Dear Wilton’s,

I can’t thank you enough for the memories you’ve brought back to me and for the ones yet to come. When it comes to making me happy in the kitchen, you rule. Your highly recognized products are easy to use, inexpensive and yet durable, and I don’t have a hard time finding them in my local cake/craft stores.

You have decorated our food, our hearts, and our lives. Thank you.

I love you!

Sincerely,
Me

Just about a year ago I bought something I’d wanted for a very long time: a Wilton’s cake decorating kit. My mom reigned when we were kids. Everyone on the block was jealous ~ jealous, I say! ~ of the cakes we’d get on our birthdays. The flavors, the textures, the decorating and how it was the Main Attraction. We’d be booted out of the kitchen the day before the celebration and not let back in until the Grand Unveiling.

My two favorite cake memories are from my 7th and 8th birthdays. For one she’d made a sheet cake and covered it with shredded coconut that she’d colored green. Coconut is still a favorite of mine. On this were a small plastic house that was also a penny bank (complete with birthday penny inside!), and small plastic figurines of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I still have those figurines!

The other cake memory was another sheet cake that she’d piped yellow “bricks” on for my Wizard of Oz themed party. I had started collecting Wizard of Oz dolls. She borrowed the ones I had and incorporated my birthday gifts into the cake and table setting. I don’t remember which ones were new that year, but I do remember the set was finally complete; and yes, I still have those, too.

I had grand visions of creating amazing treats that would magically turn my home into a lovely talked-about-all-over-town bakery. Or at least, give my family something to talk about on a regular basis.

To inaugurate my own Kit, I invited my mom over and she, I, and Dot had a cupcake decorating party. What great fun! I made the cupcakes, mixed the icings, and we had fun! The decorating tips made for a variety of patterns and techniques that turned each cupcake into a work of art.

A short time ago, I stocked up on Wilton’s melting chocolates and more molds. I also added extras to my Kit. There’s such a variety, it was really hard to choose what shapes and colors I wanted. I was, well, like a kid in a candy store!

I’d had it in my mind to make treats like I’d seen on the television cooking shows. And today, I decided, was the day!

I started by making solid chocolate molds. It’s so easy! Wilton’s melting chocolates can be melted right in the store packaging. I chose to use one of the icing bags that came in my cake kit. Just put in some chocolate pieces, microwave for two minutes on 50% power, and mix. It’s that easy! Then I just cut the tip off the bag and gently filled the molds. How great are these?! After 15 minutes in the fridge, they’re ready to pop out and eat! (And can I just say, that if between the time of my writing and your reading there are no chocolates left in my house, it’s not my fault. I’m just a taste-tester, making sure of the accuracy of my writing!)

Then I tried my hand at making chocolate shells. I filled the molds only halfway and used a baking brush to pull it up on the edges. This will take more practice. More, delicious, practice. Darn.

While the molded chocolates were chilling in the fridge, I started the ganache. This, too, was far easier than anticipated. A simple 1-to-1 ratio of chocolate and heavy whipping cream. Once the chocolate was melted in the double boiler over simmering water, I added the cream and blended until smooth.

Then I put one cup of the mix into a smaller container and added finely chopped peanuts. I let the large pan chill in the fridge for several hours. I chilled the smaller cup for half an hour and poured some into a molding tray and some into the chocolate shells.

I’ve never made chocolate candies before, and I can honestly say the variety of Wilton’s products, and the easy directions, make me wonder why it took me this long. The creaminess of the chocolates are utterly melt-in-your-mouth delicious. The molds are so fun. There are cups, stars, hearts, shallow buttons, animals. Anything you can think of! And the accessories for cake decorating are just as vast: food coloring, decorating tips, fondant product, idea books.

With Wilton’s in the kitchen, there’s no wrong way to make a treat.

Dot has already asked if we can make more this weekend. I’m so happy I could cry! Hey, you know what’s good for that?… CHOCOLATE!

And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!

*This post is in no way sponsored or endorsed by Wilton’s. The opinions expressed are my own.*

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