I always think of cupcake mixes as a handy shortcut but one that invariably leads to inferior quality cakes. That's not to say I don't use them - even the cheapest mixes are great when baking with toddlers - but you never seem to get that "made from scratch" taste and above all texture. However, the latest cupcake mix to arrive at The Madhouse was manufactured by Squires Kitchen, known as "the professionals' brand of choice since 1984", which is already a high quality brand, but also in collaboration with celeb chef Phil Vickery. I was therefore expecting to be wowed, especially as the mix has been called Seriously Good Gluten Free Vanilla & Raspberry Cupcake Mix !
Juliette was my sous-chef for the afternoon and was very impressed by the pretty gold packaging inside the box ! You get three sachets - sugar, raspberry real fruit fondant and dry cupcake mix - as well as silver cupcake cases and glitter sprinkles.
You need to add 2 eggs, 100ml vegetable oil and 100ml milk (or milk substitute, such as coconut, almond or soy milk).
Start by mixing the eggs and sugar together. Juliette was very proud to crack the eggs all by herself without getting any shell in the bowl.
Whisk the milk and oil together (which seems strange as they don't mix properly anyway - it was a good science lesson for Juliette though !).
As she'd managed so successfully with the egg cracking, Juliette got to use the James Martin Hand Mixer (click through to see our review of that) which she was incredibly pleased about !
After whisking in the cake mix, the batter looked incredibly runny to me, but I decided to put my trust in the capable hands of Phil Vickery, who knows a lot more about cupcakes than I do !
Sure enough, they came out perfectly. Springy to the touch and a lovely yellowy colour from the vegetable oil.
The thick fondant icing is quite hard to spread without breaking up the top of the cake so I had to take over from Juliette, but she was pleased to be given the job of pressing on the sparkly silver glitter sprinkles (or space rocks, as she called them).
The Madhouse Mini-testers weren't actually all that keen on the icing, because it has the slightly sharp tang of real raspberries, but the grown-ups loved it. The kids also expected the glitter sprinkles to have a really sour taste or be like popping candy, just from the look of them, but they are just sugar and edible glitter. The cakes have quite a dense texture but they taste very nice and for a gluten-free option, they're not bad at all. The mix does seem quite expensive, but it is a high quality product and if you want to bake something special for someone who's Coeliac, it's perfect.
star rating : 4.5/5
RRP : £5.99
for more information : http://www.squires-shop.com/
Disclosure : We received the product in order to write an honest review.
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What a great effort! Your daughter is so clever and so sweet too!
ReplyDeleteShe's only 8 but wants to do all the "big girl" stuff like her big sister so I let her have a go this time, and I was impressed at how well she coped !
DeleteLovely! I should try this since I can't eat gluten x
ReplyDeleteI have the cookie mix from the same range to review too :)
DeleteOh fab! I must try this at some point. It's lovely to see children getting so involved. :)
ReplyDeleteJacqueline Fawcett xx