Let Us Eat Cake!!!! (Jane Asher Coffee and Walnut Cake Mix)

Member Name: katestuartuk

Product:	Jane Asher Coffee and Walnut Cake Mix
Date:	03/01/08 (164 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Yummy

Disadvantages: Not a single one!

Jane Asher Home Baking Collection

Coffee and Walnut Cake Mix

I love cake. I'm particularly fond of stodgy, substantial, icing-sugar coated home make cake, but these days getting 10 minutes to myself to have a shower and brush my teeth is hard enough, never mind a whole hour for baking pleasures! With a new baby in the house, time is certainly of the essence, and these all in one cake mix packs have been an absolute treat! My favourite is this one, the Coffee and Walnut Extravaganza! Read on for tempting tales of lovely cakey-ness!

The Cake in a Box Concept.

I doubt there will be many of you out there who do not know about these types of baking sessions in a box. The general idea is that all the dried ingredients are sold to you already weighed to perfection and mixed together in little sachets so that all you have to do is mix them together with a couple of eggs, some butter (or in this case oil) and a splash of the old H20 to make a lovely cake batter really to dollop into paper cases or lined cake tins and shove in the over for the allotted time. Great for if you suddenly realise you forgot your child's school fayre/mum's retirement/Uncle Charlie's 97th birthday and need a cake in a hurry. They also have the value of being fairly foolproof, which means that even if you're not great at cake-making (I'm much better at biscuits and jams!) you really can't go wrong!

The Cake in a Box Taste Test.

For me, there needs to be a certain taste quality to my favourite cakes of choice. This passes them all with flying colours. No overwhelming coffee flavour, just a delicate hint, none of this Too Sweet/Not Sweet Enough milarky, and certainly the ratio of walnuts to cake must be precision weighed because The Lovely Jane (Asher) has it just right! The texture is fluffy and light for the most part, but after 2 slices, becomes heavier, richer, weightier (or is that just me...?) and simply sublime.

Making The Cake in a Box

This is the bit that makes me smile because it couldn't be easier. You take your box of cakey goodness, and you open it. Inside there are four sachets. The one with the cakeyness is the one you use first. Pop the contents in a big bowl, add your water, your oil, your 2 medium sized eggs and whip to your hearts content. Add your walnuts, pop into a couple of cake tins and slide into a warm oven till they're cooked. Then you have fun with your icing sugar sachets (there are two of these), making the filling, which is creamy and buttery and gorgeous (you'll want to lick the spoon!) and the topping, which is coffee flavoured gooeyness that tastes divine! Cool cake, sandwich with creamyness, top with coffeeness and dive in!

Buying your very own Cake in a Box!

I bought mine from Tesco at a respectable £2.29. I think it actually offers good value for money as if you want to make a cake you usually have to buy flour, sugar, flavourings, icing sugar and so on, and you always end up with more than you need, so this is a good way of getting a great cake without having to spend a fortune!

My Final Thoughts

In case you hadn't realised already, I really like this cake, and everyone I've served it to has uttered the same sentence ..."Mmmmmm" before reaching out for another slice! They do say that the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and in this case, Jane Asher has brought us a true masterpiece!

Thank you for reading, Kate.

Summary: Recommended!