Author: joepastry
The Confectionary Phases of Sugar
Crack, speed ball…oh no wait, that’s what Amy Winehouse had for breakfast this morning. What I meant to say was thread, soft ball, firm ball, hard ball, soft crack, hard crack. These are the phases that a sugar syrup passes through as it “cooks”. The names are inspired by the form a drop of the […]
READ ONWhat about the corn syrup?
Oh yes, I got so busy talking about sugar and crystals I almost forgot about the corn syrup portion of the recipe. Regular readers may remember several posts on corn syrup from last fall in which I drew an analogy between a bottle of Karo and a cement mixer filled mostly with ball bearings (free […]
READ ONWhat’s going on with the oven?
Friend and regular reader Warren checked in a couple of days ago with this note: Hi Joe, I like the way you are formatting the site lately, the tips and hints etc side bar is really great, although I have got used to going back over the threads and getting lost in the esoterica scattered […]
READ ONWhat’s the point of all this?
The point is that crystal sugar is grainy. You can’t make a smooth icing out of it. In order to create a smooth and glossy icing, you first have to melt those sugar crystals down and disperse their molecules in water. Which is to say, you have to make a syrup. And fondant syrups (as […]
READ ONBut wait, can’t you make poured fondant with powdered sugar? Why go to all this trouble?
You can make an ersatz poured fondant with powdered sugar, yes. Some versions don’t even have to be “cooked”. However they’ll never be as good as a sugar syrup fondant because all powdered sugar contains cornstarch (about 3% by weight). The effect, in the case of an uncooked fondant, is to give the icing a […]
READ ONMaking ze poured fondant
Traditionally, poured fondant was made by making a dense sugar syrup, then stirring it over a period of about half an hour until it turned into fondant. Fortunately, the modern age brought us the food processor, which made things much easier. The new standard poured fondant recipe goes like this: 2 1/2 cups (17.5 ounces) […]
READ ONJust what is fondant anyway?
Sugar putty, basically. It’s the white chewy stuff that makes up the inside of bonbons, you know what I mean…the “creams”. But then it’s also the semi-transparent liquid stuff that’s inside those runny-in-the-center chewing gums or chocolate covered cherries. However these days when people say “fondant” they mostly mean a cake covering of some sort, […]
READ ONFlavored wax and other delights.
Got this message a couple of weeks ago from my good friend Sally C., after I posted that picture of little Josephine’s fuscia birthday cake: Tell me something – does your fondant taste like flavored wax? Every fondant I’ve ever had tastes terrible!! I understand the need for it in things like decorated cakes, but […]
READ ONWhat’s the big deal about mixing?
Mixing is arguably the most critical step in the baking process, the one that dictates more than any other what the end product will be. Don’t believe me? Imagine for a moment that you’re observing a baker at a work table. In front of him are indeterminate quantities of flour, fat, sugar, milk and eggs. […]
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