My only regret is that it's taken me this long to finally get my review published to my cake blog, but it was so worth the wait... at least for me. lol I'm thrilled to finally have baked and covered a sweet heart of a cake for the Duff Goldman line.
So... here's what I was sent... a box of premium chocolate cake mix, a tub of red fondant, and a set of texture tiles for giving texture to fondant.
I was a bit intimidated by the fondant when I found it on the shelf at my local Micheal's craft store as it's more expensive than the brand I normally buy. Here's the thing though... Duff's fondant is actually GOOD! I usually only add fondant accents to my cakes, rather than covering the entire cake in fondant as I've never much cared for the taste, and given that adding fondant adds expense, why mess with it? However... Duff's fondant is worth paying for and messing with! lol It's only going to enhance your cake's taste and appearance, so I say go for it!
The free fondant shipped to my door was red, which is great because taking white fondant and coloring it red is a chore. Before this review, I'd never worked with pre-colored fondant... I've always colored it myself. Duff's fondant has a great feel to it and is not dry, like the other brand I'm familiar with. It doesn't easily rip or tear when draping over a cake and works well in layers... by that I mean if you're making fondant accents to place atop a freshly covered fondant cake, you may not even need a dab of water or vanilla extract to help it stick. One less step!Just for fun I used the Texture Tiles to give my added hearts a bit of... well, texture! lol I have dedicated this heart cake to Duff and his fun (and tasty) new decorating product line.
My overall impression? I would definitely buy the fondant again. In fact, I'm already planning on it. The premium chocolate cake mix is very good too. I don't know how often I'll be able to swing the extra money to buy it though, as it's significantly more than what I currently use. Not that it's not worth that price, it's just not likely I'll purchase too many cake mixes down the road. Maybe on special occasions... like my wedding anniversary or my husband's birthday I'll splurge.
The Texture Tiles are fun and will be something I'll probably use again. They're of course reusable, assuming you don't place them in your dishwasher! lol I think they'll work nicely for small projects like this heart cake, so I'll be hanging on to them. 
This cake is double-layer 8" heart-shaped design, which was just the right size for 1 Premium Chocolate Cake Mix. I had A LOT of extra fondant after covering and decorating... I think I could have decorated another cake of this size with the amount of fondant remaining.
If you'd like to have a little fun, visit Micheal's craft store and check out all the awesome Duff Goldman products. They even carry cake tattoos! lol I was really hoping to receive one in my goody box, but I'm almost over that disappointment. lol They look like a lot of fun and I even found a few at my local Walmart... which was a surprise! I didn't realize anyone other than Micheal's would be carrying Duff.
I hope you've enjoyed this review as much as I enjoyed providing it. I'll agree it was probably more fun for me though, because I actually get to help eat the cake! Can I just say YUMMY!!?
