Thank you Testers Keepers for giving me the opportunity to test and review a product for you. I was supposed to receive a Retro Mini Donut Maker but to my surprise I received a Giles and Posner 3 in 1 Dessert Maker.
This 700w dessert maker with its compact design would look good in any kitchen. It can make seven mini donuts, seven mini cupcakes and 12 cake pops. I was eager to make all of these treats and decided to start by making the donuts. The box contains the dessert maker, three sets of interchangeable non-stick coated cooking plates, one for the bottom and one for the top half of the machine, and aninstructions and recipe booklet . The non-stick cooking plates must be brushed or wiped with a suitable oil or spray before each use. These plates can then be attached simply by aligning them onto the heating elements into the grooves and clicking into place. I did this choosing the donut plates then turned the dessert maker on allowing it to preheat as per the instructions whilst making the recipe for the donuts. This enabled me to make 14 donuts in total using heaped teaspoons of the mixture.
I did however find the two minutes cooking time given in the booklet too short to cook them properly as the top was too pale and not risen high enough to give a good donut shape. The cooking plates must be left to cool before adding another batch. After adjusting the cooking time to five minutes for my second batch I found I had perfectly risen donuts of a uniform colour which were very easy to remove from the non-stick cooking plates. Once cooled, the cooking plates were very easy to remove from the dessert maker simply by pressing the plate release buttons and lifting them away. As they are non-stick, they are easy to clean in hot soapy water with no scrubbing.
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Next I tried the recipe for the mini cupcakes which I thought were very small as I had some difficulty sourcing cupcake baking cases small enough to fit the wells in the cooking plates. The cakes did however rise nicely and cooked evenly having filled the cases the recommended two thirds full. The mixture again made two batches of mini cupcakes. Finally I made some of the vanilla cake pops. These cooked and rose very well with a heaped teaspoon of mixture in each well of the bottom cooking plate for the recommended time and these, like the donuts, were easy to remove from the cooking plate, staying whole without crumbling.
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Having made all of the treats from the Giles and Posner 3 in 1 dessert maker, I had some willing helpers to assist with decorating them before the taste tests! My children enjoyed eating all of the mini desserts, with the mini cupcakes being their favourite, with requests for more of all types to be baked. I found the desserts a little sweet for my taste but the recipes can always be changed for personal preference. The donuts in my opinion were also a little stodgy but as before, the recipe can be tweaked a little until a desired result is achieved through trial and error. The cake pops and cupcakes were light, fluffy and delicious.
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My only complaint about this dessert maker would be in the recommended cooking time would of approximately 12 minutes. Overall the Giles and Posner 3 in 1 dessert maker is a sturdy little machine used to make party desserts which are simple, quick and tasty, which children would enjoy making and eating! I would recommend this product to my friends with children as it is a great quality robust item with a retail price of £59.99, which produces great little treats for your party and family to enjoy.
Lisa Rogers