What do you think?
Robicelli's a Love Story, with Cupcakes: With 50 Decidedly Grown-Up Recipes
The ultimate guide to gourmet cupcakes, featuring grown-up flavors (figs! whiskey! fried chicken!) and the delicious story of a family saved by a love of sweets
No food coloring. No fondant. No red velvet. Upscale bakery Robicelli’s has become a buzzed-about, in-demand purveyor of decidedly adult cupcakes. Nixing cutesy, pastel-colored dollops of fluff for real ingredients and rich French buttercreams, the husband and wife team have reinvented the cupcake craze for a more sophisticated palate, making each a small piece of the greatest cake ever made. Now their extraordinary recipes are available to the home cook.
Now their extraordinary recipes are available to the home cook,
This book captures not only the Robicelli’s unique take on baking but also their edgy, unapologetically hilarious take on life, including how they survived severe economic setbacks to launch the country’s hottest cupcake brand— a venture begun with thirty dollars in borrowed quarters.
Offering both cupcake recipes and a recipe for life that calls for a stash of “emergency cake,” Robicelli’ A Love Story, with Cupcakes is a baking book like you’ve never seen before.
No food coloring. No fondant. No red velvet. Upscale bakery Robicelli’s has become a buzzed-about, in-demand purveyor of decidedly adult cupcakes. Nixing cutesy, pastel-colored dollops of fluff for real ingredients and rich French buttercreams, the husband and wife team have reinvented the cupcake craze for a more sophisticated palate, making each a small piece of the greatest cake ever made. Now their extraordinary recipes are available to the home cook.
Now their extraordinary recipes are available to the home cook,
This book captures not only the Robicelli’s unique take on baking but also their edgy, unapologetically hilarious take on life, including how they survived severe economic setbacks to launch the country’s hottest cupcake brand— a venture begun with thirty dollars in borrowed quarters.
Offering both cupcake recipes and a recipe for life that calls for a stash of “emergency cake,” Robicelli’ A Love Story, with Cupcakes is a baking book like you’ve never seen before.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published October 17, 2013
About the author
Allison Robicelli
7 books9 followersAllison Robicelli is a James Beard-nominated food writer, bestselling author, critically-acclaimed baker, public speaker, occasional tv/radio personality, and all-around good time.
Her writing has appeared on Eater, Taste, Extra Crispy, Food52, She Knows, CNN, First We Feast, Skift Table, Bon Appetit, Epicurious and more. Specializing in humor pieces, she's been called "laugh out loud funny" by the New York Times, "fantastic" by The Atlantic, & "vulgar and completely inappropriate" by some woman on Amazon.
She and her a husband Matt are the owners of Robicelli Studio, a culinary content and consulting firm. Together they've written recipes for such publications as Food Network, Food & Wine Magazine, Every Day with Rachael Ray, Wine Enthusiast, and Fine Cooking Magazine. On television, you've seen them on VH1, Food Network, Cooking Channel, Good Day New York, WNBC-TV and many more.
For recipes, writing and more, visit http://www.robicellistudio.com
Her writing has appeared on Eater, Taste, Extra Crispy, Food52, She Knows, CNN, First We Feast, Skift Table, Bon Appetit, Epicurious and more. Specializing in humor pieces, she's been called "laugh out loud funny" by the New York Times, "fantastic" by The Atlantic, & "vulgar and completely inappropriate" by some woman on Amazon.
She and her a husband Matt are the owners of Robicelli Studio, a culinary content and consulting firm. Together they've written recipes for such publications as Food Network, Food & Wine Magazine, Every Day with Rachael Ray, Wine Enthusiast, and Fine Cooking Magazine. On television, you've seen them on VH1, Food Network, Cooking Channel, Good Day New York, WNBC-TV and many more.
