The popularity of single-serving cakes, better known as  cupcakes, has its origin in childhood. Most of us have fond memories of peeling back the paper liner and pressing the soft cake and creamy frosting into our mouths, wiping the excess off our cheeks and nostrils and licking our fingers in delight.

Anne Byrn -- aka "The Cake Mix Doctor" -- brings back the joy of childhood desserts with this guide to converting conventional cake mixes into unique and unusual homemade desserts like Tie-Dye Cupcakes with Psychedelic Buttercream or Key Lime Pie Cupcakes with Coconut Meringue.

Byrn shares her secrets for doctoring up mixes to produce memorable cupcakes using chocolate curls, shiny gold and silver dragees, toasted pecans, lemon and orange zest strips, edible flowers. Her methods are fast, easy, and the results are can be impressive.

Cupcakes have recently achieved panache among adult consumers. "Like home-baked meatloaf and real mashed potatoes, they are terribly chic," Byrn writes. "Walk into an upscale bakery in New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles and you will see great gilded cupcakesliterally put up on pedestals. They are often coated in fudge or caramel and might have a candied violet or white chocolate shavings on top."

While some of Byrn's recipes like her Hot Fudge Spumoni Ice Cream Cake cater to the sophisticated crowd, most are just fun and celebratory homemade treats for kids of all ages. The recipes usually produce 24 cupcakes, just the right amount for a school function or a birthday bash. 

Look to the front of the book for basic instructions and a list of more than four dozen items to keep on hand in the fully stocked cupcake baker's pantry.

The rest of Byrn's book is devoted to 135 recipes for cupcakes, frostings, a few muffins, and some special party presentations like a cupcake Christmas tree and a`cupcake wedding cake.

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