I have a client who dropped off the Wilton Romantic Castle kit. Though she likes the cake featured on the front of the box, the "Romantic Castle", her daughter (the birthday girl) wants the "Candy Castle" cake on the back of the box. It's one of the few alternative uses for the Romantic Castle kit.

I am going way beyond the design that Wilton has. I am incorporating elements from both cake ideas, Romantic and Candy, and then adding my own touches.

Wilton uses M&Ms, spice drops, and jelly candies for decorations, but i'd like to add more. Does anyone have any ideas of things you can do with candy to make a palace garden for a candy castle themed cake? I am thinking of using lollipops for trees. I'd like to have flowers of some sort, so I thought maybe using hershey kisses and playing around with tip 104 to make some sort of petals.

Does this exist? Do people manipulate store-bought candies in this way?

Thanks for any suggestions you might have!

........Does this exist? Do people manipulate store-bought candies in this way? .........

Of course!!!!!!! Go for it. NO reason you *have* todo what is shown on anything.

No, i meant .. do people work with candy the same way as fondant/gum paste/marzipan, shaping and forming or combining in some way to make objects?

I can't think of ways to use candy as "garden" objects-just looking for ideas! it's always good to get a different perspective on things!

Just a thought for flowers, but you could use yellow skittles as the center part and then cut x's into the top of gum drops, then shape the seperate sections into petals. I don't know if that makes sense.

Also you could use fondant flower cutters on the sour fruit by the foot candies for rainbow flowers or even use the cherry flavored ones for more traditional flowers.

I don't know if this helps, it's just the first thing to pop into my head.

Thank you! That helps a lot!

You can use upside down white chocolate chips as a cobblestone walkway. I always like that look!

Also, if you make a small pond in the garden, you could use tootsie rolls as logs. If you melt tootsie rolls for just 2-3 seconds, they are very pliable and easy to mold into shapes. Be carefull not to heat them too long, you will get burned!

There might be a few candy corn bags still around. They might make cute flowers attached together with the white points sticking toward the center.

Rolos might make cute flower pots, too (or barrels if you stick the bottoms together).

You might also be able to shape red licorice whips into teardrop shapes and "glue" them together for the petals. A red/white peppermint candy would make a cute center for those.

Gumdrops are easy to roll out if you put down a little sugar to keep them from sticking. Then just cut out your shape. You may want to dip the "raw" edges in sugar after cutting/shaping to eliminate any sticky spots remaining.

Good luck! Can't wait to see it when it's done!