For recipes, writing and more, visit http://www.robicellistudio.com
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
December 14, 2013
A first in my book blog's history, a cookbook. My uncle befriended Allison Robicelli this year and when Robicelli's: A Love Story with Cupcakes (with 50 Decidedly Grown-up Recipes) by Allison and her husband Matt came out, he bought a copy. He read it cover to cover and laughed his ass off. Laughed his ass off? Yep. Then, he promptly bought me a signed copy for Christmas and I've now read it cover to cover. This is a cupcake cookbook filled with the Robicelli's love story with each other, with food and with cupcakes. Robicelli is a hilarious, foul-mouthed Brooklynite and her personality shines in this book. I not only want to make all the cupcakes in this book, I also want to be Allison's friend. Feeling inspired after this one and I can't wait to make my first batch of Robicelli cupcakes with my favorite little sous-chef.
Thisismybookblog.blogspot.com
Thisismybookblog.blogspot.com
April 17, 2014
I love this cookbook! It's not just a collection of boring recipes. It's a love story peppered with unique, one-of-a-kind recipes for treats you won't find in your average run-of-the-mill bake shop. Allison Robicelli has a delicious sense of humor and biting wit. Not only is Allison's voice clear through her writing but she hits you over the head with it, in a good way, swear words included. I loved the recipes and I loved the story of a cute mom and pop with their Irish twins, making their way in the world of giant corporations, flavorless frosting spackled cupcakes, and economic recessions.
November 25, 2014
Look, I am obsessed with cupcakes. I don't eat them a lot, but I dream about perfecting the buttercream frosting, the scaled down cakes in beautiful foil wrappers, the little dusting of cinnamon or whatever over the cupcake. The cupcakes tell the world that there is a party and they can be part of it, as long as the group is not larger than 12 or 24. So naturally a whole cookbook on delectable and interesting cupcakes needs to be on my shelf.
The flavors sound awesome. I eat with my eyes and so the peanut butter-bacon-banana cupcakes, a la Elvis, are enough to hook me in. Oh, that's not enough for you? How about cupcakes featuring blueberry port wine from LONG FREAKING ISLAND, where I am from and currently live? Your dulce de leche cupcakes, cinnamon roll cupcakes, blackout cupcakes, chicken n waffles cupcakes (wtf?) all make appearances.
I have made two of the recipes so far (dulce de leche and carrot cake) and only two despite dreaming about cupcakes, because the recipes are really involved. Each step requires 5+ ingredients and there are so many components - the cake, the filling, the buttercream, the sugar syrup/wash, the garnish. My lord it's an entire meal in one cupcake. The cakes also turned out kind of dense too, despite my following the instructions to the letter. Maybe it's a personal preference. Also, their American buttercream recipes stink, go somewhere else for a good buttercream recipe.
The flavors sound awesome. I eat with my eyes and so the peanut butter-bacon-banana cupcakes, a la Elvis, are enough to hook me in. Oh, that's not enough for you? How about cupcakes featuring blueberry port wine from LONG FREAKING ISLAND, where I am from and currently live? Your dulce de leche cupcakes, cinnamon roll cupcakes, blackout cupcakes, chicken n waffles cupcakes (wtf?) all make appearances.
I have made two of the recipes so far (dulce de leche and carrot cake) and only two despite dreaming about cupcakes, because the recipes are really involved. Each step requires 5+ ingredients and there are so many components - the cake, the filling, the buttercream, the sugar syrup/wash, the garnish. My lord it's an entire meal in one cupcake. The cakes also turned out kind of dense too, despite my following the instructions to the letter. Maybe it's a personal preference. Also, their American buttercream recipes stink, go somewhere else for a good buttercream recipe.
March 29, 2014
Ever take a cookbook out of the library and think "Oh, I'll probably want to write down one recipe from this book, but I'll flip through all of them, then bring it back in a few days", only to get home and start to flip through it and go "Fuck, I have to bring this back? Will Amazon/Barnes and Noble/etc. be able to get me my copy before I return this? I'll feel lost without it."
This was my reaction to this book. I cannot wait to get back to a proper kitchen so I can make ALL THREE (out of 50 recipes there are THREE) dedicated to bacon, as well as the Carbombs.
This was my reaction to this book. I cannot wait to get back to a proper kitchen so I can make ALL THREE (out of 50 recipes there are THREE) dedicated to bacon, as well as the Carbombs.
