It is difficult to find material for decorating desserts that would look better than caramel ... but a miracle can only be obtained in skillful hands. It takes a lot of experience to make caramel nets and sugar flowers. But with fruits and berries in caramel it is much easier. It still looks impressive.

Caramel

What do you need:

• 4.5 tbsp. l. cold water

What to do:

1. Rinse a deep-bottomed saucepan with cold water, add sugar and water.

2. Put the saucepan over low heat and heat to a near boil, stirring constantly with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon. Stir gently, being careful not to splatter the sides of the saucepan.

3. Once the sugar has melted, stop stirring and bring the mixture to a boil. Cook until large bubbles appear and the caramel is amber in color. Gently remove the sugar crystals that form on the sides of the saucepan with a culinary brush soaked in cold water - they should not get into the syrup. Never stir the boiling caramel, but measure the temperature with a cooking thermometer from time to time.

4. If you do not have a cooking thermometer, there is another way to determine the temperature. Take 1 tsp. syrup and pour into a glass of cold water. Wait a couple of seconds, take out the slightly frozen caramel and mold a ball. The ball is spreading - the syrup is not ready.

5. If the ball is very soft, the icing syrup is ready (temperature about 118 ° C). If the ball is hard and brittle, it is already crunchy caramel, and it can be light (155 ° C) and dark (170 ° C): the taste depends on this. Too dark caramel tastes bitter.

6. Remove the prepared syrup from heat, let stand for no more than 5 minutes. If it seems to you that the caramel is a little overcooked, put the saucepan in a saucepan with cold water - this way it will cool faster and will not "cook itself". It is necessary to dip fruits, berries, nuts, sugar threads very quickly, until the caramel has cooled down and thickened.

Caramelized apples and nuts

What do you need:

• 1 cup fine crystalline sugar
• 4.5 tbsp. l. cold water
• apples
• nuts
• vegetable oil for greasing cooking paper

What to do:

1. Wash and dry the apples, sort out the nuts. Cut the apples into slices, peel them from seeds, use only whole kernels for nuts.

2. Dry the apple slices thoroughly with paper towels - caramel does not tolerate moisture.

3. Place a saucepan of hot caramel on a layer of paper towels. Alongside, on one side - prepared apples and nuts, on the other - oiled cooking paper. Place apple slices on a long wooden skewer, dip in hot caramel and place on oiled paper.

For the cake.

I baked the same, which I promised to share. And since I baked it as a birthday present, I wanted to decorate it somehow in a special way, and then I remembered the videos of French pastry chefs on You tube making masterpieces from caramel.

Work experience with caramel I had, like almost every child who grew up in the Soviet Union during times of shortage. There was sugar and a burning desire to eat something sweet! And so, satisfying our childhood desires, we made candies, boiled toffee and milk fudge.

The most important thing in this business is to cook correctly caramel... Everything worked out for me, so I'll boldly tell you how you can do it.

My creative idea was as follows: to make a hemisphere surrounded by 5 caramel petals, a kind of "five-color" I had to get.

For this you needed:

• steel ladle (hemisphere)
• 5 identical tablespoons

First, let's grease our "forms" with vegetable oil.

Cook caramel.

The ratio of 3: 1 is very easy to remember, as 3 parts of sugar will require 1 part of water.

In a ladle or a small saucepan, mix the required amount of sugar, I took 150 grams of sugar and 50 grams of water. Put the ladle over medium heat and cook the mixture until amber. Next, a frying pan or container of cold water will come in handy.

Let the bucket with caramel literally drop into the water for 30 seconds with the bottom to cool (be careful, there will be a lot of steam), the caramel should thicken when cooling, becoming like stringy honey. The main thing is not to overcool the mixture at this moment. If suddenly the mixture thickens too much, then put it back on low heat and heat with constant stirring.

Now on the shape, in particular, the ladle with caramel, we draw zigzag stripes to get an openwork hemisphere as a result. It is a pity that I was not able to photograph this particular moment, I had both hands in business, and there was no one at home. But I think that you will realize ываем We do the same with the spoons, pouring caramel on them. The result is clearly visible in the photo. The edges must be trimmed with scissors while the caramel is not frozen, this will make it easier to remove caramel decorations from the form. Now it is important to wait until it cools completely.

When caramel decorations hardened carefully, remove, remembering that the caramel is very fragile.

I also had caramel and I drew fancy patterns on a silicone mat (you can use baking paper). After hardening with them, I supplemented my pocket composition for the Napoleon cake.

I would like to know your opinion about my experience and the resulting caramel decorations in comments.

I hope you found the article useful and will motivate you to another culinary feat!

Caramel is a sugar syrup that has been heated over high heat. The accuracy of caramel preparation is very important, the difference between a subtle and sweetish taste and a burnt one for a few seconds. It is advisable to start cooking caramel over high heat and after a minute reduce to low heat, stirring occasionally. It is important to prepare all auxiliary tools in advance. Since the caramel cools quickly, you need to have time to turn it into the desired forms. If the caramel has hardened, you can gently warm it up and it will return to the desired state.
Very important: Since caramel can reach a temperature of about 160C, you need to work so as not to cause burns to yourself or others.

