Cricut Mini Cake, Red

by Cricut Cake

• Cuts images from 1-1/2-inch up to 11-1/2-inch
• Comes with a versatile cartridge that's perfect for any project
• Three modes and two functions offer greater customization of cuts
• Compatible with all original cricut cartridges and cricut cake cartridges

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 17.5 x 9.5 x 12.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B004XJ9924
• Item model number: 2000629
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #20,726 in Arts, Crafts & Sewing (See Top 100 in Arts, Crafts & Sewing)

Product Description

The Cricut Cake Mini Personal Electronic Cutter is specifically designed for decorating professional-looking cakes, cupcakes, cookies, and confections in no time at all. The machine can cut gum paste, fondant, and much more. Just choose a shape, a size, and press CUT. Get beautiful, precise, consistent results each and every time. Decorating like a professional has never been faster or easier. Bon Appetit.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Takes some time but it does work August 2, 2011

By R. Gibbons

The first day I got this machine I was rather frustrated. My fondant either tore or just got dragged around by the needle. I searched online for tips and have to say YES freezing the fondant has worked best for me.

This is what has worked best:

Grease the mat!!! I run shortening or butter over it then smooth it out with my fingers until it is a very thin coat.
Then you have to roll the fondant out out until it is very thin (you can start to see the lines of the mat through the fondant - practice with white first so you get a feel for how thin it has to be). I cover the entire mat then trim off all the edges (within the white area of the mat!) using a fondant cutter or a pizza slicer.

I then freeze that entire mat+ fondant for 20 or 30 minutes depends on how hot the day is and how gooey or soft my fondant was.

Once that is pretty hard but not rock solid I put it in the machine and it works! Clean lines.I
I have to admit rolling it out over the mat then freezing then picking off all the pieces off the mat is a lot of work - but there are some cuts that you will simply not be able to achieve by hand or with any cookie cutters I have ever seen. So for that it is worth it. Also if you have a ton of shapes to cut out (I did a cake where there were hundreds of rings) you can do something else while the machine cuts out your shapes so in the end it is a very helpful tool. I didn't give it a 5 because it isn't as easy as they make it sound but once you have your technique down it does work! :)

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Great Idea, Poor Performance July 2, 2011

By Christina

I REALLY wanted to like this. I have a small cupcake business on the side and thought the Cricut designs would give my customers more lower cost decorative options. I specifically bought the machine to use the Best of Pixar cartridge. I was extremely disappointed when I used that specific cartridge. Let me first say the first use with the cake basics that came with mine was fine. I rolled out the fondant onto the sheet and presto the design was cut. My second attempt was with a calligraphy cartridge. Not so good. The fondant was torn and only the most basic letters made it out somewhat nicely. Third attempt was Nemo from the Best of Pixar. This was a complete disaster. The only shape of nemo that worked was the shadow which is the most basic of shapes. Then I had to add my own details to make it look somewhat like the character. This machine is not a timesaver. If you take the suggestions of others they will say to freeze your gumpaste or fondant. This is extremely time consuming for someone who needs 6 dozen fondant shapes/figures to top cupcakes or for anyone. And I'm not so sure it's the sugar product that's the problem. I will say it appears the larger you cut the objects the better the cut. For my purposes I use 2.5" and this seemed to be hard for the Cricut cake. I think it's misleading to say all cartridges are interchangeable. Maybe if you stick to just the cake designs it might work ok but my experience has been these more detailed cartridges are best left for paper and scrapbooking. I am going back to the cookie cutter methods for lower cost decorative options. The cuts are cleaner, it's quicker, and much less expensive. This little mini although the perfect size is going back along with the 2 cartridges I purchased.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great product but takes some work June 16, 2012

By Erica Jones

Amazon Verified Purchase

Let me just start by saying that before I bought this product I did a lot of research online. So I had a clue what I was getting myself into. I've only worked with fondant a few times and I've found it very time consuming. This time is no different. This is a very cool machine but it does take some practice.

To begin, I agree with the reviews that saying that the machine itself looks nice. I also agree with the person that said that the instructions weren't very helpful but the machine was pretty intuitive. I bought two extra cartridges for it (elegant cakes and birthday cakes) and I found them to be a nice addition to the one that it comes with. The machine itself comes with "basic cakes" so you will have plenty of patterns to work with if you don't want to spend the extra money right away on more patterns.

