Sweet Trees

At The Sweet Pot we have been supplying individuals and shops with the best sweet delights for generations. We know all there is to know about sweets and we love to follow all the creative new ideas emerging into the world of sweets, chocolate and candy.

One fascinating new trend we just adore is the creation of ‘sweet trees’. If you are unfamiliar with the concept, it is exactly as it sounds – a little tree or plant made from sweets. They look incredible and are a fun way to snack.

A small selection of companies make sweet trees you can buy, but if like us you are the creative type they are very easy to make yourself. When you make them DIY sweet trees they can be any size, shape and include any sweets you wish. By using products from The Sweet Pot and by following our easy step by step guide you can create your very own retro sweet trees, American Candy trees, candy necklace trees, chupa chups trees and more.

Required Tools:

• Plant pot or bucket
• Stick, dowel or pole
• Casting plaster
• Glue
• Your chosen sweets
• Glue gun or cocktail sticks
• Fake moss, pebbles or gravel
• Cling film or tissue paper.

Method:

1) Now first of all you need to decide the size of your sweet tree and this will be determined by what sized polystyrene ball you can get your hands on.

2) Secondly, after acquiring your polystyrene ball you need to find a sticklike object of suitable width and material to support the ball. These kinds of objects can easily be acquired from arts and crafts shops.

3) You will need some strong PVA glue applied to the end of your stick and to then carefully push it into the ball. Making a hole first, with a drill can stop the ball from breaking but don’t make it too wide as then it will not be supported by the stick. A simple pot or bucket will be required.

4) Once you have glued the stick into the ball, you need to place the apparatus into your pot or bucket and hold it steady as your pour in the casting plaster. Try to fill the pot until it is roughly a 1/3 full. You will need to hold your tree in place as the mixture sets. This is much more effective than trying to hold the tree in place with pebbles etc. If you try that method your tree is likely to be wobbly and unstable, especially as it gets heavier after sweet application. To make the tree look nicer you can always add a little gravel, pebbles, fake moss or whatever you wish, in a thin layer on top of your casting plaster after it sets.

5) Turn your attention back to the polystyrene ball on top of your tree. You will want to cover the ball in cling film or better yet an attractive plastic paper of your choice. It is recommended to then leave the tree for 24 hours to be really sure it is set and dry before getting onto the tricky stage.

You have two important choices when it comes to adding the sweets. You can either have them wrapped or open. Open sweets looks great especially if you use our flying saucers, gummy sweets or sugar covered sweets. These are fine if you are making them at home for personal use but if you plan to use our sweets for sweet trees in your own store then we recommend covering the final product in cling film and advising people to eat them quickly once opened or choosing the wrapped sweet option.

6) If you use gummy or soft sweets unwrapped it is very easy to attached them to the polystyrene ball with cocktail sticks, alternatively if you prefer individually wrapped sweets, of which we have a huge variety, you can then use a glue gun to attach them.

The result is an incredibly beautifully and delicious treat which makes an amazing gift, decoration and tasty treat.

Photo by Stuart Webster / CC BY