December 15, 2013
You have to be able to overlook the language, but the story itself is real and inspirational. The recipes look and sound phenomenal and I'm very excited to try some after the round of Christmas baking is finished.
December 25, 2013
I want to make every single recipe in this book.
January 20, 2019
This might actually have good recipes. But the author is apparently so self-important that this book is more of a blog. Just give me the recipes. And the author seems to think that she needs to be edgy and use the F-word...in a recipe book. Really? Just give me the recipes.
July 13, 2025
This book was mentioned in another cookbook I read so I had to check it out. There is a LOT going on here—in the recipes, in the stories. Too much for me, as much as I love cupcakes and Brooklyn! 🧁
May 31, 2015
I feel a little guilty rating this since I usually try to cook a few things from a cookbook before posting. And I will, eventually, once I'm back in the (kitchen) saddle again and the cooler weather lulls me back into baking mode. Triple digit temperatures are not a time when I want to be futzing around with French buttercream. (Yes, matter of fact, I do have air conditioning, but it's a psychological thing, these hot summer days.)
This may be one of the most entertaining cookbooks I've ever read. It's part relationship memoir, part cupcake treatise, and all heart. The authors are down-to-earth and wonderfully snarky. They do drop the f-bomb like a verbal tic, so no doubt some Bake Sale Betty somewhere will likely clutch her pearls at the language. I can't say it bothered me, but profanity loses its punch when overused and becomes just plain tiresome. Still, I was there for the cupcakes. Grown-up cupcakes without garish colors, cutesy gimmicks, those stupid nasty sprinkles. Cupcakes with such wonderful flavors as pistachio, pear and mascarpone, red wine and peaches. chocolate chestnut. Yum. The banana cashew is definitely on my to-try list. Ok, I can do without the cupcakes with chicken and bacon in them, but I appreciate the bravado of trying something different.
From just eyeballing the recipes, they look solid. I think the effort to make French buttercream would be well worth it. It's intimidating, for certain, but the authors do a good job of explaining it in simple, concise steps.
Right now I'm going to go with three stars and reserve the option to going to four stars if recipes turn out as well as I expect, but it will probably be several months before I try them. (Come on, autumn.)
This may be one of the most entertaining cookbooks I've ever read. It's part relationship memoir, part cupcake treatise, and all heart. The authors are down-to-earth and wonderfully snarky. They do drop the f-bomb like a verbal tic, so no doubt some Bake Sale Betty somewhere will likely clutch her pearls at the language. I can't say it bothered me, but profanity loses its punch when overused and becomes just plain tiresome. Still, I was there for the cupcakes. Grown-up cupcakes without garish colors, cutesy gimmicks, those stupid nasty sprinkles. Cupcakes with such wonderful flavors as pistachio, pear and mascarpone, red wine and peaches. chocolate chestnut. Yum. The banana cashew is definitely on my to-try list. Ok, I can do without the cupcakes with chicken and bacon in them, but I appreciate the bravado of trying something different.
From just eyeballing the recipes, they look solid. I think the effort to make French buttercream would be well worth it. It's intimidating, for certain, but the authors do a good job of explaining it in simple, concise steps.
Right now I'm going to go with three stars and reserve the option to going to four stars if recipes turn out as well as I expect, but it will probably be several months before I try them. (Come on, autumn.)
January 3, 2016
i didn't like the inconsistent voice. they swear a lot in the first half of the book (there's an f-bomb in sentence 2 of the intro), and then it drops off. they snub preteniousness, and then place gold leaf on top of their cupcakes. it's like they tried too hard- they seem much more down-to-earth, genuine, and less wishy washy in the interviews i later found to compare their true selves against their book selves.
that aside, there were a number of delectable sounding goods: the bea arthur, a mocha cake topped with cheesecake buttercream and espresso ganache. the tart bourdaloue, with pear cake, almond buttercream and poached pears. the banana nutella, an amalgamation of banana cake, nutella buttercream and banana-nutella praline. will update this review when i try some of these.
