Caramel Swirling Help
Posted by humboldt_honey on Nov 24, 2008 · Member since Feb 2007 · 12529 posts
I tried to make caramel swirlies for dessert accents, but got blobs.
My Attempt:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3008/3056719430_9057de1317_m.jpg
Any tips for making pretty, food-network-quality drizzles?
I tried to make caramel swirlies for dessert accents, but got blobs.
My Attempt:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3008/3056719430_9057de1317_m.jpg
Any tips for making pretty, food-network-quality drizzles?
I think what you use to "pour" helps better define the thickness of the drizzle.
I like your globs though - very free form :) And totally still edible!
I think the trick is to get it to a consistency that it is just a thin strand coming off the spoon. So dip in and get a spoonful, allow it to mostly slide off, when it is that thin but solid strand move to your parchment paper and move the spoon in a moderate circular motion.
You may need a LOT of practice because speed, distance and consistency all matter. Heck I am sure that ambient air temperature and humidity matter.
If you are trying to make a specific shape that will be a different approach. But just random swirls, the above should work. I have done that in chocolate. Of course I always make a mess but its fun!
You know on cooking shows or food magazines they made individual caramel swirlies and prop them up on the top of the dessert for flair? I'm working on that. Now that I can make caramel it should be easier to practice.
I am no good when it comes to food presentation. I can't decorate cakes or cupcakes to save my life, but I try. I've improved a lot, but I am not anywhere near where I want to be.
I want to go to your house for a big meal, base, and have your cooking/baking with VeganSapien plating it.
I want to go to your house for a big meal, base, and have your cooking/baking with VeganSapien plating it.
This would be spectacular
This is most likely a Cali question. (Not meaning that only Cali can answer it, but it's directed to people who have knowlege beyond mine.) I made caramel and it wasn't chewy.
I've decided to be semi cheap and make caramels for my co-workers. I want them to be a little soft, so I went to the store and bought chocolate peppermint soy milk to add as the creamer.
I boiled the sugar water in one pan and heated the soy milk and chocolate chips in another. When the sugar had carmelized, I added the soy milk to the caramel and stirred. I might have added too milk. I also decided to add extra chocolate chips at the last minute. I was wondering if adding unmelted chocolate chips would make the whole mixture crystalize. It didn't seem to make a difference melted in the milk, but I'm not sure if I detected a difference when I added them whole.
Are you asking how to reliably get the caramel softer?
I think its the ratio of ingredients and perhaps only getting it to the beginning of the caramelization process. But then again, I have never really set out to make soft (or firm) caramels. I just watch Alton Brown any time I can. Food science is fascinating!
Like this?
http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v66/14/3/509956972/n509956972_38985_9158.jpg
If I understand, the most important thing is making sure you have the temperature of the sugar perfect, you can use a candy thermometer or do it the old fashioned way (like I did) by dropping the sugar in cold water.
It look like you got the cooking right though. How I got mine to not "glob" is by taking a couple of wooden skewers and taping them together at one end, kind of fanned out at the other. I dipped the skewers in the sugar and just let the sugar drip in fun ways, make sure the strands are thin otherwise it'll collapse.
And it takes time, the spun sugar around the egdes of this cake are attempts that didn't go so well lol
If this isn't what you were going for, then nevermind lol