If you enjoy baking, then you have likely had a babycakes cake pop maker before. Built like a lollipop but with a taste like a mini cake, they are very popular for birthdays, baby showers, and many other celebrations where finger food is the main course.
There are a lot of ways to make cake pops, though, so we’re going to give a few popular methods and models a run for their money. We’ll be comparing the Babycakes Cake Pop Maker to other well-known models to see where the best bang for your buck is.
What Is the Babycakes Cake Pop Maker?
While we’re sure you can guess what the Babycakes Cake Pop Maker does, let’s go over how it works – as every cake pop maker can go about this process in a different way. This method negates needing to do it by hand. (Although for those of you who do make yours by hand, we commend you. It is a very time-consuming and messy process.)
The Babycakes Cake Pop Maker operates similarly to a waffle maker – meaning you fill divots in the maker and close the lid to make a complete sphere. This helps evenly bake the cake pops and get as close to a perfect sphere as you can. There’s no turning or flipping involved, so you can literally fill it up and leave it alone until it tells you it’s ready (there’s a handy light on top just like a waffle maker).
After you’ve got a batch done, there’s a useful fork to pull them out and put them on the cooling rack that doubles as a decorating tray (both incredibly useful to have unless you have 8 arms). Sticks are also included for when you want to make the switch from cooling rack to decorating tray – so you can pop those sticks right in and stand them up on the tray so the icing doesn’t dry in odd shapes.
All-in-all, making cake pops is very simple – bake/shape, cool, dip in icing, and decorate (optional) – but for such a straightforward process, it requires lots of hands to hold cake pops and keep them from cooling on the table and becoming flat, or drying on a flat surface and looking like a cake pop puddle. Having those extra tools really makes the process drop from a chaotic hour or more to a much tidier 30 minutes.
Specs
We may have touched on some of the nifty extras the Babycakes Cake Pop Maker comes with, but we’ll compile them all here for simplicity’s sake. Along with the actual cake pop maker that has power and ready light, you’ll also get the cooling rack/decorating tray 2-in-1, a cool handling fork (better than a normal fork or your fingers, trust us – this tool keeps the cake pop’s shape as well as leaves the icing intact), and a supply of cake pop sticks.
That’s just about everything but the cake pop itself, right? They may not include the finished product, but they include some fun recipes to try – both for cake pops and icing as well as donut holes, as the maker can do both.
Pricing
While it is possible to spend around $$$ for a cake pop maker, we’re including the more budget-friendly options here. Plan on something between $20 and $50, though because prices are always changing, we’ll be using a tag to both simplify and account for changes in price. For up to $, we’ll use $, $-$$ will be $$, and $-$$ will be $$$.
Cake Pop Makers: Comparison
In order to get a straightforward and simple comparison, we are pitting the Babycakes Cake Pop Maker against similar products and using the following criteria: price, performance, design quality, ease of use, and accessories. We found these criteria to both highlights the unique features of each model as well as pull out the important information for each option.
- Brentwood TS-254 Cake Pop Maker
- Bella 13547 Cake Pop & Donut Hole Maker
- VonShef 12 Cake Pop Maker
1. Babycakes Cake Pop Maker
[amazon box=”B0050JRZR2″]
- Performance
- Design Quality
- Ease of Use
- Accessories
Overall, the Babycakes Cake Pop Maker does exactly what you would expect – it makes cake pops – but let’s look a little deeper to be sure we know what we’re getting into. In terms of cooking temperature, it fares well. We did think that the cake balls were cooked a little unevenly, but nothing was over or underdone and the icing covers the color difference so we can’t knock it too hard.
Another issue that we’ll touch more on in the “Ease of Use” section is the difficulty filling the divots, which makes each cake pop and turn out slightly more or less round – though it is still miles better than doing them by hand.
There’s not a lot to knock here. It is a simple design that is effective at what it needs to get done. Even the additional accessories function well and are very useful to have on hand. It’s not a huge piece of equipment, which we appreciate, so it’s easily stored. Because of the waffle maker-like design, it also features the same kind of material so cleanup is easy and fast.
The machine itself is simple with a power and ready light that takes the guesswork out of baking. The accessories are also very handy and make the entire process much faster, easier to clean up, and simpler.
As we mentioned before, though, the 12 divots are hard to fill exactly. This means that your cake pops will probably be a little different in size and a little less round too. The instructions are very simple and straightforward – which we appreciate – but they recommend using an icing bag or something similar to fill, which ends up being messier than it’s worth. You may find it to be easier and more exact if you use a 1 Tbsp scoop.
