In a bid to get the boys interested in something other than the TV, their toy trains and annoying each other, as well as totally embracing the fact that Great British Bake Off is back on television, I thought we’d give the Real Baking Cake Pops Kit from Vivid a go that had been sent to us to review.
Toby is only 3 but really enjoys helping where he can be it washing up, mixing things in or just generally making a mess. It also ties in really nicely with our Autumn bucket list as baking is one to cross off! Ted was quite happy to sit in the high chair and play with a wooden spoon or two while Toby and I got on with the baking.
In the Cake Pops Kit there were 12 lollipop sticks, two cone shaped moulds, mini doughnut moulds, and a cake pops mould – all of which are made of silicone.
Toby and I started by making our usual sponge cake mixture and he was having a whale of a time cracking eggs into the bowl and getting covered in flour. I got him to help grease the moulds and then we started spooning our mixture into the cake pop moulds – probably just over half a teaspoon. Once this was done Toby put the other half of the mould on and we popped it on a baking tray to put in the oven for around 12-15 minutes.
Once they were out of the oven we got them out of their moulds and sat them on a cooling rack and while they’re cooling off, Toby started breaking up the super yummy Divine chocolate that we were going to be melting down to dip the cakes into.
When the chocolate had melted we dipped our sticks in and then drove them into the round cakes to cool down – quicker when you put them in the fridge as they only take a couple of minutes to harden! Then once they were ready we got dipping. I had some Christmas themed sprinkles in the cupboard and thought we’d put some of those on because why not? As there was so much cake mixture left over, we also used the mini doughnut moulds to make shaped cakes with drizzled chocolate and sprinkles which Toby thought were absolutely wonderful. It also made sense to make shaped chocolates with the leftovers, yum!
The Vivid Cake Pops kit was a hit with Toby, but not so much of a hit with me unfortunately. The whole kit just reeks of gender stereotyping with it being aimed totally at girls. Everything from the packaging, which features two girls to the silicone moulds which are neon pink. In no way does this appeal to budding male bakers. I would have liked to have seen a more unisex approach to everything.
For a retail price of around £10 you don’t really get that much apart from the moulds. There are only 12 sticks so it obviously means you will need to buy more if you want to continue using the kits for their intended purpose. It kind of seems like a one off kit, rather than an ongoing activity to do with your children, and you can only make four cake pops at any one time.
I just think it’s quite disappointing and I probably wouldn’t recommend it to my friends unless they were asking for a cheap gift for a party, or something to do on a rainy day!
Having said that, it is a good rainy day activity and something that you can do with the kids. It’s a cheap and cheerful activity if you already have all the ingredients you need and you get some super yummy cakes at the end.
*I was sent this product in order for a review. All views and opinions are my own.
These look like so much fun, perfect for parties!