Girl Gourmet cupcake maker - can I use cheaper mix?

[ilovediznee]

I used by Veteran's Day 50% off coupon at AC Moore today at lunch and got DD the Girl Gourmet Cupcake Maker. The issue I'm having is the amount they want for mix - $7.00 and it only makes a few. Can't you make cupcakes with regular mix in the microwave? I've made a microwave cake when I used to sell Pampered Chef and wondered if I could just use a Jiffy mix or something.

DD will want to make TONS of these things, but they would be costly. Anyone have one or any ideas?

Thanks - Diane

 

[CherylA]

I just bought this for DD for Xmas, I'm wondering too. I have no idea what this thing really is, I thought it just decorated cupcakes. Can't you make cupcakes in your regular oven or something?

 

[mjrich73]

You may want to do some research on this item. There was a thread on here not too long ago, and from what I remember the cupcake maker was getting horrible reviews. Most of the posters were recommending buying regular cake/cupcake decorating items.

 

[CherylA]

Most of this stuff is junk but I only paid $20 for it and she really wants it. I already talked her out of the pixos (like aquadots) because they got such bad reviews. If it stinks thats okay. It's more about her being excited when she opens it! Thanks for the heads up though I will be prepared to be annoyed!

 

[perriwinkleblue]

I hope others weigh in on using Jiffy mix as a replacement. Making one cupcake would never do. DD would make one for each of us and at $7.-$12. a half dozen... The reviews are really bad on the product but it's all dd has asked Santa for.

 

[CherylA]

I found this on Amazon about the product...


The toy comes with everything your child needs to mix, bake, and decorate the cupcakes: a tiny mixing bowl, measuring spoon, water dropper, and miniature spatula for mixing the batter and frosting; a microwaveable container for baking the cupcakes; and a cupcake frosting gadget with a shape reminiscent of a KitchenAid standing mixer. And everything your little chef needs to get started is packaged in chic, girl-pleasing, contemporary pastels.

Mix It Up
Simply mix the cake mix with water using the provided measuring spoons and water dropper to reach the desired consistency (we found that a pudding-like consistency gives the best results), pour the batter into the cupcake paper, and put it in the plastic "baking dish," bake it in the microwave for about 30 seconds, and--voila!--out comes a completely baked cupcake. Because the cupcakes get pretty hot, an adult should handle them until they're cool enough to handle.

In the meantime, the frosting can be mixed up in the same manner. Again, it took us a few tries to get the proper consistency: it's especially important for the frosting to be, as suggested, the consistency of firm cookie dough to work properly with the cupcake froster.

Time to Decorate
The cupcake froster comes with a frosting tube with a plunger and decorator-type tip. Scoop the frosting into the tube with the miniature spatula and place it in the machine. (This step can prove almost impossible if the frosting is too runny.) Place the cooled cupcake below and push down the lever. The frosting machine simultaneously spins the cupcake and pushes out the frosting to create a spiral shape. Kids can put the finishing touches on with the included sprinkles or, as the "shortcut" cards suggest, with cut-up fruit or candy (you'll want to stock up on these beforehand). The finished cupcake is smaller than a regular cupcake and a bit larger than your standard mini cupcake.

So my take on this is if you want your kid to be able to do the whole thing on their own you will need an add water only type cake mix, maybe the betty crocker single serve microwave mixes would make enough batter for the 4 cupcakes. Atleast you can find coupons for these. Similarly with the frosting I think you could substite any "make from a powder" type frosting but it seems that a can of frosting, premixed would probably be too runny...

 

[ccoop]

Yes, I am 12 years old and I mix up a box of cake mix and use it making the cupcakes. It works just as well. I usually don't use all of the mix so I keep it in the refrigerator and use it when I went a cupcake. I LOVE MY GIRL GOURMET CUPCAKE MAKER. It is so easy to use. Today I spent most of the day making cupcakes with my friend. She never used it before but love it too.

