Yaayyyyy!! I finally tried it lastnight. Well, I made it lastnight and will try to work with it tonight. Here are some things I wasn't sure were supposed to happen:

1) After adding corn syrup to melted candy and stirring well, there was a good bit of liquid left in the bowl (pooling around the ball of "dough"/clay).

2) I turned it out onto wax paper and then used a napkin to soak up as much of the liquid as I could. After it cooled down more and started drying the excess liquid left a waxy pool wherever it accumulated (especially around the edges).

3) I used Lorann Strawberry candy flavor in the white melts. This seems a tiny bit less firm than the chocolate candy clay. I assume it was from the excess liquid (oil) in the strawberry flavoring. They both seem to be the right consistency (like a tootsie roll I'm assuming) this morning, but I won't know what they will do until I try to work with them.

So, now that I have strawberry candy clay and chocolate candy clay that has sat overnight in airtight wrapping, what do I do next?

I want to use the candy to make stripes and cut out circles. Do I just use cornstarch and knead it in or use the cornstarch only to keep it from sticking while I'm rolling it out?

AND do you attach candy clay to a cake like you would fondant pieces? You know, brush with a bit of water or piping gel...

Oh, and another thing, do I knead the color in like I would with fondant?

Thanks for any help you can give me on this topic. Tarina

Please anyone?

I'm not sure. I bought some, but haven't had a chance to try it yet.

Anyone???

Sorry I can't help you, but I was wondering, what does it taste like? I've never made it before but I wanted to try it sooner or later.

The taste is pretty good - to me! I had never tried the plain white Wilton Candy Melts until lastnight and they taste really good just by themselves - I am assuming they are supposed to taste like white chocolate. After adding the strawberry Lorann flavor, it tasted a lot like a Starburst candy! Very very tasty!

The chocolate candy clay I made was pretty good too. Almost like a tootsie roll.

Needless to say, I was impressed with the flavor of both.

Oh, and another thing...this is probably the easiest thing to make ever! You can't really beat just opening the bag, melting the melts in the microwave and then stirring in the corn syrup! It quickly turns into a doughey mass. Pour it out on wax paper and then let it sit for a little while til you are ready to put it in an airtight container.

I have never used it before so it was very very easy to make and now I'm wondering if it can't be used like fondant to cover the cakes...why not? Anybody have a reason why this might not work?

I guess I'll find out tonight how well it rolls out and if noone answers me I'll see for myself!!

It is different from Fondant... it is hard after it sets..
cut it in small pcs., heat in the microwave for about 10 secs. NO MORE, just to make it pliable and easy to handle... then work it w/ you hands, work it like Fondant, then roll it out. If you can roll it out on Parchment, that would be best, using 50/50 powdered sugar and corn starch to dust to prevent from sticking.. you don't need any "glue" to make it stick to anything. if you have to make it stick, I would suggest a light coat or dot of melted candy melts.

I hope this helps

Ihave used candy clay for alot of things. I make roses and flowers from it instead of fondant or gumpaste. I also make bugs and animals for kids cakes and cupcakes. Try not to use cornstarch as if dries it too much. I find using a silpat to roll it out works best. Good luck and have fun !!!

Thanks Mahal and MSLOU, that steered me in a clearer direction. I was playing with the chocolate a little bit before it had firmed up trying to make a rose (trying to remember the directions I read on that!) and they sure had a lot of fingerprints on them. I guess wearing thin plastic/rubber gloves would help, huh?

Oh, another thing, Mahal, since I want to use it for stripes on a cake, and you say that it dries rather hard, will this still be okay?

what is the recipe(exact amounts) for the clay candy? Thanks, Kim

1/3 cup light corn syrup and 14 oz. Candy Melts....
Melt them together until smooth, add color if you wish then let it set until firm.
Then work it like Fondant...

All the directions I've seen say that you knead the color in. Mahal, can I add the color after the candy melts? I know that once you add the syrup it immediately starts getting doughy so I'm assuming that the color would stir into the melts better before you add the syrup. Is that safe to assume that?

By the way, I got home late lastnight and didn't get to work with the candy clay, but I did roll out some mmf that I had from a project a month ago and I made some loops for my bow (it was already colored). It must have been a fluke or something but I just rolled it out on my table with no cornstarch or sugar. I sprayed a little vegetable spray on it to make it less crumbly and more pliable so I'm guessing that was what kept it from sticking to my table.

This is just mmf with no other stuff added like gumtex or anything so I wonder if it's going to harden for me.

I used candy clay to make pink roses and brown leaves for my Wilton III final wedding cake. I tinted the chocolate w/ wilton coloring right out of microwave, once the melts were completely melted.

