I Like Candy, Part One: A Hunger Born

I was going to post about my chocolate creation this past weekend but thought I should do a first post to explain how this whole candy thing started. I've been baking and decorating shaped cakes for years for family and friends. Never for money or request. That makes me nervous as a long tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs since I'm self-taught, my only lessons being watching my mom decorate cakes when I was growing up in the eighties. Fast forward to this past February when my super fab next door neighbor asked if I'd bake a cake for her son's fourth birthday party. She said she'd pay. Oh my. I told her I'd do it for just the cost of ingredients and still felt trepidation. The theme was Lego; the design left to me. 

Originally I thought I'd do a giant Lego brick cake. Have you seen them? Basically a sheet cake with cupcakes on top all iced a solid color. Effective but I thought maybe I could do better. I did have a silicone cake mold of a Lego Man I had purchased at Lego Land. Maybe I could use that. I did a test bake in the mold and realized it would not work with cake. Cute as a brownie. But with added buttercream icing, because I do not, will not do fondant, the details would be lost. 

Then an idea occurred to me. CANDY! I'd always seen the bag of Wilton Candy Melts on the cake aisle at Michael's. Maybe I could make a candy man from the mold. And I did. And it was easy. And it was awesome! Then I made candy Lego bricks from a Lego ice cube mold. 

The cake was a big hit. And a candy love was born.

Next I had the genius idea to make my own molds for candy after seeing this Han Solo in Carbonite candy mold. I had the toy! I could do it. I went and bought the food safe mold product and set to work.

The Han Solo toy and my first ever candy mold.

My very first Han Solo in Candybaronite.

The kids found it fun and tasty but I wasn't happy with the way Han's digits weren't surviving the process. So on International Star Wars Day, May the Fourth Be With You, I made a new Han mold from a second toy the boys had. This one had much better results. 

My first mold and its resulting candy on the left, the second version on the right.

The second version of Han Solo in Candybaronite.

All my Star Wars day treats. Yoda green candy pops, Han Solo Candy and a Rice Crispy Treat Darth Vader dyed black.

I had the candy bug. I knew it but when I noticed in the Wilton Yearbooks I could make candy plaques from any shaped cake pan I was beyond interested. I have over 50 shaped Wilton pans dating back to the 1970s in my basement. I could not wait to make one. My first attempt was a large Scooby Doo mold to accompany the Velma birthday cake I made for my own birthday in August. Not bad for my first mold.  

My first candy plaque.

My first candy plaque with my the Velma birthday cake I made myself.

But there was that Darth Vader pan in my basement itching to be made into chocolate...