 

[perriwinkleblue]

Yes, I am 12 years old and I mix up a box of cake mix and use it making the cupcakes. It works just as well. I usually don't use all of the mix so I keep it in the refrigerator and use it when I went a cupcake. I LOVE MY GIRL GOURMET CUPCAKE MAKER. It is so easy to use. Today I spent most of the day making cupcakes with my friend. She never used it before but love it too.

Thank you for the info. Do you microwave in the pan it comes with, one at a time? Do you think a 6yo could frost a cupcake using this? Do you use Girl Gourmet frosting?

 

[allison443]

I posted a thread last week inquiring about the Girl Gourmet cupcake maker.
My dd had mentioned she wanted it, so I was in AC Moore and saw it, so I used my 50% off coupon. (FYI, the "regular price" in AC Moore was $40, so with the coupon it was $20; the "regular price" at Amazon, Walmart, etc. is only around $20. ) A number of Disers posted very helpful responses! Most were very lukewarm reviews, and some suggested buying cake decorating supplies instead.
One poster gave a link to a video showing the cupcake maker in use. That convinced me to return the thing!! The frosting does not come out in neat swirls like they show on the box.

I was mainly buying it for my dd to decorate our own batches of cupcakes, not the microwave cupcakes they supply. But after seeing that video I decided it wasn't worth it. I am going to get her some icing tips and other items and make my own cupcake decorating kit.

I found the link to my thread:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2001200&page=1&highlight=cupcake+maker+gourmet

Hope this helps!

 

[jensen]

This is all my dd5 wants for christmas too... I've warned her that she needs to choose something else because I won't let Santa buy it - I know I'm a mean Mom - but, this just looks like a real mess and I've got enough appliances in my kitchen... I don't need toys, too.

I really like the idea of the frosting tips... I think I'll buy those instead.

 

[mjrich73]

This is all my dd5 wants for christmas too... I've warned her that she needs to choose something else because I won't let Santa buy it - I know I'm a mean Mom - but, this just looks like a real mess and I've got enough appliances in my kitchen... I don't need toys, too.

I really like the idea of the frosting tips... I think I'll buy those instead.

You're not a mean Mom...you just have to do what is best for your family. Sometimes my kids think I am mean to. When they ask for something on their Christmas list or for their birthdays etc.., I make them check out different sites and look at the reviews/ratings on the item. They know if the reviews/ratings aren't good, there is no reason to put it on their list.

 

[TNKBELL]

My Dd7 really wants this thing! It seems like a joke to charge 25 bucks for a microwavable dish and an icing pump! But I know that on Christmas morning, opening that would make her day. If you can use regular cake mix, like the 12 year old poster said, that would be alright. I will have to do some thinking about this one! Maybe there will be a Black Friday special on it, our local Walmart had a TON of these on their own display.

 

[allison443]

My Dd7 really wants this thing! It seems like a joke to charge 25 bucks for a microwavable dish and an icing pump! But I know that on Christmas morning, opening that would make her day. If you can use regular cake mix, like the 12 year old poster said, that would be alright. I will have to do some thinking about this one! Maybe there will be a Black Friday special on it, our local Walmart had a TON of these on their own display.

My dd is older than yours, so I actually showed her the video that one of the disers posted a link to. It was a real person using the cupcake maker. When she saw how it didn't work, she was over it. I didn't tell her I will be assembling a cupcake decorating kit myself.

The only other thing I will point out is the size of the microwave cupcakes that fit on the spinning thing. I think they are smaller than a normal size cupcake. So I don't know if it is doable if you want to decorate regular size cupcakes.

 

[TNKBELL]

My dd is older than yours, so I actually showed her the video that one of the disers posted a link to. It was a real person using the cupcake maker. When she saw how it didn't work, she was over it. I didn't tell her I will be assembling a cupcake decorating kit myself.
The only other thing I will point out is the size of the microwave cupcakes that fit on the spinning thing. I think they are smaller than a normal size cupcake. So I don't know if it is doable if you want to decorate regular size cupcakes.

