Ace of Cakes Baking Kit

This is an interesting kit. I have mixed feelings about it and it is late, so bear with me as I more or less ramble on.

The girls were excited to see the kit. We have dvds of Ace of Cakes and love to watch them. Shiloh, my 13 year old has worked with fondant in the past so was looking forward to working  with it again. Remember this image?

So, Shiloh read the directions carefully and began to take the stuff out of the kit.

And the cake is fondant-ized-

Now for some decorating. Everything including sprinkles and fondant comes with the kit. We happened to have some fondant presses and molds so Shi did create a flower for the top:

When Shiloh was done Kyrie used the kit to make me a perfect imaginary cake:

So here are my thoughts.

The girls loved it. Shiloh, at 13, had no problem following directions and doing it completely without help. I would think an 8 year old would need some supervision and input to be successful. Shi had a little trouble with the frosting tip which is like an air brush. It took her about 2 minutes to get the hang of it.

The cakes were tasty. All products are gluten free and these were made with cornstarch. I think it is great that they are gluten free but wish there was an option; the cornstarch had a funny texture in my mouth. The cake is very small. Which Shi didn’t like. She hoped it would be a bit bigger. All in all she gave the set an 8/10. The thing she liked best was using the air compressor to decorate with once she go tthe hang of it. She said that they thing she didn’t like was the texture of the fondant. It was gooeyer than the fondant we use. However this will obviously not be a problem if your child is not used to working with fondant.

My main complaint is the huge amount of plastic, and the fact that it isn’t American made. I try to make a point of staying away from the type things that certain large discount stores sell. Generally I feel like girls should have the opportunity to learn skills on real utensils.  I do however applaud the attempt to get kids interested in the kitchen. I give it a 7/10.

I would probably buy this as a gift for someone else’s child. A child with much experience in the kitchen may be bored.

If you have a child that likes to decorate cakes and you don’t like the mess in the kitchen of conventional equipment this is the way to go. It is cute. I am thinking it will fly from the shelves in November. Retail is about $35.00 You can find out more at Girl Gourmet

images:maryeaudet