Review: Cricut Cake Mini

No, I didn't suddenly fall into cool review swag. (though I wish I would) I purchased the Cricut Cake Mini with my own funds. You can get a reasonable deal on them on Amazon, strangely new is cheaper than the used? Go figure that one. I'd been wanting one of these literally for years when I happened upon them being demonstrated on QVC in the middle of the night. I sat enthralled wondering if I should call in and get the easy pay option or not. My inner tightwad kicked in because at the time the thing was quite spendy. A few years later and a "mini" version have put this in a price level that is manageable for the novice cake decorator.

I can say I've been reading the reviews on the the regular Cricut Cake and then the mini for quite a while. It appears there are two camps for this, Love it or Hate it. After playing with mine and pushing a lot of buttons I think I'm in the 4 out of 5 star range. Many of the reviews I'd previously read had a whole host of tips that I followed so I had pretty good results right out of the box. If I hadn't researched so much I don't think I would have been as pleased with the results, as there is a definite learning curve when working with the machine. I found that allowing the fondant to dry out some and freezing got the best results with the cleanest cuts. I am not inspired with the detail when dialing down the size on intricate patterns. This could still be some of the learning curve part as I have not tried to use gum paste in the machine and that could have a different result than the softer fondant. The set I purchased only came with one cutting mat which slows things down significantly when you must allow for things to dry out and freeze. I purchased two more mats today to save that problem.

Of course when one gets a new cake making toy, one must make a cake!

Here I used the background fill and the detailed Fleur di Lei in a 3 inch cut. The yellow cut became distorted as I removed it from the mat because it had thawed and the fondant was too soft.

This is an example of the lettering that comes on the cake basics cartridge with the kit. A pretty standard block lettering. (Ignore the mess around "DO" I made a mess trying to pipe) This little 6 inch cake was a good practice for a giant four tier I plan to do next week for the Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet. This is basically what the top tier is going to look like though I have been tinkering the design in the last few days. I may have totally changed my mind by next week when I start working on it.

The one drawback to any "caking" project is the utter disaster it leaves the kitchen in. Believe it or not I had been putting dishes into the dishwasher and my new fancy cake machine was already cleaned and put away when I thought to take this picture. Don't take on cake decorating without a dishwasher.

She can clean a trashed kitchen in under an hour.

The messiest baker in the world.

Winnie