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Wilton Sweet Up Recap

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Disclaimer: I was provided an all expenses paid trip to the Wilton Headquarters as part of the 2015 bloggers ambassador program. All opinions are my own.

Last weekend was quite an eventful one! Actually this whole month has been full of travel, lots of new friends and very little sleep. Today I am elbow deep in frosting as I am baking for my friends wedding for 200 people. I can’t wait to share the details!

I announced earlier this year that I have joined the Wilton’s Sweet Treat Team for 2015. This was an amazing invitation and I could not be more thrilled to be working for such a great company. I use so many of their products already, and I have taking a few different courses the summer before I started my blog. It was really a unique experience for me to visit their headquarters last weekend for the Wilton Sweet Up event.

Wilton Cakes welcome sign


 

During the Sweet Up, we were treated to tours of their various facilities including the Wilton School of Cake Decorating, the test kitchens and the super secret decorating room where they work on projects for future seasons. It might be April but these professional decorators were already working on Halloween and Christmas! We also had the opportunity to participate in some hands on classes that involved “baking with booze”, cookie decorating with royal icing and styling a dessert table.

Wilton School of Cake Decorating wall of history and photos

Each April,  Wilton was releases their new products for 2015. I had the opportunity to try and test out some of these products before my trip, but it was awesome to see them truly come alive! Among them, there is the new Treatology flavoring system, Color Right Color System, mega bakeware and much more!

This event was a bit different for me because I didn’t know anyone who was going to be there! Normally I know at least one person. It was a great opportunity for me to meet new people as well as the other bloggers who are on the Sweet Treat Team. What a fun group!

Author with a group of men and womens in front of a Wilton sign

I rode to the hotel with Maryiln from Pink Martinis and Pearls. Marylin is widely talented, and such a doll. She also took her honeymoon on the east coast and spent some time in Vermont, so I feel like we were destined to meet. She only lives a couple hours for me, so I am going to surprise her one day and beg her to teach me her cookie decorating wisdom. I also got to meet Karyn from Pint Sized Baker!

Author posing with another woman in front of a Wilton sign

Thursday night we were treated to dinner at their headquarters and cocktails specials from Tito’s Vodka. Wilton has partnered with Tito’s on some boozy baking in 2015 because Tito’s vodka has such a mild flavor that it is great to bake with! I have to pick myself up a bottle. We were given a crash course in baking trends for 2015 and Wilton revealed the Cake of the Year! It was a gorgeous blend of color and detail.

Friday am we were up bright and early and whisked away to the Wilton School. We started off the morning with boozy baking hosted by Beth and Elizabeth from Wilton. Beth was such a trooper and shared with me her uber knowledge about how to get cookie cups to release from the pan.

Author posing with two cake artists in front of a Wilton sign

We made White Russian Cookie Cups and Bloody Mary Muffins. We were able to try out their new mega bakeware, which makes 48 mini muffins/cookie cups or cupcakes. They also have a mega muffin pan that makes 24 muffins all in one tin!

After our baking session we were let loose in the Wilton store, where it was rows and rows of sprinkles, cupcake liners, bake ware and everything in between! It is a baker’s dream.

We returned to the Wilton headquarters for our afternoon cookie decorating session with Amber Spiegal from Sweet Ambs. I have worked with Royal Icing before, but it is not my favorite. There are all kinds of factors that can effect royal icing and I never get a grasp on whether it is good or not. Amber made it look so easy!

The cookie decorating was pretty fun though. We got to mix our own colors with the new Color Right Color System. The Color Right system gives you very specific combinations of dye colors so that you can get the same color every time. Have you ever run out of frosting before? It is nearly impossible to dye the same color again.

Cookie artist decorating sugar cookies

During our visit, I mentioned that we got to peek inside the decorators room. It was pretty amazing to see the different ways they design and decorate which is used for packaging, tutorial and all sorts of things! They even let us take a few pictures.

We also got to see the “cake vault” which is wall-to-wall cakes, cupcakes, and cake pops that have been decorated over the years. There were cakes on display throughout the office, but it was really cool to see so many cakes in one place! For those of you who might not know, it is common to decorate a showcase with a styrofoam mold.

