Review: The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook

Since Hummingbird bakery is supposed to be all the rage in London, England, I was really excited to get my own copy of their cookbook in my last Amazon order.

I bought Nielsen-Massey's Finest Quality Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Bean Paste from William Sonoma for $16 (CAD) to bake. Logically speaking, supreme vanilla should result in supreme vanilla cupcakes. Sounds like a safe bet.

Recipe Review: Hummingbird Bakery, Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting

• When preparing the ingredients, I was surprised to see how little sugar, butter and vanilla this recipe used. (In fact, a lot of the recipes in this book use very little sugar and butter.)

• I followed the directions carefully and added ingredients and mixed as per the book.

• I prepared 12 cupcake liners in my tray and started scooping the cups two-thirds full as directed.

• Hmm... Did a double take at the book since I only got 8 cups going. Weird. The recipe says "Makes 12".

• Moving along, I popped them in the oven and waited. Took them out and was surprised to see how pale my cakes looked. Hmm....

• As the cupcakes cooled, I prepared the icing.

• Having sampled some batter and icing along the way, I knew they were on the bland side but I really thought all of the flavours would come together nicely when the cupcake was complete.

• TASTE TEST VERDICT: Disappointing. Bland cake. Thick sponge consistency. Tasted very floury. Bland icing. Consensus: bland and boring. My worst cakes to date (yes, that includes my Duncan Hines Cake Fails).

My review on The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook:

• Delicious looking, beautiful, inspirational pictures.
• Beautifully laid out chapters.
• Recipes: BORING. Terrible. Waste of time, money and good ingredients.
• If the goodies in the actual Hummingbird Bakeries taste anything like what's in this book, I would be shocked.
• Buy Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book instead. (Martha hasn't failed me once.)

And in case you're still a glutton for punishment and are curious about the above recipe, I'm going to take the time to type this out for you from the book.

UPDATE 3/14/2011: See reader comments regarding their experience with this cookbook here.

::: Nathalie

HUMMINGBIRD BAKERY'S VANILLA CUPCAKES

Makes 12

FOR THE CUPCAKES

1 cup all purpose flour

a scant 3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

3 tbsps of unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup whole milk

1 egg

1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

8 tablespoons ice water

FOR THE FROSTING

2 cups icing sugar, sifted

5 tbsps unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 tbsps whole milk

a couple drops of pure vanilla extract

CUPCAKES DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees (F). Line cupcake tray with paper cups.

2. Put flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a bowl. Mix and beat at slow speed until you get a sandy consistency and everything is well combined. Gradually pour in half the milk and beat well.

3. Whisk egg, vanilla and remaining milk together in a separate bowl for a few seconds, then pour into flour mixture and beat well, scraping bowl along the way. Do not over mix.

4. Spoon batter into cupcake tray, two-thirds full and bake for about 20 - 25 mins or until golden brown. Insert tooth pick in the middle of a cake and make sure it comes out clean before removing from oven. Place on a cooling rack.

VANILLA FROSTING DIRECTIONS

1. While cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting. Beat icing sugar and butter together in mixer at low speed. Combine milk and vanilla in a separate bowl then add to butter mixture, a few spoons at a time. Mix well until light and fluffy, about 5 mins. The longer the frosting is beaten, the fluffier it becomes. Frost completely-cooled cupcakes with frosting.