Get it Here
Rating: 4/5
Tonight I'll be reviewing Brilliant Baker's Decorating Kit for Kids and Adults. Let's start with my expectations. As a cookie decorator who is starting to build a business, this is stuff I work with constantly and I'm pretty familiar with the status quo of quality and products. That being said, it does say for kids and adults and I would agree that this is a great set for kids to use with adults. However, it is definitely NOT a set for experienced adult decorators. For kids though, this is a great item!
In the kit, you receive:
* a set of Mini cupcake liners (not sure how many, but at least a few dozen!)*One pastry bag
*One Bag coupler
*Four plastic tips in different openings
*One (small) plastic spatula
*3 (accordion type) pastry squeeze bottles with lids
*One Dual compartment larger squeeze bottles with lid
*Four metal tips in different openings
Now, for the value (right now the list price is $14.86), I would say this would be a great gift or item to purchase for kids for decorating purposes. If you're an adult who is decorating independently and has more than a little experience, I would not recommend this set at all. You'll spend a little more money (though you can definitely save with discount coupons at craft stores!) to get an equivalent set of similar products, but you'll be better off in the long run.
Lets start with my favorite part of this set-the pastry bottles! You receive 3 of these, and I am very impressed. As a cookie decorator, you can NEVER have enough of these! They come with caps which are also always helpful. These are my highlight of the set because they really feel like a quality set. I have several different brands of bottles, but these feel like the thickest and sturdiest. I have other thinner ones that have lasted for a long time, so I'm very hopeful for these as well. The lids are always handy as it helps my royal icing not dry out overnight or while I'm waiting for portions of my cookies to dry. I can never have enough of these, especially quality ones, so this alone will be my favorite and most useful part of the set for me.
Now, let's move on to the tips. These are very so so. You can get much better, sturdier, and better quality tips for about 99cents (or so) at most big name craft stores. I always decorate with metal tips, so the plastic was very new for me. I'm not a huge fan. But again, for kids? These will really be great. I won't have to worry about little hands destroying my good set! The metal tips are pretty cheaply made. I don't like when there's huge seams in them as it tends to make weird patters in my royal icing. They also seemed to be bent out of shape as well. There are several shapes in the plastic and metal tips: The plastic includes one medium sized open circle, one flower, one star, and one long pastry tip. The Metal set includes a 3-4ish open circle, a closed star, a cross tip and what I think is supposed to be a leaf tip. I couldn't tell because it was a bit bent. Again, if this is a set for kids, I don't really mind at all. They don't care as long as they make a big mess, right?
Next, there's a small plastic spatula included. This is a good side for small hands, but definitely not for adults. I will say I can see this being valuable in spreading my flooded royal icing, but I don't like the plasticity of it. I prefer to decorate with metal, just for sturdiness sake. Again, though, for kids, these will be perfectly fine.
There is also a (medium size) plastic bottle with two compartments. This is used to make dual color icing. This is actually a pretty neat bottle that I haven't seen before, and I'm excited to explore more possibilities with it. I'm not sure how great it'll be for royal icing, but exploring is half the fun with decorative baking!
With the bottle, there's a neat hooking feature to hook the two compartments of the bottle together. You insert the little tab into the hole and then turn it 90 degrees for the bottles to hold together. There is then an insert/coupler portion that would hold the two bottles together. Finally, you insert a tip and put on the plastic ring. This isn't very hard to use, and seemed to work pretty well.
Lastly, it also includes several dozen mini cupcake liners. These are so so. I would have liked either solid white or some kind of design, not just some logo on them. They're fine, but I honestly probably won't use them.
Overall, I think this is a cute set for young bakers, especially if they're always wanting to help you decorate. This is great to have a set that you don't care if it gets ruined or broke. It'd be fun to help little ones learn on, as the smaller bottles are better for their little hands. If you're an adult looking for a kit for your own uses, look elsewhere, but for kids this is a fun and handy set!
*Disclaimer: I received this kit at a discount in exchange for an honest and fair review.*
No comments:
Post a Comment