I bought this a few weeks ago because I'm always making cupcakes and never have an easy way to bring them anywhere. Most cupcake holders hold 12 cupcakes or crush the frosting. The other problem is that most holders take up so much room when you need to store them that it's not worth having them in the first place. This holds 24 cupcakes and has enough headroom to prevent frosting mishaps. It also has an ingenious collapsible design to allow it to take up less than half its original height. I'll break down the positives and negatives:
POSITIVES:
Collapsible, space-saving design
Holds 12-24 cupcakes you choose! Use one tray for 12, 2 trays for 24.
Included cupcake trays are nice to look at, easy to clean, and have finger-holes to allow easier removal of individual cupcakes
Cupcakes have enough headroom on both levels for mounds of frosting or decorations
Use it with cake instead of cupcakes if you want by just removing the trays altogether.
NEGATIVES:
The included cupcake trays don't interlock with the base in any way. They actually slide around quite a bit until you put the cover on. This creates a problem for loading and for unloading. If they had made a small groove that the tray could have sat in or a way to lock them in place without the cover, it would have increased the stability of the trays for loading and unloading. NOTE: They don't move when you put the lid on, only with the lid off!
I doubt the handle is going to be strong enough for holding heavy cakes. I don't honestly expect to hold a cake caddy by the handle, though some cakes can weigh a lot and I'm not going to trust a handle with my time-consuming precious baked masterpiece. I always carry from the bottom. Still, the handle has the very important job on this cake caddy of being able to expand the thing from collapsed to full.
Requires a fair amount of strength to uncollapse.
Kind of ugly. The red band is really not a nice color. I would have preferred it in white. It really goes with nothing it's not Christmas red, it's more of a maroon, but even then, it's not REALLY maroon, either. It's just not pretty and it looks dated now, it's going to look even more dated in a few more years.
Cupcakes could flip sideways/over if you're not careful. I had no mishaps bringing cupcakes where they needed to go because I was very careful, but bringing the cupcakes home I was less careful and some of the leftovers flipped on their sides.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this. The trays are made of high-quality plastic that doesn't stain (black food coloring sat on it for 7 days and came right off without even any soap). The locks feel secure. The space-saving design sets it apart from every other cake caddy on the market. And it can hold 24 cupcakes without much trouble. Even though it's ugly and the trays slide around initially, I think it's a pretty good product.
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If you buy this carrier, replace the handle even if you don't plan to carry it by the handle. The provided handle is a tragic accident waiting to happen. Just make sure that the replacement handle is designed so it wont slide down into the carrier and drape in your frosting.
The carrier is cleverly designed, but it's cheaply made. The raised cupcake tray stands on slightly wobbly stilts, attached to the lower cupcake tray. The lower cupcake tray doesn't actually attach to the base. As a another commenter pointed out, the situation is stabilized by the lid being in place, so it shouldn't be a problem if you're careful while loading it up.
The collapsing action is okay. The red rubber in the middle folds down so the carrier is only half height for storage, but it's firm enough that it shouldn't accidentally fold down and crush your baked goods, though you should not try to rest anything on top of the carrier. It would have been better if there were stabilizers to keep this from being an issue, but it's a small risk. (I haven't been using it long enough to know how much the rubber will soften with use.)
The only terrible feature for me was the one that left me standing in my driveway mourning ruined cupcakes when the cheap handle broke the first time I used it. It wasn't even full. There's really no excuse for this. The carrier is designed to be carried by the handle. With a replacement handle, the carrier is a good one. If not for the lousy handle, the carrier would have been worth another star or even two, but as it is, it is a product that has ruined many people's days and will ruin many more.
I probably wont buy any more products from Progressive. I wont trust that they don't have any other vital and stupid flaws.
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I bought this for a cake decorating class I was taking. I used it twice and when I was carrying my beautifully decorated cake out of class the second night the carrier handle broke and the cake dropped to the floor. If I would have known the handle was made so badly I wouldn't have bought this item. Don't waste your money!