The roses were so easy and so were the leaves. I rolled my clay out very thin between sheets of plastic wrap. Set to dry 8+ hours and then w/ wilton rose cutters and leaves cutters cut out forms,
I worked for 3 hours on them, took a break, then 15 min later came back and they were all gone!!!! My dog ate them.......
What do they say . .. oh yeah . . . practice, practice, practice

I tried the candy clay one time and also had the oil seperation. I didn't know whether to keep trying to mix it in, or drain it off. I never did make anything with the clay....I was originally going to use it for leaves.

I dont know if this makes a difference but
I made 3 different batches of candy clays

used wilton candy melts from Wal-mart
used nestle chocolate chips
used wilton candy melts from Micheals

The ones from Micheals were oily and didnt set.
They were a lot cheaper than the ones from Wal-mart.
I thought they were just old, because both the ones from Micheals and Wal-mart were from wilton both white candy melts?
Maybe the ones from certain stores have a higher % of oil?
Something to consider.

Chocolate chips worked great for leaves.
Wilton candy melts from Wal-mart great for roses.

You can cover a cake in candy clay, but it is too hard to work with on a larger cake than one that's about 8 or 10 inches in diameter (it's prone to cracking), so when you want to cover a cake with it, mix it half and half with fondant. It'll work fine.

Certain colors of candy melts seem to have more "ooze" than others. Pink seems to make a lot of oily mess. Just let it harden around the edge and then break it off and throw it away. Don't try to knead it into the clay. Once the clay is firm and has sat overnight, break of pieces of it and knead it in your hands until it gets pliable and workable.

Have you tried Wilton's Wedding White candy melts? I think they're Wilton, anyway. Might be Make N Mold. I'd have to go downstairs and have a look. You can find them in the wedding favors aisle of Hobby Lobby. They make a candy clay that is nice and white, not ivory.

Here are two cakes I did that are covered in candy clay. I haven't tried adding attachments before, so I hope this works...

Deanna

Well, that didn't work....

Trying again!

Deanna

I love the effect of the basket weave on the second cake.
Was that with the candy melt/mmf combo?
How did you do it, please?

On those two cakes, since they're small - the 6" heart and the 5x7 oval - I used straight candy clay. I made the weave in a square shape out of strips of candy clay on a cake board, used the cake pan to trim it to shape, and then scooted it off the cake board onto the top of the cake and then bordered around it. The side of the cake is a strip of candy clay wrapped around the cake.

The bow and roses on those cakes are candy clay, too.

I've never mixed candy clay with MMF, but I mixed it half and half with purchased fondant.

I think the white and colored candy clays taste like candy corn, and the chocolate ones taste like tootsie rolls. Mixing it with the fondant didn't seem to affect the taste in a bad way. At least I didn't think so.

Deanna

Thank-you Deanna, I'll have to try the basket weave.

Let me know how it turns out!



Deanna

I always make candy clay using white Wilton Candy Melts. I let it sit overnight, then knead the color(s) in as needed.

There's always a puddle around my clay.

Hope this helps.

Have fun with it!

I made strawberries with the candy clay. There wasn't strawberries available for a wedding cake that I was making bad time of year to try and find some. I used red candy disc and added more red when melted to make it darker. After I formed each I rolled them on a cheese grater to make pits an then added the green tops.

Tarina, sometimes if I see that my candy clay is going to make a big puddle, I'll prop up one corner of the cookie sheet I have my clay cooling on, so that the ooze can run to one side. Usually I'll spoon the warm clay in different globs, like making drop cookies. That makes it easier to knead in the beginning, too.

If you don't pick off all those hardened bits of ooze, they can remain very noticeable in your finished clay piece and cause problems. It's best to waste a little bit of the clay than have to pick out any oozies that didn't work in.

The cracking occurs when I'm picking up the rolled-out piece to put it on the cake and when I'm smoothing it out around the edges. I don't have that trouble when I'm doing a smallish cake, but picking up a big disk of clay can be a problem because it's not as flexible as fondant. When I mentioned the cracking, I didn't mean it to sound as if it cracks when you're making roses or bow loops, if it came across that way. I have my very first candy clay rose which - this seems so surreal - is going on four years old.

The Wedding White candy wafers are made by Make N Mold. Around here, the only place to find them is at Hobby Lobby in their wedding crafts aisle. When they go on sale once or twice a year, I buy a couple bags of them. The clay they make looks marshmallowy-white. Since Make N Mold assumes people are using them for wedding favors, they come in really big bags, something like 4 or 5 pounds for around $8.

Thanks for the compliment on my cakes. Feel free to PM me if you feel like it. I used to teach cake decorating and (at least until Friday!) work as a professional decorator, and I love to share what I've learned over time.

Deanna