Recently Trader Joe's has had two new baking mixes hit store shelves: blueberry muffins and this Spring Cupcake Mix. Since I was in the mood for something sweet we started with the cupcakes.
The taste
Usually when you buy most grocery store cupcake mixes it calls for eggs, water, and oil. Trader Joe's asks for egg whites, water, and butter. There are a few benefits here. First, the egg whites keep this feather-light. Next, the butter adds just a smidge more natural flavor than a neutral oil would.
That being said out of the oven and cooled these were a real treat. They were light and tender. The cupcakes had a mild vanilla flavor to them. Nothing overly assertive.
The frosting came together really easily. As an added bonus, if you are making this with a child it was fun to watch the powder turn from a very faint green into a nice spring green. The spirulina used to color the frosting didn't have any taste to it. It just ended up being vanilla-tasting icing as well. Nothing fancy here. Just a pleasant buttercream icing.
The only bummer is that you'll need some type of piping tip to make this pretty as that wasn't included. If you don't have a pastry bag then just grab a ziplock bag and cut a small piece of one of the corners off as a workaround.
The only thing I found odd about these were the robins' eggs that were included. When I've had robins eggs they were usually malted milk balls which I find strangely delicious. That wasn't the case here. Instead of the light and crispy center, Trader Joe's robins' eggs had caramel in the center. Very unexpected when you don't read the ingredients first.
And unfortunately, I think the gummy caramel centers didn't work together with this. They were just alright separately. Visually they looked adorable but overall just didn't make for a great bite when all three elements were combined.
Once I removed them from the cupcake I tried, I thought Trader Joe's Spring Cupcake Mix was pretty good for the price. Especially to not have to buy multiple products to get the job done.
Directions
The directions were on point for this box. So preheat your oven to 350F. And the directions call for egg whites instead of the whole egg.
Add your cake mix, melted butter, egg whites, and water, and give it a good stir until thoroughly combined.
Mix it together and you get a batter that looks like this:
And into the oven at 350F for 20 minutes.
And while the cupcakes are baking you can make the icing:
Mix and only use enough milk to make it the right consistency:
And once the cupcakes are cool, then you can frost them. Unfortunately, there is no tip included. If you want to pipe the icing, you can use a zip lock bag and cut a corner out of it. If you want to grass tip you can purchase it here on Amazon.
I didn't have the grass tip, so I improvised with what I had.
The packaging
There are 3 bags in the box: One for the cake, the frosting, and the candies. There is no excess packaging noted.
Overall
This made a really good cupcake, with good frosting, and very presentable cupcakes. I wasn't wild for the candy included but that is easily remedied. It made exactly a dozen cupcakes well with no waste as long as you follow the directions.
Would I buy this again? While I don't need this product again and am slightly bummed out this wasn't available until after Easter, I can honestly say I love the concept of having everything in the package. Since it says Spring, this is going to be a seasonal item. But if we get lucky I would be happy to see one of these for each season. It was also a way better value than buying cake mix and frosting separately.
Did you try it? Let me know what you think in the comments section!
Product Photos
The box:
The nutritional information and ingredients:
How to prepare:
Out of the package you get:
Fully frosted:
And the taste:
Want to see more items I've reviewed from Trader Joe's? Click on Thoughts & Reviews of Trader Joe’s for a searchable list.
Trader Joe's Spring Cupcake Mix
Product Name: Trader Joe's Spring Cupcake Mix
Product Description: Trader Joe's Spring Cupcake Mix is new but seasonal.
Price: $4.99
Summary
Trader Joe's Spring Cupcake Mix are new but are a seasonal mix.
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Taste
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Value
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Worthy of Repurchasing
Pros
- Made 12 cupcakes perfectly with no waste
- The cake was light and pleasant
- No artificial colors were used.
Cons
- I wasn't wild for the robin's eggs that were included. The caramel center on them didn't seem to jive with the rest of the cupcake.
- Seasonal item, but we can hope maybe there will be one for each season.
- You won't be able to frost the cupcakes sky high with the amount of icing this product makes.
They’re so cute!
Thank you! It is a cute mix.
It's nice that TJ's is dipping into the dessert kit section. Hope we see like a lemon cupcake kit.
Absolutely 💯
Finally just made these with my daughter the day before the first day of Summer (giggle). Your blog here was so SUPER helpful and I am so grateful you did such a thorough review! I strangely liked the eggs but then again, I'm not very good at really taking the time to mindfully savor sweets....and I really loved your thoughts about why you felt they did NOT work. We picked up that grass frosting tip-I LOVED the effect, but my daughter did not (she said it scared her, lol!) All in all our whole family really enjoyed these cupcakes! YAY! Thanks again for a great review/blog about them!
Thanks! So glad I could help.