The Big Top Experiment

Christmas 2009 was the beginning of a new tradition on the Fernandez side of the family-- the "As Seen On TV" gift exchange which I blogged about last December. One of the gifts up for grabs was the "Big-Top Cupcake" and to much dismay, neither my sister nor I ended up with it by the end of the night. Luckily, we have a really awesome Abuela who decided to give it to us a few weeks ago because, yes, we were still talking about it.

Last night, Em and I gave it a go using a Better Crocker Devil's Food Cake mix, 3 eggs, half a cup of veggie oil, a cup and a half of water, and the best thing to add to a cake mix that never makes it on the box directions-- pudding mix.

{ingredients}

 

  {all mixed up}

 {and into the mold}

 

 

From there we waited for the oven to preheat to 350 degrees then popped it in. It  took about an hour to cook all the way through because the molds are so deep. There is one design flaw; because the topper mold is cooked upside down, it bubbles up and makes it difficult to ultimately place it evenly onto the bottom piece. 

 

We decided to go with white fluffy icing and sprinkles after we let the cake cool.

{icing the cupcake}

 

{sprinkle closeup}

I'm not sure if it was because of the four month build-up or the fact that most As Seen on TV items really are too good to be true most of the time. But overall, I was underwhelmed. The best part about it was the taste and that can happen no matter what shape cake is in. The mold itself was also a lot smaller than expected. I think it should probably be called The Medium-Top Cupcake because it doesn't really look as grand as you would think. All in all it was a pretty mediocre shape with a wonderful taste. The good news is, there are no winners or losers in cake because in the end you still get to eat it!