Hard Candy... and soft ones too

You'll notice that we have made any cakes in the last few weeks, that was the end, until we have to produce our creations for our final exams.

Instead, we are now focusing on chocolate and sugar works and showpieces, the likes of which you see on the buffet tables or at a wedding reception.

Sugar and chocolate are very temperamental, and they're not easy to work with, it's as though they are living creatures, and you need to tame them into obeying your wishes to form the shapes and structure and consistency for your artworks.  We started with soft candies and will gradually proceed to more difficult pieces.

Loukoum, othewise known as Turkish delight (or Greek delight, whichever side of the Aegean sea you're on...  Incidentally, IMHO, the best loukoum I ever tasted was found on Mykonos, at a small tea shop, fabulously decked out for sure, it's Mykonos after all!  It has a good soft yet chewy consistency and yet not too sweet and a nice layer of pistachio nuts for added bite, I would go back again just for the loukoum.  In my practical, I tried to re-create those loukoum by bringing my own pistachios, and I think the result wasn't so bad.) 

On the same day, we also made a strawberry/raspberry jam, and milk jam (confiture de lait), yes it looks like condensed milk, but it's made from fresh milk, it has a fuller value and lotsa vanilla seeds!

Fruit candies with marzipan.  Mielina - a sorta nougat-y soft candy made from honey, cream and nuts.

Our initiation to sugarworks was a nightmare.  Basically sugar is melted to 160C (yes, i'm not kidding you!) and poured unto a silicon mat, upon it's cooling down, while it's still pliable (and still at about 120C)  you pull stretch roll the sugar to the shapes you want.  We need special gloves for that, and a heater lamp to keep it pliable.  Once I stretch out a piece of sugar nice and fine so as to wrap some praline, I placed it down on the board too hard, and it being thinner, it cools down very quickly as well, and like a window pane, it shattered like glass!!! I was devasted.  The solution:  Gather all the broken shards, re-melt them gently (you don't want them to turn to caramel) and start all over again.

Anyway, in the end it still turn out alright.  Sugar works will be one of the other component, than your own creation of a cake, on the final exams.  Oh boy, we're gonna have a good time.

Just to give you an idea what we have to submit as sugarwork for exams.  Yes, all from sugar!