What is candy melts?

Candy melts are a product that are often recommended for easy candy making or coating cake pops with a chocolatey coating. They come in many colours and have a plain, vaguely milky vanilla flavour . There are many different candy melt products and I'm going to discuss the pros & cons of each brand.Many people make the mistake of thinking that these are chocolate, since they’re recommended for candy making, but these melts are not chocolate. They’re primarily made with a combination of sugar and vegetable fats – not cocoa butter.

Candy melts are easy to use – just melt and dip – and they come in a wide variety of colours, which makes it easy to decorate with them and achieve a wide variety of looks. Since they are not chocolate, so they don’t need to be tempered. Candy melts will set up with the same look and texture after they have been melted and allowed to harden again, once harden you can remelt to use again.

 

Wilton candy melts

These were the first candy melts I started using when I first made cake pops and were readily available in craft stores.

Pros

• Available in a variety of Colours
• Readily available in craft or baking stores
• reasonable price

 

 

Cons

• Really sweet
• Very thick when melted (will need a lot of thinning out)

Merckens Candy melts 

 Pros

• Melts really nicely & is easy to use
• Tastes really nice, almost like chocolate 
• can buy in bulk
• Drys really quickly

Cons

• Hard to get hold of & therefore making them expensive 

 

 

Deco Melts

 I started using this brand when I could no longer get hold of the melts that I loved using

Pros

• Readily available 
• Available in various colours 
• melts easily & no need to thin it out
• tastes nice
• Great for first time poppers

Cons

• Because it is so thin I found the cake pops seemed to crack once dry, which is very frustrating when dealing with massive orders.

Yolli Candy Melts

 

These are the candy melts I'm currently using for making cake pops & I use in my kits. I have found that these are east to use for both myself & budding bakers.

Pros

• Taste nice 
• Easy to use
• melt nicely 
• Can order in bulk

Cons

• If you are not used to colouring candy melts they are only available in white

PME Candy melts

 I loved using these candy melts but found them hard to get hold of during the pandemic.

Pros

• Available in variety of colours & some flavours
• Easy to use
• Melts nicely 

Cons

• Hard to get hold of 

 

There are lot of other brands of candy melts out there and you may find some are easier to use than others. My favourites are Yolli candy melts which I colour myself & PME which again although they are available in different colours I tend to buy the white melt and colour them myself as well.