Hey everyone! It is very interesting to me to hear about the items that caker's need and have no access to. Another poster from Spain just stated that she has no way to get Viva paper towels. What are some of the other items you would love to get your hands on and where do you live?

Pretty much everything except flour, eggs, sugar, icing sugar and milk

I just took a class with Debbie Brown (from England) and she said they have no rice krispies or marshmallows in England...could you believe that? I don't know what I'll do without rice krispies!!

im from australia and we dont have SMOOTH viva, we have viva with ripples.. imagine my dispappointment when i tried the viva method and ended up with imprints everywhere.. lol. we also have no criso or really shortening for that matter, no PLAIN WHITE marshmellows, so yes, i sit there separating bags of marshies.. haha.. which ends up with me eating my body weight in pink marshies..lol.

we dont have butter exract or anything of the bridal boquet or princess cookie stuff? its very hard to find good quality food colours if you dont want to spend a fortune or order from the internet ( i hate giving my details over the net) wooden dowels? yea, im still trying to find them.. as with bubble tea straws. cake boards to, they are very expensive here, luckily my mums fiance is a pastry chef and gets them for me. =) yipeee.

most tools are very hard to find; there are a few cake decorating shops around, but most are at the least 1 and half hours drive from me. ( and i dont live in a small town) our craft stores dont really stock cake decorating supplies.

we dont have the pudding mixes either, or meringue powder or separate egg whites.. or these yummy box mixes! we have box mixes, but not nearly as good flavours, mostly just standard white or chocolate, butter carrot.. o fudge or anything yummy. haha.


ive said it before and ill say it again. i am jealous of all those living in the us merely due to the fact you all have access to this stuff!

oh! and we dont have wilton classes! =( they are only offered through two shops in the whole of australia...

id say they call rice krispies something different.. they are called rice bubbles here.

I have a couple of international friends, one in Aus and one in Nederlands and every once in awhile they order stuff, have it sent to my home and I box it all up and ship it to them. It's sewing stuff mostly, patterns, notions, fabric, etc. They say it's like Christmas. I never mind doing this for them.

I thought rice krispies were like marshmallows and rice bubbles (I'm from Australia). Like those LCM bar things. I didn't think we could get them here, although I'm sure they would be easy enough to make.

I hate not having shortening, although I do have a cake decorating store that I order from or visit and they have shortening and some other things that are American.

I would love to know of a VIVA alternative. I did the same thing noahsmummy when I first tried using VIVAs. I thought, this can't be right. Now I know, it wasn't!!

im pretty sure that rice the rice krispies are rice buubles.. or rice puffs.. and that rice krispie TREATS are the ones mixed with marshmallows? some from the u.s want to jump in? lol

and also, someone suggested greaseproof paper cant be sused instead of the SMOOTH viva... they said it didnt work as well, but at least that way we wont be left with ripples on the cakes! LOL. im giving it a go on thursday anyway.=)

Yep, RKT are rice with marshmallows. As far as the viva I have been thinking. It feels and looks almost like flannel with a shorter nap (fuzz) almost no fuzz. To me it actually feels like fabric. The only thing I can think of that is disposable that is "similar" is Charmin ultra strong toilet paper...lol..sorry maybe someone else can think of something.

The plain cereal is Rice Krispies in the US and UK and Rice Bubbles in Australia, the chewy bars are Rice Krispie Treats in the US, Rice Krispie Squares in the UK and LCMs in Australia! Can you tell I've lived in all 3 countries?

Totally off topic... but, does anyone know what LCM stands for???

Noah's Mum - you REALLY need to start ordering stuff online - or get a C.OD. account with a supplier if you don't like using your CC online! I can get everything you mentioned, and also including Crisco (from Melbourne or Sydney). The other alternative is take a drive up the F3 and come to Cupids for a browse. You can look online at all the stock they keep. If there is something you need special, they can get it in! When you come up - let me know and I'll meet you for lunch or something

For the Australian market - all the stuff we need is available here.

With regard to Viva - a good alternative is that smooth non-perforated cream-coloured paper towel you get in some service stations or public restroom

I seriously have hundreds of favourite suppliers online for all manner of supplies, PLUS I also have mates in the USA who often forward me stuff that I can get shipped directly from the USA for whatever reason...where there's a will, there's a way!!

evoir... funny you mention cupids! im actually saving up to make a trip up there! lol. do you know if there is a train station near by? i dont trust my car on the freeway.. otherwise ill just wait for mum to get her new car and borrow that.. could be fun to take a brand newie for a spin.

oh thats a great idea for the paper towel! haha ill get my sister onto that.. i always get her to steal me the fat straws from the servo when she gets her slushies.. hahaha.. what are sisters for eh?

lol, yeah i know.. im just frightened.. heard and seen to many stories that scare me. =( im just saving up some spending money for cupids, and then i will right! they look like they have a bit there! i DID recently find a pokey little shop nearby that sells some stuff; but they are very over priced and you have to tell the lady what you want and she gets it for you.. kinda like you would at a school canteen.. plus the lady was rude. i have a thing against rude business owners.. lol.

