I like it. It's easy to use, takes little care and comes with some nice accessories, such as pop sticks, a drying rack, a little fork and a syringe. Though these items are not made for heavy use, they are more than adequate for us non-pros. If you follow the instructions, you can easily produce doughnut holes/cake pops. This item produces more pops in one batch than other makers on the market. I suspect the balls may be slightly smaller, but to a 6-year-old, that doesn't matter. A dozen at a time is more or less a 'batch' sothis model works well. The fork makes it easy to remove the balls from the maker and put them on a cooling rack. We've used a white cake mix, a brownie mix and a gingerbread mix and are pleased with the results. My wife used the injector to put melted marscapone into the gingerbread balls. It did a good job and the results are tasty. The key is to follow the instructions and to have someone who knows how the different type of mixes bake. The brownie mix takes a little longer than the white cake mix. The gingerbread pops took 3.5 minutes, but my wife decreased the water by about an ounce, so the batter was a little heavy. I did the white cake mix and baked them for 4.5 minutes each batch. The cake mix yielded 6.5 batches. The brownie mix produced about two dozen. Now some suggestions. Getting the right amount of batter into each well is crucial to a good pop; too little and they're not as round, too much and you get something that looks like Saturn and there's more clean-up. The brownies had mini-chocolate chips in them and many didn't make it into a ball. To get the right amount of batter and do it quickly, I recommend using a pancake batter pencil. You can add cake batter and squeeze out the right amount quickly. For thicker batters with chips and such, use a cookie press. The press should push the chips through. Trying to spoon a tablespoon of batter into the wells gets messy. You can use a canning (wide-mouth) funnel to transfer batter from your mixing bowl into the pancake batter pencil. Have fun.
-Like other reviews stated, you will get "saturn rings"...but only if you overfill!I find the perfect spot is filled to right below the top of the well.This produces perfect little spheres without the overflow.
-You will probably have to use an oven mitt.This thing gets HOT!
-Use a pastry bag when filling the wells.If you don't have a pasty bag, use a large zip-lock bag with the corner snipped off.This allows you to get precisely the right amount of filling without getting it everywhere.
-You MUST must must freeze the cake balls for 15 minutes before putting them on a stick and dipping them!To help them adhere after freezing, dip the stick in a little bit of melted chocolate and then insert into the cake ball.Pop them back into the freezer for a few minutes, and then dip away!
-For a better dipping experience, use a little bit (a tablespoon or so) or vegetable oil to thin the candy melts.After dipping, gently tap the stick on the side of your bowl while rotating the stick to get off excess chocolate.
Overall, this is a great little device that does exactly what it's supposed to do if you follow the directions.I will never go back to hand rolling cake pops again!
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I love my cakemaker. I waited a few months for this through Kohls, which was WAY cheaper than Amazon.com. I just got it and I've already made cake pops, brownie bites, doughnut holes, and takoyaki. It is so versatile with the shape and how small it is. Its definitely one of the smaller models of the babycakes series, but it makes for great bite size treats. Remember, cake pops are not going to be the traditional dense ones, but you can still chill the round cakes, put a stick in it, and dip it in chocolate. It still turns out very good. I actually prefer this to the usual dense crumbly ones. It feels more like cake instead of smashed cake pounded together. The takoyaki, which is a japanese food, turned out great; better than expected! The nonstick surface is fabulous and it heats up and cools down very fast. The cook time is amazing as well, only 6-8 minutes.The only cons I can see is the really short power cord (only two feet approx) and that the outside plastic gets quite warm (almost hot) to the touch when heating and baking. The lid will get loose if you're not careful.
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When I first got my cake pop maker I admit I had some of the same problems as others did. However, with further experimentation I found that in order to get sphere cake balls you have to refrigerate your cake batter. I keep my batter in the fridge even while I have some of it baking. When I fill the holes I then put the pancake pen in the fridge as well. If you don't the balls will flatten on the top. I have used red velvet, french vanilla, marble, devils food, etc.The only issue I have with the make is it gets so hot that you sometimes need to help of a dish rag to get it open. If it feels like the latch wont open push down on the top with a rag and then try the latch. I would highly recommend this cake pop maker to anyone who likes to bake for fun. Once you get the hang of the cake pop maker it is so easy to use. I have baked upwards of 270 cake pops at one time.
If you have trouble getting the batter into the cake pop maker I recommend the Tovolo 80-4784 Pancake Pen 3-Cup Batter Dispenser it runs about $10 you can get it on Amazon or at Bed, Bath & Beyond (20% off coupon will save you $2)
If you want to melt your own chocolate the Wilton Chocolate Pro Electric Melting Pot is wonderful! You can get it on Amazon for $25 or Michaels always has 40% off coupons so you could get it for about $20.
I hope this helped, and good baking!!!
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I purchased this item to make cakepops the "easy" way. Prior to ordering this machine, I became impatient and made cakepops the traditional way. If you've ever made cakepops, this is a breeze compared to the multitude of steps you need to make them the traditional way so this was a relief...Upon receiving this, I made a batch of cakepops which came out so-so despite watching reviews/videos. I used boxed cake mix and the balls came out mostly round, some off (as others mention the top and bottoms not lining up correctly), some UFO's and some that just weren't round. I used some boxed cake mix and substituted milk for water as some had suggested, even let the batter sit out. I was mostly satisfied with round 1...
Following, I did another round of cakepops for easter...in addition to decorating easter eggs, we decorated cakepops which was a huge hit for the kids! this time again, I used boxed cake mix and I suppose because I had the experience of round 1, these cakepops came out PERFECT. no irregular balls...all perfectly round...
My suggestions:
-don't use this for the first time and expect to have perfect pops. Moreover, don't use this the night before you are planning to have some pops for an occasion...practice a bit because this and dipping to have a clean look takes some practice...make sure whatever you're dipping in is thin enough so that there is not too much weight/thickness in the coating. As the excess drips, it pulls on the pop and you could have a pop fatality ( i had many of these during round 1...round 2 i'm happy to report NO fatalities)! I would suggest if using chocolate, thin it down...if not, use thinned down candy melts/almondbark/non tempering chocolate...
-If you are ok with just a plain cake flavor, this will be perfect for you. If you are looking for that extra moist and extra dense flavor of traditional cakepops, this is not for you...however, this will suffice for an activity with the kids or just a quick something to impress with at your next get together. most of the people I have had taste test between the two have liked traditional cakepops better taste wise...
TIPS:
-Cooking time...-if you are a perfectionist as I am, it doesn't take 6 minutes for your pops to finish...so don't even count on using that as a guide. Rather, use your own judgement. I believe waiting 6 minutes will give you dry, if not burnt pops. I used pillsbury cake mix and i'd set my timer for 3 minutes, open it and all the pops were almost done. I would then flip them over to get even coloring and leave them for about 30 seconds...voila...perfect pops...experiment though because I imagine different cake mixes and flavors will vary in cooking time...
-don't spoon in the batter because the machine gets rather hot and if you want even cooking amongst your pops, opt for piping them in. I don't suggest a ziploc bag with the corner cut off...too messy...
-fill the wells up to almost full...meaning not quite at the top of the well but just below. I've found that they make perfect pops. If you underfill, your pops will be lopsided, If you overfill, you may come out with saturn looking pops...
-If you use boxed cake mix, substitute milk for water and so far, pilsbury has been the most successful for me...it's thicker and holds together better than some of the more watery cake mixes...
Overall, this is a GREAT product that does exactly what it says it will...wouldn't give it anything less than 5 stars as it performs...anything less is due to the user vs the product itself...
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