Why I Made a Giant Werther’s Original
You may have seen these novelty Werther’s Original tins doing the rounds – the kind that looks like a giant version of the sweet itself, filled with a couple of modest bags of sweets. One of you lovely lot messaged me on Instagram about it, and from a distance I genuinely thought it was a massive donut. But once I realised what it actually was, the idea hit me: what if I made a real, solid, edible giant Werther’s Original… using the tin as a mould?
The Hunt Begins
The mission began. I tried Home Bargains – nothing. While stood in the queue I signed up for restock alerts and, just in case, found one on eBay for £13. While I was there, I picked up a squeaky hot dog toy for Boston. He wasn’t impressed.
Prepping the Giant Werther’s Original Tin
The tin eventually arrived – and good news: it was metal, not plastic. Bad news? Dented, and with a nasty seam around the edge where the two halves joined. No bother. I took a trip to a tool shop and picked up some tin snips. Then I angle-ground a “window” into the base, which I flipped upside down for accuracy. I wanted gravity to pull the mix into that iconic Werther’s dent. I also added four slits around the sides to help fold the whole thing open once it was set.
Sourcing Six Kilos of Werther’s Originals
To fill this giant Werther’s Original, I needed serious caramel power – so off I went to Costco for the first time ever. Honestly, it’s a magical place. I picked up six one-kilo bags of the classic hard butter Werther’s Originals (none of the chewy ones, thanks) for a fraction of the online price. I only needed four in the end – the other two went to the local food bank, much to their surprise.
The Melting Method That Finally Worked
I originally tried melting the sweets gently over a bain-marie, and even blitzed them into Werther’s dust to help speed things up. It didn’t work – the dust just clumped together. What finally did the trick was pouring the sweets straight into a saucepan and stirring regularly over low heat. I got the mixture up to about 120°C, and although that’s not quite hard crack stage, it still poured beautifully through the tin window and set really well once cooled overnight.
The Big Reveal
I tried to bite it. Mistake. Even soaking the tin in warm water didn’t help loosen it. In the end, the tin snips were the hero. I managed to prise the lid off and pop the giant sweet out. Yes, it had a bit of a crease around the seam that made it look like a hamburger from one angle, but otherwise? Spot on. It even fit back inside the original wrapper.
Was the Giant Werther’s Original Worth It?
Absolutely daft. Absolutely worth it. But would I do it again? No. Should you try it? Also no. But it was great fun.
Watch the video above or here on YouTube if you prefer.
For more oversized nonsense, check out my giant homemade Quality Street experiment