The Spot: ABC Cake Decorating Supplies, Open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
See Also: - Cakes Baked in Eggshells - Five Peculiar Finds at ABC Cake Decorating Supplies' Summer Clearance Sale - Citadelle Plaza Farmers Market in Glendale: What We Bought, What We Skipped, and What We're Still Lusting Over
What We Bought: Whenever we're in need of some serious baking therapy, we turn to ABC Cake Decorating to make our tasty treats look fantastic. We found an awesome Darth Vader mold ($15.99) in the cake pan aisle that we will put to good use for just about every friend's birthday this year. But what goofy dork cake would be complete without PBR pick toppers ($0.15) and beer candles ($2.99 per pack)?
All of that wacky cake glory needs a proper display and their 16-inch scalloped gold cake boards are the perfect base to any cake. Plus, since they're only $3.49, we always grab a few to keep on hand for spur of the moment gift baking. Last but definitely not least, our favorite find of the day was an Arizona state-shaped cookie cutter, which for under $2 is well worth the show of local pride. Bake it or leave it!
What We Skipped: While ABC has tons of unusual cake topping options, nothing is creepier than the Macho Man ($2.19), which is essentially a lounging knock-off Ken doll that would make any cake skeezy and unnerving. We also don't quite get the point of a cupcake-shaped cake pan ($13.99). Either make a cake or make cupcakes.
One aisle we passed up completely was the bakery emulsions ($5.29 per bottle) aisle. Artificial and natural flavors for coffee, coconut, raspberry and even butter just make no sense when you can use the real deal.
What We're Still Lusting Over: We're waiting for an occasion that screams "Pull out all of the stops and bake us something grandiose" for the items we left behind this week. A $29.99 lacing kit for frosting design and $2.79 gold sanding sugar are sure to make any cake look like a million bucks, but we'll wait to have a reason to use them to actually buy them. We were tempted to buy a $4 cake bow just because of how adorable and intricately patterned they were, but, again, we have no idea what we need a cake bow for... yet!
Finally, we put back a pack of three Hobbit cake toppers, which included Bilbo, Gandalf and Thorin. We so desperately wanted to make a nerd cake of Bag End diorama-style, but $6.99 is too high of a price to pay just to fulfill our geeky baked good fantasies.