The Babycakes Cake Pop Maker comes with everything you need: the machine itself, an easy-to-follow instruction manual that includes recipes for cake pops and donut holes, a cooling and decorating tray, and a supply of sticks. All you need to do is decide what flavor combination you want from your cake and icing.
2. Brentwood TS-254 Cake Pop Maker
[amazon box=“B0149IWCH2”]
Similar to the Babycakes Cake Pop Maker, this Brentwood operates like a waffle iron with a non-stick coating for easy cleanup and dual heating sides for evenly cooked, round cake pops. The Brentwood also makes 12 cake pops or donut holes but shaves a couple of minutes off of the baking time with only a 4-minute cooking time.
- Performance
- Design Quality
- Ease of Use
- Accessories
Overall, Brentwood performs well. It cooks mostly evenly and is easy to clean up as it advertises. We were a little disappointed that some features and accessories were not included with the model, though, like a “ready” light to remind you when your pops are done. For the price, though, (and this is the most budget-friendly option), it does what it needs to
While the cleaning and cooking perform well, we want to talk about the lack of a “ready” light a little bit more here. It may seem like a simple feature, but it can save you batches of overdone cake pops when you’re just a minute or two late checking them (because we all know we get busy multitasking when we’re in the kitchen).
With the addition of the non-existent “ready” light and the lack of accessories, this machine is a little harder to compare. The cleanup is easy, we have to give it credit there, but beyond that, you are on your own.
Accessories are sold separately for this model – meaning that a utensil to handle the pops without damaging them, a cooling or decorating tray, and sticks are all still on your shopping list. There is a simple instruction manual included, though, which adds recipes for cake pops and donut holes.
3. Bella 13547 Cake Pop & Donut Hole Maker
[amazon box=“B0069QAU86”]
We have another waffle iron-type design with the Bella. With a similar non-stick material and fast cooking times (2-4 minutes), this is a good option for a cute cake pop maker. This maker can do 12 cake pops as well, sitting right alongside the previous two models.
- Performance
- Design Quality
- Ease of Use
- Accessories
Because this is a higher-priced model, we had higher expectations here. Unfortunately, it seems that this cake pop maker shows you all of its cards upfront. There is a ready light, which is useful, and for the most part, users have had good experiences with it. However, it seems that it takes a few tries to really get the timing down. Some users have had to come up with a system involving unplugging and re-plugging the machine to get even baking.
While small and cute in design, this cake pop maker sits right around the previous models, which is surprising for its higher price point. Though there is a “ready” light, we feel that the extra bump in price should warrant some extra features as well.
Clean-up is easy, as is knowing when the cake pops should be ready. However, as we have mentioned, some users have had to “MacGyver” their machines to not burn the pops. This makes it a little harder to use as you have to work outside the instruction manual.
We were – again – disappointed with the price range this machine is in. It does not include anything more than the maker and the instruction manual (which does include a few recipes).
4. VonShef 12 Cake Pop Maker
[amazon box=“B010SQ9F1U”]
This cake pop maker also offers 12 cake pops in just a few minutes and does include a couple of handy accessories for a not-so-bad price. Like most options on this list though, there are some good and bad to consider.
- Performance
- Design Quality
- Ease of Use
- Accessories
The good and bad we mentioned start here. While some users had very few problems with it, others found it to be a little finicky – cooking a little differently each time or just overheating (which we’ll get more into in the next section). It seems that this model can consistently produce cake pops but they may have varying quality.
While it is designed to be similar to the previous models (think waffle maker), and it comes with power and ready light, we found that the bottom of the machine overheats quickly and consistently – so much so that the instructions actually recommend not using the machine on the counter as the feet could melt. This seems like a major design flaw that could not only result in overcooked cake pops but also be dangerous.
Again we have an easy-to-clean, easy-to-use model. However, we did notice that the instruction manual is not super intuitive or simple, which makes a simple machine much more complicated to use than it needs to be.
Unlike some of the others, this model does come with a cake pop stand and 50 sticks to get you started. While there is no special fork for handling the pops, this is definitely a good starting place and you won’t need to go hunting for accessories before you can even open the box.
Babycakes Cake Pop Maker Is Your Pick!
Now that we’ve gone through some options, let’s get back to our starting opponent in this comparison: the Babycakes Cake Pop Maker. We can see a little better where it stands amid its competition, and we have to say, it stands a little taller.
Overall, we’d have to say it ranks somewhere in the high 4 out of 5 stars range, making it a great buy – both for the price and for the product itself.
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