Edible Gifting with Sweet Creations by Good Cook

Sweet Creations Layer Cake Pan Set

Sweet Creations by Good Cook is the newest brand from Bradshaw International looking to make a name for itself among the DIY crowd inspired by Pinterest. The brand focuses on the concept of edible gifting by offering customers the tools they need to take a stab at a trendy baking project and then see it through from start to finish with useful tools, specialty bakeware, and creative gift packaging.

First introduced in 2012 for the holiday season, Sweet Creations has since expanded to include an everyday collection along with seasonal collections for spring, summer, Halloween and Valentine’s Day. Where Good Cook has been a grocery and mass accounts staple, Sweet Creations seeks to appeal to independent specialty retailers through its assortment of unique baking tools and gadgets that are competitively priced for the average busy mom who doesn’t want to invest too much in baking gear, but still wants great results.

Silicone Sandwich Cookie Chocolate Mold

“Our customer is somebody who enjoys doing do-it-yourself projects, she probably spends time on Pinterest, likes to find different images that her friends are posting on Instagram and Facebook,” says Keri Anderson, Sweet Creations Senior Product Manager. “She might also keep up with some of the magazines, like Martha Stewart, Home, Food Network, those kinds of things. She shops at a variety of retail channels, but she really does enjoy the process of making and sharing with people she cares about.”

Sweet Creations seizes on the popularity of Pinterest projects and the social sharing of recipes through products that are aimed squarely at current baking trends to make the pinned pictures customers see online become an accessible reality in their own kitchens. Take for instance the layering trend within baking, where cakes and cookies take on height to stand out, and desserts are layered on top of desserts for extra decadence. Sweet Creations has just introduced a Layer Cake Pan Set ( $11.99) for this trend that includes two scalloped non-stick baking pans and a knife to level off the cake layers after baking. There is also a Silicone Sandwich Cookie Chocolate Mold ($7.99) that is like a silicone ice tray for pouring in melted chocolate, sticking a cookie in that chocolate, and then letting it set to release later with an embossed pattern, which could then decorate a cupcake or cake top.

Ugly Sweater Cookie Cutter Set

“We try to do the packaging and concept around something that a home user, with not a ton of time, can finish and be happy with,” says Christi Lowell, Vice President Sales & Marketing for Sweet Creations. “So it’s not something that you would have to have a long history of classes, or a real expertise of any kind of training or level there. It’s something that you could just read about, see the item, and then finish it that night or weekend and be happy with the project.”

Most of Sweet Creations’ specialty baking items will include a recipe along with directions and color pictures on the packaging for ease of use. So if, for example, a customer sees the Ugly Sweater Cutter Set ($9.99) from the holiday collection on the shelf and decides it looks like something they want to try, they have along with the actual product, a sugar cookie recipe that is going to work best for the purpose and directions that will guide them through from baking to decorating. They can also visit the brand’s Pinterest page for further inspiration and recipe ideas.

Giftable Jar

Knowing that baking is often done for special occasions, like birthdays and parties, Sweet Creations makes it easy for customers to transform their homemade treats into homemade gifts, or to dress them up for event presentation. There are a variety of treat bags, gift tags, and boxes to complete the edible gifting cycle after baking, decorating, and wrapping the sweet treats. Standout items include Resealable Treat Bags ($5.99) in a six count that have a blue back with a clear white polka dotted front, a label for personalization, a gusseted bottom, and white ribbon. The Giftable Jar ($4.99) is another standout that reflects back on the whole DIY concept, since users can either fill it with treats they made themselves or simply fill it with ingredients so that the recipient can make their own baked goods. The white top provides an airtight seal to the plastic jar and says “Enjoy” in cursive and has a blue ribbon threaded through it for an extra thoughtful touch. Both the Giftable Jar and Resealable Treat Bags are also available in red and white versions for the holiday season.

Resealable Treat Bags

Presentation and transportation items allow users to take their treats on the go and then set them up in a festive and eye-catching manner. The Cupcake Take-Bake-Serve ($24.99) is a 12-cup cupcake pan that has a lid so users can bake and then transport within one item. It also has a three-tiered stand that stores flat under the cover handle and can be easily assembled for presentation anywhere. A large variety of cupcake papers in an array of colors and motifs, along with products like doilies, cupcake toppers, and cake boards round out the options for setting up a nice dessert presentation at home or at an event.

“Our goal is to give a consumer products from start to finish,” says Anderson. “Not only do we have the gadgets and bakeware, but we also have an assortment of different envelopes, treat bags and boxes, so that someone can have the full experience of baking and gifting.”

Cupcake Take-Bake-Serve

Sweet Creations also offers merchandising displays and fixtures to suit different retail settings. There is everything from corrugated countertop display units on up to larger rolling racks, both for the everyday collection and the seasonal collections. Sweets Creations hopes that the combination of unique baking items and retailing solutions will appeal to independent kitchenware retailers.

“We do have a really great and competitive cost … it allows the independent retailers to have some things that are unique to them that not every mass account has a huge section of,” says Lowell. “These products are things that are more specialty and would be newer, and probably a lot of their individual consumers that are walking in the door may not have seen a lot of these things.”

This story was originally published in the August 2015 issue of Kitchenware News, a publication of Oser Communications Group.