Sugar Work | How to Spin Sugar

When it comes to serving dessert, wow your guests with a little spun sugar. Here is another technique for decorating with caramelized sugar. It can get a little messy but it is worth it.

You will need the following equipment:

• small stainless steel pot suitable for the amount of sugar you are working with
• bowl of ice water that your stainless steel pot can easily fit into
• approximately 1 cup of sugar (or more, depending on how much you want to make)
  
• wooden spoon
• 2 chopsticks
• tape
  
• 2 forks or a cut wire whisk (see photo below)
  
• sheet pan
• 1 large piece of parchment

Set up:
1. Overhang each chopstick on the countertop, approximately 6" apart. Secure with tape.
2. Place the sheet pan on top of the chopsticks to weigh them down.
3. Place the large piece of parchment on the floor directly underneath the chopsticks. This catches excess sugar and helps with the clean up.


Prepare the caramelized sugar by following the same instructions posted here: How to Make Dry Caramel. Remember to use caution when working with molten caramel.

When the caramel is cool enough to form a fine thread, hold the forks (backs facing each other) and dip them into the caramel. Alternatively, you can use a cut wire whisk. Using a quick flicking motion with your wrist, drizzle the caramel so it drapes over the two chopsticks. Repeat this step over and over again until the desired amount of caramel has been spun.


Once the caramel is spun, it is cool enough to handle. You can pick it up and wrap it gently into a loose ball or shape it as you see fit. In humid conditions, spun sugar can melt easily so use it quickly or store in an airtight container. Once again, be careful and have fun.


For a few additional pictures, click here.

Tagged as: [ basics caramel decorations howto recipes spinning sugar techniques ]

Sugar Work | How to Make Decorative Caramel-Coated Nuts

This is a simple way to dress up your next plated dessert. Depending on how many nuts you want to coat will determine how much dry caramel to make. Keep in mind, however, the larger the quantity of caramel will result in a mixture that will hold its heat longer and be easier to work with.

You will need the following equipment:

• a small stainless steel pot suitable for the amount of sugar you are working with
• bowl of ice water that your stainless steel pot can easily fit into
• approximately 1.5 cups of sugar (or more, depending on how much you want to make)
  
• wooden spoon
• wooden skewers
  
• tape
• a large piece of parchment

Set Up For Nuts (if desired, nuts can be roasted in advance for added flavor):
1. Insert a skewer into each nut gently to avoid breaking it but far enough into the nut so it is held in place.
2. Without severing, bend the top 1-2" of the skewer to form a right angle.
3. Tear the pieces of tape for each skewer and have them ready to secure the skewers to your countertop after dipping.
4. To catch the dripping caramel, place the large piece of parchment on the floor directly underneath the countertop area where you will be taping the skewers.


Note: You must use caution whenever you attempt to make caramel. Caramel is extremely hot and can cause very serious burns. If you get any caramel on your skin, DO NOT, try to pry it off. You will injure yourself very badly. Run cold water over the caramel/burn and the sugar will gradually release. Seek medical attention if necessary. Always have a first aid kit handy.

How to Make Dry Caramel:

1. Place the stainless steel pot on the stove on medium-high heat. Put approximately 1/2 a cup of sugar into the pot. As the sugar begins to melt stir it gently with the wooden spoon. Gradually add the remaining sugar so that the entire mixture continues to melt.


2. Once all of the sugar has melted, it will start to take on an amber color. If you lift up some of the caramel with your wooden spoon and let it drizzle off of the spoon back into the pot, you will be able to gauge the color of the caramel better. The darker it gets, the more bitter the flavor - don't let it get too dark.

3. When the desired color of caramel has been achieved, place the pot gently into the cold ice water bath for a couple of seconds to stop the cooking process. Remove from pot the ice bath.


4. Wait a couple of minutes for the caramel to become a bit thicker as it cools. If it is too hot/runny, you will not be able to create a thread of sugar that extends from each nut. Lift some of the caramelized sugar up with a spoon to see what stage you are at.


5. Once the caramel is cool enough, gently immerse the nut into it. Pull out the skewer and let the caramelized sugar drizzle to form a thread. Tape the skewer to the countertop so that the nut is hanging directly over the parchment, allowing gravity to pull the excess of caramel down. If your caramel becomes too thick, you can thin it out by briefly returning the pot to the heat.



6. Once the caramel is completely cool and hard, you will be able to gently pull the nut from the skewer. The thread is extremely fragile. Store in a dry container. In humid conditions, the sugar will break down quickly, therefore, plate as soon as possible.


Tip: Trying to clean a pot full of hardened caramel is near to impossible. For easier clean up, immerse the pot in warm water until all of the sugar dissolves or fill the pot with water and bring it to a boil on the stove.

More decorative sugar work to come!

Tagged as: [ basics caramel decorations howto nuts sugar ]

Sumptuous Goodies for the Holidays

Transfer sheets are super cool. Cocoa butter is painted onto acetate in an array of colors and designs. You apply the transfer sheet directly onto the chocolate immediately after it has been dipped into crystallized (tempered) chocolate. Once the chocolate sets, you peel off the acetate and the cocoa butter is imprinted on the chocolate leaving a glossy shine! It is very exciting!












A Croquembouche is a French dessert which is traditionally served at weddings but can be eaten at any time for any celebration. The tower is made of profiteroles filled with pastry cream that are glued together with caramel. In this case, I filled some with vanilla pastry cream and some with praline pastry cream and decorated it with spun sugar but it can be decorated in many different ways. Translated into English, Croquembouche means "crunch in the mouth" and crunch we did!

Tagged as: [ caramel chocolate croquembouche marshmallows nougatine pastry pistachio sheets transfer truffles ]

Dessert Menu Development Project at NWCAV

The past two weeks in class have been spent on plated desserts. We made over 45 different recipes for the following: ice creams, sorbets, sherbets, sauces, puddings, soufflés, marshmallows, panna cotta, parfaits, compotes, salsas, sabayons, molten cakes, pate d'fruit, jellies, sponges, tuiles, crepes, tarts...the list goes on and on and on.

To wrap up the series, we each had to create a 5-course dessert menu (with sketches) and calculate the food costing for one of the items. We began on Thursday morning, preparing what we could and had to present our first plated dessert that afternoon. Nothing could be done in advance of Thursday. No chocolate decorations, no garnish – nothing. Today, we had to present our second item. Here is the menu that I created for the imaginary "Pique" restaurant.


I enjoyed the project. In our discussion at the end of class today I had commented on how much of a challenge it has been to beckon that creativity within. After not really allowing it to come out for so long, it is a bit testing. As with everything I have said in this blog, it will just take practice, experience, and exposure to different things to build up that database in the brain. The basic techniques are always the foundation. Take ideas from various things that you see and like and put them together to create something new. What becomes unique is how you can put different components together and apply modern spins on classic desserts. Nobody is expected to reinvent the wheel.

The first dessert I presented yesterday was a Fresh Orange Cake with Raspberry Mousse and a Grand Marnier Sabayon. I liked the flavors but I shouldn't have made my cake 4 layers – it should have been just two. It looked a little messy and the serving wound up being too big. Plus I didn't think that when you put your fork into the dessert that the first layer of cake would squash everything underneath it because the mousse could not withstand that much pressure from above. Whoops – that is where I should have practiced more.


Today's dessert turned out better. I made a Chocolate Pomegranate Molten Cake with Pomegranate Jelly and Grapefruit Sherbet with a Tuile Cookie. I thought the colors on the plate were vibrant.

Tagged as: [ caramel chocolate dessert development menu mousse nougatine nwcav pastry pomegranate tuiles ]