Rock Sugar for Gateaux
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Place the sugar in a small copper sugar boiler with enough water to melt it completely.
Once melted, wash down the sides of the pan and skim off any scum.
Partly cover the pan and boil the mixture to 306°F (152°C).
While boiling, prepare royal icing that is light, firm, and colored with caramel.
Form the rock sugar
When the sugar reaches the correct temperature, remove it from the heat.
Quickly stir in a walnut-sized amount of colored royal icing into the boiled sugar.
As the sugar rises, pour it into a small hair sieve to maintain heat.
If done correctly, the sugar will rise in the sieve and set at the top.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Lump sugar
- Forms the crystalline sugar mass that boils, sets and gives the rock sugar its structure.
- Royal icing
- Its egg-white and sugar proteins and sugar create a foam that rises and sets as the candy cools.
- Caramel
- Adds brown color to the royal icing so the finished rock sugar is tinted.
The step that matters
Pouring the sugar into the sieve. Sugar boiled to the target temperature must be poured while it is still hot and rising, because the foam sets quickly once cooled and the texture depends on timing.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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