Wendyl Nissen: Treat in a teacup

NZ Herald·

28 Oct, 2016 04:00 PM4 mins to read

Edmonds Cake in a Cup Raspberry and Coconut. Photo / Supplied

Opinion by Wendyl NissenLearn more

This box came into my office and was left sitting on the table as none of my women colleagues was at all interested in the concept of a small cake cooked in a cup. Then my husband popped by and was overcome with delight. Perhaps it's a man thing, but the prospect of cooking a special little cake in one's own cup seemed to absolutely enthral him for days. So we took it home, cooked one up and the whole family was pleasantly surprised.

It tasted quite good and certainly better than those additive-filled supermarket cup cakes you might buy instead. A week later I couldn't help notice at my supermarket that these were selling well and the Double Chocolate flavour had sold out.

Edmonds Cake in a Cup Raspberry and Coconut $5.49 for four cakes

Ingredients (in order of greatest quantity first):

Flour
This is a cake, so you would expect it to be mostly flour.

Sugar
This is a very high sugar product. For each cake in a cup you will get 25.8g of sugar, which is more than six teaspoons.

Raspberry-flavoured pieces (6 per cent)
Fruit (raspberry (27 per cent), apple, pear, plum purees, elderberry juice), invert sugar, sugar, humectant (422), wheat fibre, gelling agent (440), food acid (330), natural flavour). Edmonds has worked very hard to replicate pieces of raspberry in this cake. To be honest I didn't really notice the difference but it seems most of the raspberry flavoured pieces are made of fruit, with added sugar, a natural humectant, which is glycerine (422), a natural gelling agent, which is pectin (440), a natural food acid, which is citric acid (330) and a natural flavour.

So although they aren't exactly little pieces of raspberry they are quite natural.

Coconut (6 per cent)
The package proudly announced that these are made with real coconut.

Starch (maize or tapioca)
This will be cornflour or tapioca flour most likely in here as a thickener.

Vegetable oil (contains soy)
Not sure what the oil is in here but as it contains soy, I'm guessing ... soya bean oil.

Raising agents (450, 500)
These are diphosphate (450), which is a salt of phosphoric acid and sodium bicarbonate (500) or baking powder.

Egg powders (whole, white)
Nice to see some real egg in here. There are whole eggs and just egg whites.

Salt
You will get 370mg of sodium per cake in a cup.

Emulsifiers (471,475)
These are mono and diglycerides of fatty acids (471) which are produced primarily from hydrogenated soya bean oil and polyglycerol esters of fatty acids (475) derived from soybean, rapeseed and maize.

Natural flavours (milk)
The natural flavours in here are derived from milk.

Vegetable gum (415)
This is xanthan gum (415) made from fermented glucose and sucrose.

Colour (160a)
This is a natural orange/yellow colour called carotene (160a).

My recommendations

I like this concept for elderly people living alone who want a sweet treat, or busy parents wanting to give their kids a special dessert. And I think that even though there are some additives in here, they are far cleaner in terms of additives than many of the supermarket cakes you find sitting on the shelves full of preservatives to keep them fresh for weeks.

And let's face it this is a sachet which when mixed with water and cooked in the microwave for one minute becomes a nice hot cake - so things like emulsifiers and gums are going to be needed. And there's nothing unnatural in here, which should be commended.

So for a treat, have a few of these in the cupboard and next time you visit an elderly relative take a few boxes. They'll love them.