There are five varieties of the new cupcake mix: vanilla bean, coconut, chocolate, meyer lemon, and red velvet ($14.95/mix). There are also four premade frostings: vanilla bean, meyer lemon, coconut, and chocolate ($19.95/24-ounce jar). I decided to try one standard mix (vanilla bean) and one of what I will call the "special flavors" (red velvet) as well as the frosting that could go on any of the cupcakes: vanilla bean. More

Memorial Day weekend is here, which means it's finally time to bust out my ice cream maker. But who wants to stand over a hot stove cooking the custard base? Fortunately, there are a bunch of easy new ice cream mixes on the market. All you have to do is stir the mix into cold milk or cream and freeze. More

Forever in pursuit of gelato as luxurious and pure as my first few scoops, I was curious to try out William-Sonoma's new gelato starter mixes. Of the two flavors currently available—Stracciatella and Salted Caramel (each $14)—I opted for the caramel. Before you balk at the price, consider that each box contains enough mix to make four pints of gelato. That's less than $5 a pint, which is roughly how much a carton of Haagen-Dazs or Ben & Jerry's will set you back. More

Like most Williams-Sonoma products, it was expensive. But top-quality food is worth a splurge, and the box promised "real cream flavor" and "the aroma of an old-fashioned ice cream parlor." Sure, making a loaf cake from scratch and dumping in some crushed-up Oreos would be easy. Nonetheless, I was curious to try the mix and thought the robin egg blue box with retro design would make it a nice gift. More