Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of good things to say about this puzzle, other than the thickness of the pieces was very good. It’s a pretty picture I suppose, but it’s really not my cup of tea/pile of pieces. Those are all the good things.

Usually MasterPieces has good quality; in fact, the puzzle completed immediately before this one – Quilting Country – was a MasterPieces puzzle with excellent quality. This one however, perhaps because it was a special edition (The Cake Boss), was less than optimal. There was terrible cutting, imperfect image reproduction, and not a great fit.

You can see that the cutting was not up to par. Not that the pieces weren’t cut all the way through, it looks as if the die wasn’t even and it didn’t come close to getting the whole piece cut completely through. And this happened on many pieces, not just this one.

Box Image

Actual Puzzle

You can see the color difference between the box image on the left and the actual puzzle on the right. Actually the box image flowers look much more pink than even my picture shows. It doesn’t show as much here, but there was a big difference between the color on the box and the completed puzzle. In addition, while you can see each of the petals in the box image, on the puzzle itself they are just fuzzy, indistinct blobs of color.

Again, I have found that MasterPieces puzzles are normally good quality, but this special Cake Boss edition puzzle fell below their usual standards. In my mind they’re still a company that puts out good puzzles and it won’t stop me from continuing to buy them.

But if you run across a Cake Boss puzzle from MasterPieces, be wary. Baked with Love is definitely not recommended.

Details:

• Title:                  Baked with Love
• Artist:                Unknown
• Brand:               Masterpieces
• Piece count:     500 pieces
• Size:                  Approx. 18 x 24 in. (46 x 61 cm)
• Purchased:      Used, thrift store

Quality:

• Board:               Very good
• Cutting:             Poor
• Image:               Poor
• Box:                   Fair, opens at the top
• Fit:                     Fair
• Puzzle Dust:     Small amount
• Piece cut:          Random cut
• Piece shapes:   Very good variety
• Finish:               Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating:      Poor quality, not recommended