I'm looking to re vamp my collection and find some hidden treasures out there so I thought I'd start a post about what is your can't-live-without-it-product. Or anything that makes your job as a cake decorator ALOT easier! 
My big one is my kitchen aid artisan! But it seems like everything else...down to my colors...don't work like I want them to (but I haven't branched far from Wilton 
)[/img]
Kitchen Aid, Viva paper towels, Americolor gel colors, 18" turntable
Agbay. I'd sell my DH before I let go of my Agbay....ok, my DH might win that one, but only if he's being sweet that day.
I'm with Edna on the rest KA, ball tool, celboard,
....also....pizza cutter, smoother, Ateco offset spatulas (wood), cake lifter, putty knife, cutters JEM etc, CK bead & rope makers, Americolors, etc...
Wilton is fine when your starting out, but it sounds like you are ready for some real tools.
well i couldnt afford a kitchen aid if my life depended on it, but my hand held beater is one of my dearest friends.. lol. i get a workout at the same time. =) but not so much as if i had to use a whisk... egh.. imagine that.
agree with piza cutter and also my bench scraper and offset spatula. =))
what do you guys use the pizza cutter for? I've seen them used for cutting off the excess fondant from a cake-are there other cool uses for them?
Kitchen Aid
Offset Spatulas (small & large)
Flower Nails (to use as heating cores)
Vinyl Sheet (for rolling out large sheets of fondant)
Fondant Smoothers
Pizza cutter
Bench Scraper
Xacto Knife
Mesh colander set (for sifting quickly and the different sizes fit my mixing bowls perfectly)
Good quality cake pans with straight sides
Brushes
Turntable
cutting fondant exsess, cutting stripes of fondant, imprinting lines on fondant (press very gently!! the list is endless..lol
Self healing cutting mat
bench scraper
turntable
Agbay
Agbay. I'd sell my DH before I let go of my Agbay....ok, my DH might win that one, but only if he's being sweet that day.
I'm with Edna on the rest KA, ball tool, celboard,
....also....pizza cutter, smoother, Ateco offset spatulas (wood), cake lifter, putty knife, cutters JEM etc, CK bead & rope makers, Americolors, etc...
Wilton is fine when your starting out, but it sounds like you are ready for some real tools.
What is Agbay?
my must have is Viva paper towels.... everything else i could find a way to improvise ( though i have and entire cabinet full of tools)
Google to Agbay products. It works it really really works, it's the best piece of cake equipment i've ever bought. It's to level and torte cakes, I had to wait to get mine, and got it for Xmas one year. It was a year we were sort of short on funds, but my DH wanted me to have a few nice things. I returned everything, but kept the Agbay, no regrets, and I don't do that many cakes....still no regrets, not one.
I'd wanted to start a post like this, so thanks!
For me, my stand mixer is #1, I have a Cooks and love it. It can handle anything I put into it; from half batches of royal icing to chunky cookie doughs and breezes right through a batch of MMF.
After that, my various gumpaste tools, my round pans (they get a workout, I tell ya), my PS/cornstarch shaker (can't stand those puffs), my assorted spatulas both straight and offset, and whatever else I can find that has more than 1 purpose.
My turntable!! My KA Mixer, luster dust, and I have become quite a fan of my air brush machine
Im going to have to say my KA I cant imagine making big batches of icing with a hand mixer. I love my new Magic Line pans too.
My KA mixer, my airbrush and my kopykake machine!!!
I decorate cookies so I do allot of piping I couldn't live without my PME icing tips, I also love PME pearl luster spray it easily takes an ordinary cake up 2 notches.
Once you have your basics: tips, spatula, fondant tools.
Love a stand mixer. Will replace my 4.5Q KA when it dies. (Bearings are going as we speak!)
Love foamcore. Will never use cardboard again.
Next purchase is an AGBAY before better pans. I can square up anything, but great torting is really hard to do unless you are one of those sous chefs that has to torte for ten years before passing on to the next level.
Love my upright freezer. It has become an indispensable tool for handling cakes. Other will disagree, but I think it makes cakes better.
I'm getting so many good ideas for things to buy! I've heard ALOT about those magic line pans so I know they must be good I'll have to check out that pearl luster spray that MontrealConfections listed. And I need to look into getting an agbay. I do *ok* with torting, but I was always the kid in class that couldn't cut a straight line or match my paper airplane lines to save my life so...I'm sure I will benefit LOL I also can't wait to get Americolor because as far as wilton goes it takes FOREVER to get a good color and thats a huge time waster...and money is time!
My KA mixer, offset spatulas, Fat Daddio pans, a 7" rubber squeegee I bought at Walmart for $2 (makes smoothing so much easier), my 'turntable'...(actually one of those lazy susan's for cabinets...I had one already and it works great...hey what can I say...I'm cheap). Wilton pre-made gum paste, my fondant rollers and cutters...well...just about anything and everything that's cake related I can't live without!
Granite countertops for rolling out fondant and dough and pie crust. (They stay cool, and there's no need for a mat of any kind.)
My KA is a timesaver and always does a great job! I use it every time I bake something.
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%