Honest reviews on Progressive International Collapsible Cupcake and Cake Carrier
I wasn't into cupcakes until a little challenge came up at work about 18 months ago and since then I've been experimenting ever since with about 400+ cupcakes baked under my belt. I realized I needed a carrier for transporting cupcakes to work and parties since the hobby seemed to be sticking to me for more than a minute. I preferred the collapsable design but the mixed reviews of this carrier prevented me from purchasing it until about 6 months ago.
I have to say I'm very happy I did. I have not had any signifigant issues with this carrier. The cavet is though, I've never tried carrying it by the handle and double, triple check the locks. I would recommend not carrying this by the handle.
I have used this close to 20 times to transport cupcakes to work and parties. Cupcakes are very easy to manage in this carrier I have not had any lost "frosting" or decorations ruined and I'm known to load the frosting and decorations on the cupcakes! I even used the carrier (minus the cupcake trays) to transport a petite wedding cake (high top cake for bride and groom). I used this for my cake decorating classes all summer too. Every time it worked as designed.
There are two issues I have with this carrier I would share with someone contemplating purchasing this. First, as noted by others, the cupcake trays do not lock into the bottom of the carrier. It's snug once the carrier is locked but I did have an almost wreck when the cupcake tray moved a little on me when I was filling the bottom tray. The second issue would be the "collapsable" feature and this is more of a worry / concern. I've been watching it very carefully and the carrier does not show any wear; however, I'm nervous this material will eventually give preventing its use and/or comprimise the structural integrity of the carrier. I try not over "collapse" / store without collapsing it if I'm going to use it within a week which goes against the main reason I purchased this one. Again, this is just a fear at this point.
I would love to have seen this with a mini-cupcake tray option too. They have been pretty hard to transport without lossing a few each time.
Overall I would recommend purchasing this carrier if you're a frequent cupcake / round cake baker with the disclaimer don't carry it by the handle and double check the locks whenever you start to transport something in this carrier.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Progressive International Collapsible Cupcake and Cake Carrier
First off I DO agree that the handle was in retrospect rather cheap as it broke for me too... BUT not until I had transported at least 3 heavy fully decorated cakes and several times with cupcakesI fully agree with many here that mentioned that you would (or should) NEVER rely on the handlea plastic one at thatto transport something that you spent SO much time and love on and that is basically irreplaceable unless you SOMEhow have the time to start alll over again :) I am SO sorry for those of you who experienced such a nightmare! But I have always tried to learn a valuble lesson from such disasters! This is a very very heavy dutyand heavy carrier so the handle clearly wouldn't be enough to hold it when full of something so heavy and dense as cakes/cupcakes....I always (thankfully) held it by the bottom and used the handle to help hold it upright and steady. My handle DID however break though when my husband used it to pull out the top from the collapsed state. I say above that I wish I had read these reviews to know this would certainly happen so we could have 'babied' it for a bit longer. He assures me we can fix it as you do need something to pull it out from the collapsed position.
HOWEVER, this is most certainly better than any other carrier I have tried myself and I've had severalthey just don't carry so many cupcakes or ones that have piles of beautifully decorated cupcakes without compressing and messing up all your work! The stands are great for display as well if it's not a particularly fancy eventif so I would transfer them to a tree etc...but quite nice for taking to your office etc.can just take the top off and they are beautifully ready for people to take them out one by one without messing up the others due to the finger cutouts that others mentioned.... and Yes a cake WILL slide around and ruin your work as well as cardboard certainly slides on plastic but I have found this to be a concern on any carrier and I just cut out a piece of rug backing or the same design of shelf liner or the like. It works perfect and you don't see it!!
All in all I give this at least 4 stars and the only reason it's not five is because for five stars I expect shear perfection :)
Hope this helps!!
psnot sure why one person said it was ugly? I don't really care what the cover looks like to begin with but I will say that I have actually gotten several compliments on it! :)
