Sunday, September 02, 2007

Playtime!

We got to play with colored marzipan this week...rather like Playdoh, only edible. I don't think it tastes any better though.

The really big thing we learned to do was pull sugar. Heat it to hard crack, ~315F, then add color and use oiled metal tools to move the sugar around. When it's cool enough to handle, start pulling. And that's it, folks. Well, that, and about twenty years of practice to get anything good out of it. It also probably takes as long to build up heat-resistant hands. These are the first rose petals I pulled. As you can see, the one at the bottom is already cracked because I pulled it when the sugar was too cool. Needless to say, we all went home with blistering red hands that day.
Posted by Picasa

2 comments:

Kea said...

My mom took a class on decorating cakes with something like marzipan. It was called fondant. Not sure what the difference is. She made all kinds of fancy flowers with it. The stuff keeps for months, so when she's got to make a birthday cake for her friends she just pulls some out of her drawer.

Even better reason not to eat it. Blech.

MooCow said...

Blech, indeed!

By the way, marzipan is made from almond paste, and tastes very almondy. Fondant is just cooked sugar and water. It can be flavored or colored to whatever you like.