Let me echo all the other reviews out there that say that it's "All in the prep!" The first time you cut on the mat you can clearly see the outline that the machine is making in the mat and it looks really great. However, the problem is that you're trying to CNC cut sugar with a tiny razor blade so it's very easy for the material to start stretching creating problems. I've scoured the blogs and reviews to find some tricks and tips so I feel like I had a head start using this product. I've found that the mini cuts better when the fondant is very thin but still has its integrity. You want to get it thin enough so it's easy to cut but thick enough that it's not one more pass with the rolling pin away from falling apart. I had really great luck with freezing the dough before cutting. One person recommended 20-30 minutes. I would say that's a minimum. I had great success leaving the fondant in the freezer for a couple of hours before I cut it.... I used crisco to adhere the fondant to the mat per manufacturer recommendations. (Just for fun I tried to cut fondant that I just rolled out and as I suspected it turned into a gooey mess.) I had a bag of opened wilton fondant that had been exposed to air and I found it to work MUCH better than the fresh bag. I think I'm going to leave the dough in a plastic bag over night (and not the tin foil bag that it comes in) to see if it will dry out slightly and make it easier to cut. Also, not very surprising I found that big designs cut a LOT easier than small designs. I haven't quite figured out how (or convinced myself that it's even possible) to cut tiny intricate designs out of a sheet of fondant. My last tip would be making sure that the sides are cut back enough that the dough will not catch on the rollers that move the mat up and down. I found times where this would stretch the dough or slow down the mat feed causing my design to be ruined.

I think that this machine has a lot of really nice features. I like how you can speed up and slow down the cutting speed to help make the designs cut out better. I like how you can specify exactly how big you want your designs to cut out. This would be nice for layering designs that you see so often with stars, hearts, etc. Lots of the designs come with two color features. Theres a design and it's complement that you can cut out of two different color material to have more of a dimension. I also really appreciate that you can make a large outline of the design that can be used as a backing for the original cut out. I think this gives you a lot of decorating options.

I was between the mini and full sized machines for awhile and ultimately decided to go with the mini. So far I'm happy with my choice although for the amount of prep work a sheet of fondant takes, a lot of me wishes I would have went with the full size. However, I bought two extra cutting mats when I bought this item. This has really helped me expedite cutting. I can prep three sheets of fondant and throw them all in the freezer together. This allows me to increase my prep to cut turn around time. If you're going to get this machine I fully recommend spending the extra couple of bucks and buying extra mats.

UPDATE :: I've used my cricut a few more times and would like to share.

Fondant -- I've found that the store bought wilton works the best. If it's fresh dough it's best to leave it sit on the counter for an hour or two before freezing. This will help it to dry out a bit so it's not as stretchy. I tried this making my own fondant (two different recipes) and I was EXTREMELY disappointed. The homemade fondant was just hard to work with. I'm not that good yet so I need it to be forgiving if I overwork it (or be able to put the scraps back through the machine.) I'm not sure if I was just not making the fondant right or what the problem was. I've learned my lesson to stick with the store bought fondant.

I've read a ton of blogs to find out about converting it to an expression. I've read a lot of posts that go either way. This machine can cut paper! I bought the sticky paper mats and the deep cut housing unit with the blades. The parts that actually tuoch the cake are only for cake and the parts that touch paper are only for paper. So far this has been working out great! I was so happy for about 25 bucks for the extra parts that I could get it to do both.

Cricut has also been pushing the design center. This is their computer application that you can use to control the machine. They also have it where you can buy digital cartridges instead of having the physical one. This product should still be classified in the alpha stage of development. It's obvious to me that they pushed it out before it was completely ready. Some features are really great, but over all I find it to be a hassle. Working with the design center can be beneficial for somethings but overall I recommend just using the physical cartridges. Read more ›

26 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great tool for home baker and cake decorator October 27, 2011

By mom2girls

I have had my Cricut Cake mini for 2 months now and I love it. I keep finding excuses and occasions to celebrate so that can I pull out my mini to decorate cupcakes or cakes. I was apprehensive at first about buying this machine since there are many negative comments on the full sized Cricut Cake and hardly any reviews at all for the Cricut Cake Mini. I call my machine my little ladybug. It is a nice compact size that I easily store in my pantry when I am not using it. It has almost all the same features as the larger Cricut Cake and for my needs it suits me fine, I have no need to cut out large gumpaste cut-outs. I have done a lot of research to optimize the use of my "ladybug". I found some really useful youtube videos that provide great information about how thick to roll the gumpaste, letting it rest prior to cutting and so on. I have never had a problem with tearing my gumpaste. I have been successful with ciutting out detailed small images and letters without incident. I have a Cricut Expression paper cutting machine which helps because I know already how to set everything up to cut. I have received so many compliments on the work this little machine produces that I can't wait to use it again.