Friday, May 29, 2015

  • I started off by setting out my pans. I had a large silicone pan which I used for the larger bottom section of my cake stand; a smaller tin which could open to release the base, which I lined with grease proof paper; and I had small rounded silicone cases which I was to use for the legs of my stand.
  • I then went on to heat my sugar and water. I made a mistake the first time around as I added too much water. I then had to restart it as the sugar wouldn't set with that quantity of water.
  • I then made the correct measurements of water and sugar which ratios should be 2 parts sugar 1 part water. I kept stirring it at first so the sugar would dissolve into the water. I then left it to simmer and waited until it was a yellowy brown color before removing it from the hob. At the start of heating I would have it on a low/medium heat as I was scared for the sugar burning, however because I was doing it in a large bulk, towards the end I would up the heat to medium/high and kept an eye on it.
  • I then poured the mixture into the large pan and had to make another batch ready for the second pan.
  • I did the same technique again to melt the sugar. This method used a lot of sugar and water, I probably used around two large bags of sugar during this experimentation.
  • I then had to think how to create the center column to hold the tiers of the stand. I was working on a low budget so I couldn't afford to spend any more on molds or equipment to make my own molds so I made a tester mold out of a cup which I cut to make it rounded and duck tape to secure it. When I poured sugar into it though, where there was small gaps in-between the plastic, the sugar would seep through and melt through the tape.
  • I then tried this test again with a better version of this test making sure the plastic was as tightly pushed together as possible, however there was still the tiniest gaps which the mixture melted through. Another mistake I made in this was that I was so anxious to make this and get this going after so long doing this that I took the sugar off the heat too quickly, which meant it wouldn't set or harden properly.
  • This process ended up taking a few days for me to get all the pieces done properly. I then used the same molds I used for the legs to make the column for the center. I made them and then used melted sugar to glue them to each other making a stack of them. I then used the melted sugar to attach all the pieces, which worked well in some ways since it was strong and edible and the same mixture used through out; however some issues with it is that it can actually slightly melt through some pieces, dis-shaping them slightly if too much of the sugar is added, also if it cools too quickly from touching the cold sugar, it can dry fairly tacky and need cleaning up after.
  • As you can see when it is done it does hold well and it is very strong.
  • In future I could experiment making more edible stands using different materials, I've thought about making hard biscuit stand or isomalt stands or even rocky road stands.



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