Girl Gourmet Cupcake MakerAs I mentioned in my last post, today I bought a Girl Gourmet Cupcake Maker at the flea market. It was missing the mixing bowl, spatula and measuring spoon – and it came with only 2 cake mixes and no frosting mixes – but it was only $4. The girls could not wait to use the cupcake maker and we did so tonight after dinner. The consensus was that it was fun. ()Here is the review by Mika, my 8 yo).
The concept is pretty easy – you mix cupcake mix with a little bit of water, put it in a lined cupcake mold, put it in the steamer and microwave for 30 seconds – then let cool for one. Meanwhile you fill the frosting tube with frosting, put it in the stand, put the cupcake below it and push the arm: the frosting comes down while the cupcake spins around, making a twirl. The kids thought it was quite fun – though it’s messy to fill.
What the kids (in particular Mika) enjoyed the most is being able to 1) do it by themselves (though I was there helping) and 2) have cupcakes in a couple of minutes.
We tried the two mixes we got with the kit. One did not come out but the other one did. They both tasted quite good. We then proceeded to make a few more cupcakes with angel food cake mix. To make them, we mixed well the mix with water. I started with 3 Tbsp. mix to 1 Tbsp. butter but it was too thick so I added more water until it had a thick but runny consistency. Then we microwaved for 35 seconds and, voila, the cupcakes were ready. They came out very well – though we found the angel food cake too sour for our taste. Tomorrow we’ll use regular cake mix. The disadvantage of that is that regular cake mix requires eggs and oil, so rather than doing it by the spoon we’ll probably have to make 1/3 of the package (given that it calls for 3 eggs). Not too big a deal, though. I’m pretty sure that any cupcake recipe would work, btw.
Our kit didn’t come with the frosting, but given the reviews of the frosting at Amazon I wasn’t too heartbroken. Instead we got some whipped frosting at the supermarket (I know, the stuff is nasty). I think the consistency was just right, not too runny that it would leak out of the frosting tube, but soft enough that it easily came out, but the hole on the tip is too wide so too much frosting comes out – and you end up with half as much frosting as cupcakes. I probably should make our own frosting instead.
What I would never do is buy their refills. They cost $12 for enough mixes to make and frost 5 cupcakes! That’s $2.40 a cupcake (if I can still do math). And these cupcakes are ridiculously small (though really, a good size for a child). By comparison I spent $4.50 for the cake mix, frosting w/ sprinkles and cupcake liners – and I can make tons of cupcakes with that.
Now, would I buy the kit again? Definitely for $4 – even if the kids don’t use it again (and Mika says she totally want to), it was worth the fun we had with it tonight. I would not pay $20 for it – but if you could get it for half that it wouldn’t be a bad deal (if for no other reason than the price of the refills).
Update: We tried it today with regular yellow cake mix (cake mix + eggs + butter + water), mixed in the mixer and then cooked for 35 – and the results are great! Much better than either the mixtures that came with the set or the angel food cake. The cake rises very nicely and it’s fluffy, the kids love it. We did make the whole package of mix, I refrigerated the leftovers in a lidded bowl and they worked just as well the next day.
We have given up on using the froster, however, as fun as it is. It’s too much trouble to fill it up each time. Instead the kids are just frosting them with a knife.