do this.  I don't like all of the recipes (a lot of dreaded CCC's. If you're a Cake Wrecks reader you know what I mean) but what I find most important about the books is they give you confidence, flexible ideas and techniques with examples that you can then leverage, like any technique, to make pretty much whatever your imagination fancies.