Where I Shop, Part 2

A couple of weeks ago, I took you on a fun photo tour of Cake Art Party Store (cakeart.com) – a great little cake supply place I visit often. But, what I didn’t show you is all the candy making supplies they have. I’ve bought lots of stuff from them to make cake pops. Most importantly… candy melts. What would I do without these things. They come in 1 lb. bags of dark and milk chocolate as well as tons of colors…

… and flavors. Did you know these things come in peanut butter? They also have some mint flavored ones if you like.

Now, if the 1 lb. bags aren’t enough for you, then throw a couple of these five pounders over your shoulder. FYI, these are superwhite vanilla coatings, not to be confused with white. Same thing, only brighter. And, if you buy a bunch of white candy melts, then you might even want to try tinting your own. It’s really easy.

Just add a few drops of this stuff to the melted candy coating and color away. Make sure it says candy color, though. Regular food coloring contains water and will mess your chocolate up. I mean it.

100% Cocoa Butter. If I actually knew what I was doing, I would tell you all about how to use this stuff. But, I don’t. The only thing I use cocoa butter on is a sunburn. Besides, it was sitting right next to the candy colors, so I took a picture of it for you.

Gigantic caramel chunks anyone? I’ve never used these, but they definitely catch my eye every time I walk down the candy aisle to get lollipop sticks. Actually, my mouth is stuck together right now just thinking about them.

Ahhhh, sticks! Thank you. Fat ones, skinny ones, paper ones, wood ones, short ones…

… and long ones!

Or if you’re afraid of being stickless… bulk ones.

Of course, you’ll want something to stick them in to let your cake pops dry. Styrofoam works great.

These are the medium peanut butter cup molds I use to make the Cupcake Bites. But, don’t let these limit you…

Check out the endless variety of candy molds. They have them for just about anything. Any occasion, hobby or interest you can think of.

I’m waiting for when I can use these.

You can really get creative with the molds. Fill them with solid chocolate or add flavored fillings.

Using squeeze bottles makes it easier to pour chocolate into the molds.

And you can use brushes to paint on the molds with different layers of colored candy melts.

These are candy writers. They are really handy when you just need a little color and quick.

Just place the tube in a bowl of hot water to melt the candy and it’s ready to use.

They come individually in several different colors.

Or try out the box set.

Oils. Need some banana cream flavored chocolate? Bubble Gum? Cranberry? How about root beer or mango?

I’ve used the orange flavor before when I made these orange-colored cake pops. The oils are super-strength and pack a bigger punch than normal extracts – so, you’ll just need a few drops.

A lot of people have asked how to make their chocolate thinner. These paramount crystals do the trick. Just add a few pieces at a time to the melted candy coating and stir until they completely disappear. But, you can also use regular old shortening.

Miniature cutters. These are an alternative to the ones I use from Williams-Sonoma to make Cupcake Pops. The flower cutter on the left is the one you want. It comes in this Ateco set #4848.

Cello bags. These have a bronze/brown tint and they come in lots of sizes. I usually just use small clear plastic treat bags for the pops, though.

Look at these. I’ve never really paid much attention to these foil candy wrappers. I don’t know why. Probably because there’s just too much stuff to look at in this store. But, I definitely want to try them out soon. I’m thinking turquoise! No purple!

You could wrap some cake balls in foil and then place them in little candy cups. How cute!
Seriously… rock them Roche-Ferrero style.

Or you could place them in truffle boxes. I love boxes. Especially little ones.

More boxes.

I saved my favorite for last. Americolor edible ink pens. These have made cake pop decorating so much more fun for me. I started out buying these black ones. They come as a 2 pack. I’ve used them to draw eyes and smiles for cake pop faces and also on fondant covered cupcakes.

After buying the black ones over and over, I finally gave in and bought the full set of ten colors. The day I took these pictures they were sold out. Gone. MIA. Sorry.

But you’re in luck.

Since then, I’ve been back and snagged a couple of sets.

And I’m putting them up for grabs. Yay! Here’s what they look like.

Don’t worry. These are mine. I wouldn’t give you opened ones.

Here’s a few examples of how I’ve used them in the past.

And, here are the new ones I am giving away to two lucky winners.

• Just leave a comment on this post and let me know how you would try them out. Cake pops? Cupcakes? Sugar cookies? Potato Chips? Whatever.
• Leave your comment with a way for me to contact you if you win (either a blog link or email)
• Deadline to enter is Monday, June 22nd at 6 p.m. (recorded by the time stamp of your comment) TIME’S UP – WINNERS BELOW!
• Two winners will be chosen at random* and announced Monday evening on this post.

Good luck!

* using the Random.org integer generator

And the winners are…
Comment #188 – Brittney
Comment #2153 – Jodi
Yay! I hope you have as much fun with the pens as I have. And I want to see pics of your work!