Do you have the link or know where to find it? That might be very helpful in convincing her! TIA

 

[RangerPooh]

Thanks for posting this thread. DD3 keep sasking for it every time she walks by it or sees the commercail on tv. This has become the "thing" that she's asked for since she first saw it back in Aug, but I've been hesitant. I'll definately be passing on it. Thanks.

 

[allison443]

Do you have the link or know where to find it? That might be very helpful in convincing her! TIA

It was in the blog called "frugal upstate" that a Diser posted. I think the toy company gave the blogger some toys to test out and post about on her blog. I found the link:

http://frugalupstate.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2008-11-07T07:48:00-05:00&max-results=4

Scroll down to see the YouTube screen where she posted the video of her kids using the cupcake maker.

The original thread that I linked in my prior post had some good suggestions about what cupcake tips to buy to get good results.

Hope this helps!

 

[TNKBELL]

It was in the blog called "frugal upstate" that a Diser posted. I think the toy company gave the blogger some toys to test out and post about on her blog. I found the link:

http://frugalupstate.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2008-11-07T07:48:00-05:00&max-results=4

Scroll down to see the YouTube screen where she posted the video of her kids using the cupcake maker.

The original thread that I linked in my prior post had some good suggestions about what cupcake tips to buy to get good results.

Hope this helps!

Ok, thank you so much for that link!! We watched it together, she wasn't convinced after watching it, but I explained that the cupcakes tasted like the frozen meal brownies that you cook in the microwave, she hates those!! I also told her that the kit only makes a few cupcakes (not even enough for our family of 8)and 1 cake mix makes 24 YUMMY cupcakes, her eyes doubled in size! I told her that if Santa chooses to bring her an "original" Cupcake Kit, we could make them to take to Grandma's house to share with all the relatives. So she said that maybe Santa could bring her some cake mixes and some sprinkles like they have at Aldi(.79).

So now I am excited!! I am going to look for a really cute box, maybe rubbermaid or something to fill with a few cake mixes, frostings, sprinkles, and a decorating tube set from the local cake supply store. This should be fun!! I wonder how much it will all cost? I'm sure it won't be $24.88!!!


Thanks to the OP for posting this thread , I thought I was "trapped" into buying that pile of plastic!!

 

[lisa6373]

My DD7 also wants this stupid thing! She is allergice to milk, so I tried to sway her by telling her that she wouldn't even be able to eat the cupcakes because they have milk in them. She said she doesn't care, she would just make them for other people. Then I tried to explain to her that Santa knows which toys don't really work or are not that fun, so he won't bring those. I tried giving her some examples of other things that she "really wanted" but wasn't all that thrilled with once she got them. Not sure if she's buying it or not. She also wants Pixos which haven't gotten good reviews either, but I bought a small starter kit with my 50% off coupon at ACMoore, so hopefully she won't be too upset about the cupcake maker. What with the DS, "real" digital camera, Ipod etc......she better not be!

 

[tiggger1]

I already talked her out of the pixos (like aquadots) because they got such bad reviews.

My dd loves her pixos. She uses it all the time.. That being said I never returned the aquadot set that I got last xmas and just threw away the old beads and they sent me a ton ( 3 times as many that comes in the kit)of free pixo beads when I signed up for the recall. The only thing that stinks is that it takes a while for them to dry....

 

[lucky1]

I would like to suggest this book for ideas on how to decorate cupcakes. My 6 yo DD and I made the pumkpin and bug cupcakes for a halloween party. They turned out great.
"Hello Cupcake"


The book gives suggestions on how to create decorations without tips (baggies and clipping the ends) and using standard candies and cookies to form some of the creations.

The enhancements they have you do for the standard cakemix batter makes the best cupcakes.

The only thing that I don't like on what they suggest is using canned frosting since they believe it holds up better for decoration. I find canned frosting too sweet and can't stand that it is made with HFCS.