Tasty spin on latest toy craze

Fidget spinners are the latest craze to hit the school yard and now they have been turned into a tasty treat.

Wainui Cake Kitchen owner Andrew Surridge is the man responsible for the latest, edible iteration of the popular toy, which now sits alongside the meringues, custard squares and cream buns in his shop counter at Wainuiomata Mall.

He got the idea after he saw an online video of biscuits made to look like fidget spinners - a toy marketed as a stress relieving device, which is spun in the hand on a central bearing.

Surridge decided he could go one better, making a fidget spinner that was both edible and functional.

‘‘I got it off the internet and changed it up a bit, and made them spin.

‘‘It started off as a bit of fun with my son and then the girls [who work at the bakery] suggested we make them for the shop.’’

He made the biscuits from shortbread dough and cut them into shape with a hole in the middle for an axle and two stoppers which were also made from shortbread. Once the biscuits had cooled, they were ’’glued’’ together with royal icing.

‘‘They were quite fiddly to make... quite fidgety, even,’’ he said.

On June 21 he posted a video showing how the biscuits were made on the Wainui Cake Kitchen’s Facebook page. The video has since had more than 6000 views and almost 250 likes.

Surridge didn’t know what to make of the fidget spinner craze but said people had been coming into the shop and asking after his shortbread versions, having seen the video.

‘‘I don’t quite get it, but my boy certainly does. We have one at home and I’ll admit, I’ll pick it up and give it a spin, but I don’t really understand it. [I made the baked ones because] I wanted to encourage people to come down to the mall and visit us.’’

The baked spinners have been popular, with the first lot of 40 having almost sold out.

Surridge said he would be making more next week.