In the afternoon we had a brief contest to taste the new Treatology Flavor System. There are 8 unique flavors of “extracts” that are not found anywhere else! Flavors include Vanilla Custard, Fresh Basil, Crisp Champagne, Sweet Meyer Lemon, Warm Cinnamon Graham, Peach, Salted Caramel, and Toasted Coconut. There were cookies and frostings and we had to guess the various flavors in the cookies!

We finished our day with a presentation with Jenny Keller from Jenny’s Cookies. Before the session, I peeked around on Jenny’s blog and Instagram and I knew I was really going to enjoy this! Jenny has the MOST gorgeous dessert tables and has done some pretty high-profile events. Plus she has a farm house and I am pretty much ready to move in.

She gave us twelve tips to creating the perfect dessert table including: Choosing a theme and color, Plan ahead to get things gradually, mix and match with height, create a backdrop if needed, use contrasting colors and know your audience.

Jenny Keller of Jenny Cookies showing a power point

After our session with Jenny, we had a little contest. We were split into groups and were given about thirty minutes to style our own dessert table using different props from around the room. It was quite the stressful time, but it was really fun. I am SO impressed by the different tables that each group came up with! Dessert tables are my absolute favorite!

Styled dessert tables with cakes and cupcakes
Author with a group of ladies behind a dessert table

My time with Wilton was such a unique experience and the team at Wilton did such an amazing job putting together the Sweet Up event! I feel so honored to have been a part of this! Thank you to Michelle and Desiree for all your hard work!

Leave a Comment

52 Responses
    1. Shannon Gurnee

      Those Flower Pot Cookies are adorable! I would totally make and decorate sugar cookies! Forgot the hashtag #WiltonSweetUp

  1. Goreti

    First thing I would make if I won #wiltonsweetup would be some cookies in my new cookie sheet. Probably some sugar cookies & then decorate them.

  2. Alison Haveman

    #wiltonsweetup What an amazing and memorable trip! Beautiful photos and awesome gift package! I would love to win! 🙂

  3. Sandy Headtke

    #wiltonsweetup. I would make cupcakes and have mile high frosting using the Color Swirl Tri-Color Coupler

  4. Susan Rees

    #wiltonsweetup I would practice different colors and designs on cupcakes for my hubby’s birthday at the end of the month. It looks like you had a great learning process and had fun in the process!

  5. Heather B

    I woud make some summery cupcakes. Maybe some raspberry lemonade, strawberry lemonade and cherry lemonade flavored. #wiltonsweetup

  6. Stevie

    #wiltonsweetup. I’d make a Sheet Cake to brush up on my cake decorating skills and would like to try the awesome new flavors!

  7. D Dell

    #wiltonsweetup ~ I feel like I was right there with you. You always present your adventures to beautifully. I had to pause on the white Russia cookie cups. What a great experience!

  8. Barb Whited

    #wiltonsweetup I would love to experiment with the new food coloring system – I have a wedding cake coming up in a couple of months, and I want to get the colors just right.

  9. Tracy McClain

    #wiltonsweetup – I think I would make decorated cookies or try to make some yummy fillings for cupcakes with the new flavors!

  10. Auntiepatch

    #wiltonsweetup Our annual 4th of July Block Party is coming up soon so I will be baking dozens of cookies!

  11. Misha

    What an excellent day you had! I love Wilton products! I would make a beautiful cake or cupcakes! Would LOVE it win!

  12. Denise S

    Oh my gosh. What a fun experience you had.
    That would have been so awesome to go to that.
    Thanks for sharing all this exciting information!

  13. Tahisha Martin

    I would love to win these products. I love to use wilton products for my different baking and candy projects. #wiltonsweetup

  14. Daniela

    We’re hosting a 30th birthday this summer, I’d love the mega mini muffin tin to make appetizers/desserts for a crowd! #wiltonsweetup

  15. Jennie

    #wiltonsweetup The first thing that I would make would be some frosted cookies for our Derby party this weekend!

  16. Lynnette Lamance

    The #wiltonsweetup time you had was obviously amazing. I’d love to go there. I’d also love to win

  17. Pat Stephens

    #wiltonsweetup, I would love to win this and be a part of the wilton team. Thanks for the oppornitunity.
    Pat

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