When the new, for-kids Cake Pops by Bakerella set arrived on our door step, I put it aside because I thought it would be a fun activity for the kids to do with the babysitter during the last few weeks of summer vacation.
As it turns out, I was only half right.
Over the past two years, Cake Pops have seemed like they were everywhere. The adorably decorated sweet treats that started on Bakerella’s web site made their way into magazine mentions, special occasions, new cookbooks and, of course, copycats. How fun that kids could now make Cake Pops at home with this cute and colorful kit?
While the kit did keep the kids entertained one sunny afternoon, unfortunately that is where the positive aspects of it ended.
Here are our take-aways:
– Too many steps and too complicated. Although the box states “ages 5 and up,” that is overly optimistic.
– Even though the cake was frozen for longer than the directions suggested, it was difficult to keep it from crumbling when shaped.
– The “grater” was pointless. While I understand the need for safe items within a kit that is specifically designed for children, it doesn’t crumble the cake at all. Far better to have an item that works and perhaps label that as a “grown-up needed” step.
– Once on the sticks, the cake pops kept sliding down. Even with extra frosting.
– The molds were too cumbersome to use.
While I love to support fellow bloggers and their various endeavors, this particular item is just not something I can recommend. It was such a disappointment, I have to wonder how rigorously it was tested with the target demographic.
Stick with the cookbook if you’re a Cake Pops fan – next!
How disappointing! I’ve made cake pops the old fashioned way before…just literally crumbling up cake and mixing in frosting and it’s worked fine – totally kid-friendly!
Joanne recently posted..Recipe: Chili Mole
I honestly don’t know how manufacturers who make these disappointing products aimed at kids can face themselves in the mirror everyday. It’s absolutely amazing how crappy a product can be.
I haven’t tried this cake pop kit (frankly I’m about good tasting food, not cute food, and I just don’t care for cake pops) but recently Dan wanted a Blizzard maker in Goodwill. For $2.99, it was unused and still had the Blizzard mix and toppings in the box. I wouldn’t normally buy something like that, but I used it to keep him quiet while we shopped. Usually I can manage to steer him away from something before we leave but he really wanted this – he loves ice cream and he loves to ‘cook’.
You could only make about 1/2 cup of Blizzard at a time, maybe. We didn’t use the mix and try to crank our own ice cream, we just put soft ice cream (very soft) in there and the mixer couldn’t handle it. You could barely keep the machine from coming apart, the part that pushes out the ice cream didn’t fit tight enough so most of the ice cream stayed in the machine. Ridiculous. It’s not even electric or anything – it’s a manual crank!
It really ticked me off because this is pretty much how almost everything is made anymore. Even the same things we had as kids might still be around but they aren’t made as well. Board games are practically disposable, they are so flimsy now.