and then there were the weird: the kiwanis (vanilla cake filled with banana cream, topped with chocolate buttercream, strawberries and cream puffs), the buffalo chicken (carrot celery root cake topped with blue cheese buttercream, buffalo sauce and fried chicken). while i wouldn't touch these with my fork, i love that they are willing to try new things. which brings me to the fact that this book was endlessly entertaining, both in its anecdotes and recipes.
these recipes all seem time-intensive (they outright say that the kiwanis is the most ridiculous in terms of prep time), but there are "half-assed" footnotes at the end of most of the recipes which give you shortcuts. and i like their leftovers suggestions, even if they are troll answers most of the time (yes, i know i can eat the banana walnut custard straight).
that aside, there were a number of delectable sounding goods: the bea arthur, a mocha cake topped with cheesecake buttercream and espresso ganache. the tart bourdaloue, with pear cake, almond buttercream and poached pears. the banana nutella, an amalgamation of banana cake, nutella buttercream and banana-nutella praline. will update this review when i try some of these.
and then there were the weird: the kiwanis (vanilla cake filled with banana cream, topped with chocolate buttercream, strawberries and cream puffs), the buffalo chicken (carrot celery root cake topped with blue cheese buttercream, buffalo sauce and fried chicken). while i wouldn't touch these with my fork, i love that they are willing to try new things. which brings me to the fact that this book was endlessly entertaining, both in its anecdotes and recipes.
these recipes all seem time-intensive (they outright say that the kiwanis is the most ridiculous in terms of prep time), but there are "half-assed" footnotes at the end of most of the recipes which give you shortcuts. and i like their leftovers suggestions, even if they are troll answers most of the time (yes, i know i can eat the banana walnut custard straight).
October 28, 2013
"Robicelli's: A Love Story, With Cupcakes" is not your average cupcake book. Far from it. As soon as I opened it and saw that it opened with a quote from "This Is Spinal Tap" I had a feeling I was in for something awesome and different, and I was right. Much like the chefs who came up with them, the recipes in this book are creative and at times a little offbeat. My personal favorites are the ones named after each of the Golden Girls (The "Betty White" is a brown sugar sour cream cake with cheesecake buttercream and lingonberry jam). But what also sets this book apart from other cupcake cookbooks (of which there might be too many) is the way the couple tells their story in it. They've got a really sharp sense of humor that comes through when they talk about their life together in Bay Ridge, and about running a mom and pop bakery in a recession. It makes for a fun read as well as a great cookbook.
May 19, 2015
It's a solid 2.5 because even if you are from New York, I can do without all the profanity. The recipes for these beautiful and uniquely flavored cupcakes are complex but they give detailed instructions and possible substitutions. But be aware before you venture into the fray with a couple of self described cupcake snobs.
Allison and to a lesser degree Matt also tell their life story and love story between flavoring French or American buttercream and having you scrape down the mixer bowl. Two kids from one of the boroughs who both love food and meet through friends forging a bond and a need to share that love with all.
I wish them continued luck because they are frank about working together, raising kids and keeping a business going when the economy and all your personal karma goes bad. If I'm ever in the neighborhood, I'll stop in to see for myself the imaginative cupcakes.
Allison and to a lesser degree Matt also tell their life story and love story between flavoring French or American buttercream and having you scrape down the mixer bowl. Two kids from one of the boroughs who both love food and meet through friends forging a bond and a need to share that love with all.
I wish them continued luck because they are frank about working together, raising kids and keeping a business going when the economy and all your personal karma goes bad. If I'm ever in the neighborhood, I'll stop in to see for myself the imaginative cupcakes.
June 9, 2015
I love that they don't use food coloring, fondant, not-eatable items. I like that they rate the difficulty and complexities of the recipes; they do provide some shortcuts at times. Some very decadent indulgentes. I may try a couple.
They have a website - http://www.robicellis.com/buy-our-boo...
They have a website - http://www.robicellis.com/buy-our-boo...
July 13, 2016
I don't even like cupcakes all that much, and this is my new favorite cookbook.
March 17, 2020
If you love cupcakes. this is the book for you! Full of recipes of delicious sounding cupcakes, it would take you a long time to bake your way through this book.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews