Yesterday, after a very slightly boring day back to work I realized that soon I would be looking for another hobby. Currently I'd been taking dance lessons at a studio where body image comes before self-image and I have since stopped buying classes. I'll rejoin again next year after they've all had a chance to miss me. But in the meantime I need a break from the egoists.
I went through my mental Rolodex of hobbies and talents and came to the realization that I haven't made candy in over a year!
Now this may surprise you, but I love candy. I can never eat the stuff fast enough, but if given the opportunity I can gorge on chocolate and gummies until my mouth is striped rainbow. My first experience making candy was one random weekend in Petersburg Virginia when my grandmother showed me the basics of candy molds and glossy chocolate releases. Though the sweets we made were simply, they taught me an important lesson on the labor of love and sharing with your friends. For a few hours I was the coolest person in the classroom because I had brought candy.
So I hopped online and looked for a candy/cake and other sweet supply store.
CK, a whole sale mart has a huge selection of items, but they only sell to large business owners and a minimum purchase has to be $125 or greater. I'll keep them in mind for when I break into baking as a full time experience. In the meantime I need small scale help.
There's this little store off US-29 in a non-descript brick building called Cake Art Party Store. Once I came through the construction and past the trailer trucks prone the this transitional section of Tucker Georgia I pulled into the store's drive, albeit the wrong direction and parked.
Unbeknownst to me, behind the average exterior was a plethora of supplies and gadgets that would make any girls who knows how to wield an off-set spatula to go into heart palpitations. The front of the store has the usual "10 for 10" type items where you can save a lot on cheaper places and surplus napkins. But as I ventured slowly down the isles, I found decorations, tiers, supports and structures, and entire isle dedicated to piping and gum paste flowers. Books, fillings, and isle of pans and forms, icing, butter cream, fondant, two isle of candy molds, chocolate, crunchy additions, gift boxes and bags, extracts, flavorings, coloring, sprinkles in every shape and type. And when I turned the last corner, a classroom pumping the sweet smell of chocolate and frosting throughout the store.
I have found bakers/candy makers heaven!
I went nuts for about 30 minute then looked down into my small hand held basket and came to my financial senses. I put back the piping tips and the tart pan. Those would be for another trip. I stuck to the chocolate, getting a lollipop mold and spending 20 minutes deciding what flavor to add, only to choose cheesecake and vanilla melts.
I paid for my supplies and rushed back to my house where I melted a tube of green and a tube of pink chocolate and halfway painted my chocolate lily pops before filling the molds with pure white candy and a stick.
My freezer is a bit full so instead of flash freezing the pops I chilled them in an ice bath. This method worked well, after the ice melted the water was still cool enough to chill the pops. I embellished each pop with a sugar pearl and placed them in candy bags. I plan on handing them out at work tomorrow, as a Friday treat. I think they'll go over well, and they are much easier than baking and icing cupcakes for a few hours. In just under an hour I had 10 pops made, considering I had to come up with a few ingenious ways to paint and cool the chocolate, I feel accomplished for my first time back with candy.
I went through my mental Rolodex of hobbies and talents and came to the realization that I haven't made candy in over a year!
Now this may surprise you, but I love candy. I can never eat the stuff fast enough, but if given the opportunity I can gorge on chocolate and gummies until my mouth is striped rainbow. My first experience making candy was one random weekend in Petersburg Virginia when my grandmother showed me the basics of candy molds and glossy chocolate releases. Though the sweets we made were simply, they taught me an important lesson on the labor of love and sharing with your friends. For a few hours I was the coolest person in the classroom because I had brought candy.
So I hopped online and looked for a candy/cake and other sweet supply store.
CK, a whole sale mart has a huge selection of items, but they only sell to large business owners and a minimum purchase has to be $125 or greater. I'll keep them in mind for when I break into baking as a full time experience. In the meantime I need small scale help.
There's this little store off US-29 in a non-descript brick building called Cake Art Party Store. Once I came through the construction and past the trailer trucks prone the this transitional section of Tucker Georgia I pulled into the store's drive, albeit the wrong direction and parked.
Unbeknownst to me, behind the average exterior was a plethora of supplies and gadgets that would make any girls who knows how to wield an off-set spatula to go into heart palpitations. The front of the store has the usual "10 for 10" type items where you can save a lot on cheaper places and surplus napkins. But as I ventured slowly down the isles, I found decorations, tiers, supports and structures, and entire isle dedicated to piping and gum paste flowers. Books, fillings, and isle of pans and forms, icing, butter cream, fondant, two isle of candy molds, chocolate, crunchy additions, gift boxes and bags, extracts, flavorings, coloring, sprinkles in every shape and type. And when I turned the last corner, a classroom pumping the sweet smell of chocolate and frosting throughout the store.
I have found bakers/candy makers heaven!
I went nuts for about 30 minute then looked down into my small hand held basket and came to my financial senses. I put back the piping tips and the tart pan. Those would be for another trip. I stuck to the chocolate, getting a lollipop mold and spending 20 minutes deciding what flavor to add, only to choose cheesecake and vanilla melts.
I paid for my supplies and rushed back to my house where I melted a tube of green and a tube of pink chocolate and halfway painted my chocolate lily pops before filling the molds with pure white candy and a stick.
My freezer is a bit full so instead of flash freezing the pops I chilled them in an ice bath. This method worked well, after the ice melted the water was still cool enough to chill the pops. I embellished each pop with a sugar pearl and placed them in candy bags. I plan on handing them out at work tomorrow, as a Friday treat. I think they'll go over well, and they are much easier than baking and icing cupcakes for a few hours. In just under an hour I had 10 pops made, considering I had to come up with a few ingenious ways to paint and cool the chocolate, I feel accomplished for my first time back with candy.
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