Swan 6 Cup Cupcake Maker SF1603ON

I was given a Giles & Posner electric cupcake maker which makes MINI cucpakes. I found that to be a wonderful little machine. However it only makes MINI [bite-size]cupcakes which are dainty & beautiful, ideal for LADIES tea parties. My husband & his male friends can each gobble 10 in one sitting. As it was such a fantastic machine, I decided to buy this SWAN machine which makes STANDARD muffin-size cupcakes. I bought two, one as a gift.
The SWAN is equally good, in fact better in a sense as you can also make mini cupcakes in this machine by using the small silicone/paper cupcake cases.
I can make cupcakes now in half the time. Not only does it produces perfectly shaped cupcakes, all 6 cupcakes are baked in 8-9 mins. If you NOT going to ice your vanilla cupcakes, please note that the top of the cupcake made in any electric machine comes out pale. It does NOT brown in the same way as in a ordniary oven. If you leave it longer in the SWAN, it will brown, but produces a drier cake. No problems with coffee, chocolate or coloured [pink/green] cupcakes.
As a first attempt, I would recommend that you use a supermarket ready made sponge-mix [49p a packet] so that you can get the hang of the machine and will not be disappointed first time round, even though this is a fool-proof machine! I found the chocolate sponge-mix better.
I assure you that this is a good quality product, weighty and well-made. Lovely finish, neat, slightly on the biggish side because it has to accommodate 6 normal size cupcakes. Now I can make 12 cupcakes in 30 mins [mixing & baking, and washing-up in between]
It is a wonderful machine. An investment if you like to eat cupcakes on a regular basis. Worth every penny. *********

Really enjoy the product , perfect for what I wanted , a few months in the non stick coating ( despite only very careful cleaning ) is waring off the non stick plate, contacted seller , after a few days a short email saying that the manufacturer had agreed to replace , but damaged item had to be sent to seller who would then forward on . In principle exactly the result I wanted , however the brief email gave no information about how to return this item , where exactly to send , which carrier to use etc, contacted them asking for further details about how to go about this return, was told someone would " give me a bell " in a couple of days , time passed email again asking for update , was told the person dealing would be back in touch to help with this ,not just would have appreciated a better reaction , help really needed as I am disabled , still no word , first contacted them 24 Jan , reminded 30 Jan , bit if a shame really , I could have had replacement , perfect , no issue with that at all , really good response from manufacturer , good customer service, no help on making this happen from seller , poor customer service , should have bought from amazon direct , will be trying to do that as much as possible from now on

I bought this for my sister who loves cupcakes. We made some cupcakes a few days ago using it. It is quicker than using an oven, it took on average 10 minutes to bake 6 cupcakes. I would say that this is great for people who aren't confident bakers, people who are new to baking and for people who don't have much time to bake. As an experienced baker, I did notice a difference in taste (oven baked cupcakes are nicer). I personally will continue baking cupcakes in the oven as the taste is superior.

For those of you who have it, I would recommend greasing the tin once it is heated with a bit of oil or butter to prevent the cases from sticking. Nowhere in the manual does it say to do so but I did and did not experience any problems.