I have to say the most useless tool I have (besides the hambuger patty maker) is an egg seperator (cant spell lol) I mean if you cant separate an egg well .... lol On my wish list a KA I would give my eye teeth for one lol I use a serated knife and toothpicks to torte my cakes works great. I just love my disposable bags such a time saver and havnt had any problems so far mind you I'm still quite new to this. I'm glad for all the info on what not to buy lol you guys are great.

The icing sculptor is a waste of $. When you drag it across the side of the cake, if you are so lucky to get it that far, it takes all the frosting off the side of the cake where you imprint/sculp! If you want to make your frosing 2" thick on the sides, it might work... AND when you unpack it from the box, you can never get the individual pieces back on the thin cardboard packing... so you need some type of bag or box to keep the set in once you've opened the box! I love Wilton products, as a whole, but that one, they goofed on IMHO!!

The cake leveler, its so complicated.. easier with a serrated knife!!!

Great topic

Jessi :O)

Well, I thank god that I have the best teacher in the world. She of coarse tells us that Wilton has this or that and then she shows us what it looks like. But then she tells us that we can use something else if we want. I love HER!!!!

No for this topic I have a few:
The icing tip- used it when I first started making cakes, than I figured that in the time it took me to fill the bag I could be icing putting the icing on the cake. Well stoped using that with a quickness.

Then I have the heating core. I bought it on clearence and never used it. Silly as it may sound I couldn't figure it out. Then when I did I thought that it took way to much time to try to get the cake out of the inside of the core. Never used that.

Then for all those goofy character cake pans. Dear Lord what to do with them all. I have so many because (I Love her to death) I have an aunt that thinks that I need every pan ever made and when she goes to the fleamarket or yard sales ( that she can smell if she were in her death bed) she brings them to me. I have only used one and it is the Mickey Mouse one that I did for class one day. Other than that Never used those.

I have the those flower thingys' that you set your flowers to dry and it forms them. What a waste of money. I buy eggs in bulk so I use the egg cartons to dry and to transport my flowers when I make them. Never used the flower forms either.

I know that I have more than this but can't think of amy now. Oh thanks everyone I was waiting for sunday to buy the leveler but that is now off my list. No interest in the lilted cake thing so there is that.

My most unused item is my Wilton Fondant. Used it once...yuck...I prefer mmf. I recently bought the icing tip and haven't been able to get it to work very smoothly...I spend more time icing...I thought I just needed more practice.

I'm pretty new, so my supplys are pretty sparse, but I love disposible bags. I don't use anything else.

I think my most unused items are:

1. Large Coupler (don't even tell my students to buy them....wastes too much icing IMHO)

2. Cake Icer Tip - WAY too much icing on a cake...period and never could get it to work properly no matter how hard I try.

3. Wilton Petal Pan Set - BIG PAIN to ice and keep them looking petal shaped and not like a mutant round cake

4. MMF - sorry to say that but I HATE IT. It's too hard to work with when I tried it, and dried out way too fast..also cracked much too easily and doesn't stick to styrofoam as well as Wilton or Bakels. Threw about 5 pounds of this stuff away and ran out and bought a 5 lb box of Wilton instead at midnight for a cake the next day.

5. Wilton Sparkle Dust - cheap luster dust that doesn't even work that great

6. Wilton Cake Stamps and Brush On Icing Color - stamps never worked right and the colors were WAY too thin to be useful at all.

I could keep going, but I think that's all I'm going to post at the moment...lol

Chris

I too would have to throw in a vote for the Wilton Icing Sculptor Set being absolutly useless. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who had trouble with it.

I have the icing sculpter set. Didn't buy it, my friend did and then she gave me all of her cake decorating stuff. I'm tempted to find a store that carries it and take it there to return it. Or sell it on Ebay I've never tried to use it and don't really see a demand for weird icing on the sides of cake lol

Beashorty32---You should sell all of those character pans on Ebay! They'd probably sell like hotcakes lol

Oh and my most unused tool hmmm....I haven't made too many cakes and I think I've used everything so far. Except for the basket (austrailian) nails, but I'm bound and determined to find a use lol

When I want some sort of design on the side of my cake, I just use my serrated bread knife and glide it around the sides of the cake for dimension. Granted, you only get one type design but on simple cakes where I'm not doing a lot of decorations, it's nice to have a variation and from what everyone has said, the icing sculptor is useless.

Great thread, I have learned a lot reading these posts!

I bought the tilting turntable, used it once and returned it. Way too wobbly! I must admit to loving the large leveler though. Never used my large coupler, press set used once, pointed spatula never used and I've never used my cake divider press either. I do use the mat though, I flattened it with a hairdryer and store it on an old cardboard roll. For larger cakes though I bought a meter of plastic sheeting from the fabric store to roll out larger quantities of fondant and I love it.

I know if I had a KA it would be my favourite tool, but am still waiting for one....

i dont use my bake even strips either. used them a total of one time. might just end up dumping them.

I love this thread!! I have been lurking around for a bit and have to say how much I have learned.

I hate the large icer and coupler.......just hate them. I hate the letter press thing. I too can't get mine in the holder thingy. I hate Wilton's fondant mat, although I will try the hot water thing. I bought the tilting turntable when it first came out and hate it. It doesn't spin nearly as easily as the one I bought for my first Wilton class. And my cakes slid off too........grrrr. I use an old heavy Ateco one that spins great now. Going to remember the lazy susan tip! I also don't use the bake strips. I do love my leveler though and my biigggg spatula...lol

Don't waste your time trying to put the letter press letters into the holder.

Take a piece of masking tape and lay it on the counter sticky side up. Set the letters onto the tape, backs down & pick it up by the extra tape at the end of your message.

Now you can press messages into the sides of round cakes or into small areas where the stupid holder would have smooshed the outside decorations.

cookie press tool totally worthless.

Bought and NEVER used:
Cookie Press Pro - what was I thinking?
Sculpting kit (I call it a time consuming puzzle...)

Used Once and Never Again:
Large Spatula
Wilton Food Color Spray Cans (can ANYONE tell me what they were thinking when out the of the blue they added PEPPERMINT to the ingredient list? Just wondering?)
Character pans...anyone need any? Will sell cheap! lol just kidding - I keep them as a reminder on why not to buy on impulse!
Scissor Flower Cutter thing-a-ma-bobs
Flimsy Scallop Divider thingie for the side of cakes...not a good idea.

New Things I THINK I like SO FAR:
Wilton Fondant Ribbon Cutter Set

Things Cannot Do Without:
My KA Professional 600 - bite the bullet and buy it cuz it's awesome!

The icing sculpter . Waste of money . Cheffie

I am soooo glad I found this thread too! I cannot really think of anything I don't use. Oh Yeah, I just thought of something. The small Alphabet fondant cutters. They are sooo hard to use.

Now, I was thinking of getting the squeeze bottles with the interchangable tips. They are sold at kitchengifts. Has anyone ever tried these?

Again, great thread!

Ok...this has nothing to do with cakes...LOVE the pic of Bon Jovi...lol