Part work, Baked and Delicious magazine has been a big hit on Facebook with 14,000 people who “like” it, several thousand of whom declared their love before copies were on sale.
The first issue costs 99p, the second £2.99 and subsequent issues are £4.99. It claims to be “packed with international classics and traditional favourites” and that it “brings the very best of baking to today’s cooks.” As a further sweetener, each issue comes with a piece of colourful silicone bakeware. Subscribers also get “free” gifts such as electronic kitchen scales, cake tins, cake slices and the all important binder.
I’ve been amazed how many people have raved about this magazine in other blog reviews, to the point I’m wondering if they haven’t given it much thought or feel uncomfortable calling it a dud.
My Baked and Delicious Magazine REVIEW
We call spades spades here. My impression after reviewing issue one of Baked and Delicious was that it is:
- Flimsy at fewer than 30 pages per issue
- Cheap with pound shop quality bakeware gifts
- Overpriced for such a short magazine even bearing in mind the “free” gift
- Dated with 1980s yellow tinged photography
- Dreary with graphics that look like they were created in MS Word
- Unsophisticated with uninspiring food styling
- Badly edited with inconsistent layout and typos
On the plus side, the Gateaux St Honore recipe was the most useful but you’d do better to spend your cash on some generic baking books instead of doggedly committing to this week after week. For around £7.99 you can easily pick up little hardback baking books in the supermarket and discount book stores. You can add to your bakeware collection as necessary.
(For a highly informative post on the pros and cons of silicone bakeware, check out my friend Ozoz Kitchen Butterfly’s excellent post here)
Baked and Delicious has been out a while now but new subscribers get to buy back copies. Sixty issues are planned. If you want to back out, I’m informed you can cancel subscriptions at any time.
I have been subscribing since the beginning mainly for the free gifts you get with subscription. Also because when the magazine was released I couldn’t find it in the shops anywhere, of course Smiths now seem to have quite a few in stock but nevermind.
Yes the magazines are expensive for what they are and I already own several baking books with similar or sometimes better recipes. But the way I see it is that I am buying the bakeware and getting a free recipe guide with it. It may not be the best quality but I am a student and it is nice to be able to get reasonably priced stuff to use when I have time to bake. I certainly don’t intend to buy the whole series as I know that some items will just not get used by me.
I am a teenager and love cooking and ihave subscribed to this magazine. The silicone is NOT flimsy and is very useful and easy to use and easy to wash and clean up. The recipes are easy to follow and are varied and yes, £4.99 is slighlty pricey, but the magazines in the binder begin to make a cookery book withthin the binder. If you go and buy a normal cook/recipe book for 7.99 you dont get extra recipes every fortnight so when you get bored of them recipes you have to buy another one and another one! This is a great magazine for people of all ages and i know plently of people who use it! If i where you buy a few of these magazines and give them a chance before you start slating them because they look ‘cheap’ and people say my generation is sterotypical……..
The company is Eaglemoss/Data Base Factory… I feel rather stupid for subscribing…but as I am disabled, don’t get to leave the house often and wanted to pick up some new skills, dishes, recipes etc…their 100%
Customer Guarantee inspired me..plus Free gifts.
This is their promise:
When you subscribe to Baked & Delicious you’ll receive 2 issues per month direct to your door. Each issue comes with recipes from around the World, and colourful silicone bakeware or fancy decorating tools building into a complete baking collection. Every recipe has been
tried and tested by our baking team to help you achieve great results.
If you live in the UK then postage is free and you can cancel at any time. Plus, by subscribing
you’ll receive 4 fantastic gifts worth over £35!
But it has been nothing but HASSLE, I call and get hung up on, I email ..they never respond.
I am subscription day 84, and so far I have 5 issues (3 of which took over 3 months to arrive) full of typos and mistakes…the silcone items fail to hold there shape…and blow out mid bake. They are still promising the cake slice and tins…but nothing.
What I have gotten is that the recipes are expensive…require too many ingredients … example Scones… 12 ingredients…when 5 will do.
Lemon Drizzle cake … ingredient cost £7.10 … or £4.50 from Betty’s Tea Shop http://www.bettys.co.uk/Freshly-Baked,37.aspx
I am disappointed by the open attacks and bulling on the facebook site…for posting my experience…and starting a discussion topic asking B&D to respond.
I have complained to watchdog, OFT and trading standards…what else can I do.
I declined to review this for similar reasons to some given above, plus I’m not really a cake blogger 😉
Claire Will you could try writing to the Guardian Money page, they can be quite helpful if they decide to feature your complaint.
I do agree that this magazine is a bit flimsy and that it has had its problems but it’s a treat for me.
I am liking the fact that I am being introduced to new recipes and to a new world of social communication via the Facebook page.
I may end up cancelling soon as it’s getting expensive to keep buying additional bakeware that isn’t free with the magazine.