I live in Denmark and here is my list: shortening, cake flour, pudding mixes, flavoured coffee creamer, only vanilla and almond extracts, corn syrup, cream of tatar, canned pumpkin, cranberry sauce, and so much more that I can't remember at the moment.

But what bugs me most, is that I can't get hold of a cupcake courier All the places I've looked I have to pay more than the courier costs to have it shipped

Oh, and unsalted butter costs a bloody fortune

I'm in Germany and yeah, there are quite a few things: Viva papertowels, double-acting baking powder (although I've found some online that seems to work), cream of tartar, Crisco (used to but they discontinued it), Rice Krispies (although I think they are available across the border in Switzerland), cake pans like in the US (and no square ones at all), and certainly some other things that I'll probably think of later.

A lot of it is available online but it's so expensive! Sometimes I can actually save money by ordering things in the UK and having them shipped. One example of that: cake drums. I really can't afford them on the German sites but in the UK they're not too bad. Probably still not as cheap as in the US, though.
Also, you can get the SPS system but not all parts of it. They have columns but not the elements you need to do stacked cakes. And at the price you pay, it's definitely NOT a disposable one.

You better believe my suitcases are full of caking things whenever I come back from the US. Although now with reduced luggage limits, that may have to change. Grrr....

Oh, and anything you consider a time-saver or convenience product, just assume that you won't find it in another culture or that it'll be so different, you won't be able to use it. Cake mixes, fillings and those flavored coffee creamers I keep reading about are prime examples.

Hi - Ratio shortening. (I mail order it from the states, but can only do it between Oct and April due to potential for it to spoil due to heat.) The shipping costs are nearly heart stopping.

BTW, I'm not sure what Debbie Brown is talking about. Rice Krispies are sold in the UK (under the same name). The only difference is the art used for the Snap, Krackle and Pop elves, pictured on the box, is different.
Marshmallows are also available, but usually in a mixed bag of pink and white. Just recently I've started to see all white bags (but smaller quantities) in both Tesco and Waitrose (two UK grocery chains).

hi, i am in the netherlands and i really miss cake flour and white margarine.

Flavourings! in the UK they are so limited, I read on here about how you guys were putting this flavour and that oil in your cakes and we dont have any choice like that (or not that I can find anyway)

I agree with most that jennicita mentioned. Cake pans and decent flavourings are impossible to obtain. Most of the smaller and lighter specialty stuff gets ordered online from the UK, sometimes also US, but for pans the shipping costs are just prohibitive. There are some online-shops in Germany where you can get quite a few things by now (but only within the last year or so), but they usually only carry a limited number of things so it takes a lot of time, patience and shipping costs to get everything together.

@jennicita - cream of tartar = Weinsteinpulver, which can be found in the ususal cake-supply shops.

@ de_montsoreau - I've asked around at the local stores but nobody had pure Weinstein - just in packets of baking powder. What kind of cake supply shops are you talking about? We don't have anything like that around here. I also looked in my Tortissimo catalog and couldn't find it. I get my baking powder from Hobbybäcker - maybe they have Weinstein? I'm not sure if I've checked there yet.
And yes, it takes forever to get everything together!

Including the time it takes to figure out that glycerine and some other ingredients are only available through the pharmacy! I get some strange looks when I go in.

It's all so much easier to find in the US!

You might find it in DM Markets or in Apotheken

Im in South Africa and we dont have most of the Wilton stuff that you have. Im really jealous when I look at the US shops and see all those plates and pillars for a few $!!!!! The stuff we can get over here are ridiculously expensive!

Also cakemixes are terribly expensive, its much cheaper to bake from scratch!

On the up side we have JEM cutters in SA and also quite a few local people that make stunning moulds and metal cutters

[quote="noahsmummy"]evoir... funny you mention cupids! im actually saving up to make a trip up there! lol. do you know if there is a train station near by? i dont trust my car on the freeway.. otherwise ill just wait for mum to get her new car and borrow that.. could be fun to take a brand newie for a spin.

Abso-diddley-lutely, Noahsmummy...it is less than 200 metres walk down the street from the busiest train station in Newie, Broadmeadow Station. And its a super way to get here, too. I love getting the train down to Sydney etc. Hey - if you are interested in sometime doing a course at Cupids (you can do all sorts of stuff there!) you can book in and you'll get 10% off almost everything they have in stock (not GP or fondant I think). We've had a few ladies from the central coast come up on Mondays to do courses there (I know cos I had one in a class I took last year). Most classes run 2 to 2.5 hours every Monday from 10 - noonish, and go usually 6 - 8 weeks. Compared to MANY courses (ahem, Planet Cake) they are fantastic value. eg. $80 - $100 per course!! Of course, they get their money off you when you purchase cutters and such from the shop floor

Bunsen - you are so right...I reckon we need some kind of CC Aussie thread on the go, so we can all keep up with each other easier!!

Re: creamer ... Argh, I forgot about 'creamer'. That is the ONE thing we do not have in Australia!!!! But, you know, I reckon we could make our own using milk, coffee flavouring syrups and cream. Mmmmm, sounds good!!