Caramel. Basic recipe.

Ingredients:

½ tbsp. (100 g) sugar
2 tbsp. l. water (the amount of water should slightly cover the sugar)

It is advisable to use a saucepan with a thick bottom, which provides uniform and gentle heating. As mentioned above, start heating for a minute over high heat, then reduce to less than medium. Stir the sugar completely until it boils. After that, there is no need to interfere. It will take 7-10 minutes for a golden mass to begin to form around the edges of the pan, which gradually fills the entire pan. You can shake the pan from side to side to improve the process. When the golden mass covers the entire pan and all the sugar has dissolved, then the caramel is ready. We are waiting for all the bubbles to disperse (shake the pan) and the caramel becomes transparent.

Remove the pan from the heat and lower (carefully) into a large pan filled with cold water to stop the caramel heating process. Sometimes it is advised to take a brush to dip in cold water and run from the inside along the edges of the pan during cooking (do it very carefully). We prepare decorations, thought out in advance, so that the caramel does not have time to harden.
The taste depends on the color of the caramel. When it is light, the taste is simply sweet, the darker the caramel, the more interesting and delicate the taste.

Problems that may arise during the cooking process:

If sugar begins to crystallize and it gradually turns into a solid mass, you will have to redo it first or heat it up easier (the main thing is not to burn it).

To peel off the hardened mass from the pan, you will have to pour boiling water over it all and scrape it with a rubber whisk or something else without damaging the coating of the pan.

Strawberries in caramel

Lubricate the surface with oil, where the caramelized strawberries will be laid out. We string strawberries on a wooden toothpick or skewer. Gently dip into caramel and spread on the prepared surface.

Caramel basket

Turn the silicone mold upside down. If there is no suitable one, you can use a similarly shaped plate covered with aluminum (foil) or just an iron plate of the desired shape and oiled (some people use the ladle upside down). Spoon the caramel and first make a thick strip of caramel at the base of the mold or plate. Then we make longitudinal and then transverse stripes, trying to reach the picture - the prison bars. We are waiting for the caramel to cool slightly, but remove it while still warm. Carefully remove the foil or silicone from the basket.

The amount of caramel obtained from the basic recipe should be enough for 8 molds.

Caramel ball

This will require a device in the form of two skewers (skewers) at a distance of 20 cm, from each other, fixed motionlessly. Take a fork and sprinkle caramel over the skewers. We collect the resulting threads from the skewers into one ball.

Caramel tube

You will need a small glass jar.

Candy spiral

Lubricate the mush with oil. Rotating the musat, pour caramel. Let it cool and remove it from the musat.

Figures on parchment paper

Naturally, we rub the parchment paper with oil and write out the pretzels or shapes as we wish.

Looking for interesting ideas for creative projects on the eve of the holidays? We have already said that decorative flowers can be made from the most unexpected materials:, etc. It turns out that beautiful buds can be easily modeled from ordinary caramel sweets. In its finished form, the original bouquet, the production of which does not take much time, will look like a glass decoration and will certainly make an impression, because you can not only admire it, but also taste it.

For the project, prepare:

• bamboo skewers (one for each rose);
• kitchen scissors;
• glass bowl for microwave:
• hard caramel candies without filling;
• rubber gloves for working with food.

Step 1.
Using scissors, carefully cut the top pointed ends of the bamboo skewers you will be using.

Step 2.
Pour a glass of water into a small glass bowl and place a handful of caramel candies in it (right with candy wrappers). Since sweets will be the material for sculpting roses, it is better to take candies of a suitable color: red, white, or pink are suitable for making petals, and green for leaves. Sort the candies by color and first tackle the ones you will use to form the petals.
Now place the dishes in the microwave and preheat for 30 seconds to 1 minute. The time depends on the power of your appliance. In order to achieve the desired effect, be guided by the temperature of the water: it should be warm enough, but not so hot that it burns your fingers.

Step 3.
Put on rubber food grade gloves and remove one candy from hot water. Without removing the wrapper, place the lollipop between your fingers and flatten to form an oval.

Step 4.
Unfold the candy and adjust the petal, giving it a neat shape with even edges.

Step 5.
Wrap the resulting petal around the skewer to form the center of the bud. Try to work fairly quickly as the candy hardens over time. If necessary, return the caramels to the bowl of warm water and reheat in the microwave.

Step 6.
Repeating the steps above, make some more petals and add them to the composition.

In order for the lollipops to beautifully frame the skewer, the subsequent blanks need to be bent more than the previous ones so that they form a voluminous bud.

For convenience, use a milk bottle or tall glass cup to hold the rose in while you form additional petals.

Step 7.
Place a fresh portion of water in the microwave, adding two green caramel candies this time. Heat the candies as described in step 2. Then flatten the wrapped candies between your fingers into a flat oval.

Step 8.
Unfold one of the candies and continue modeling, making it look like a leaf with a pointed end and slightly rounded edges. When you get the shape you want, clip the lollipop to the skewer under the petals.

Step 9.
Leave the other candy in an oval shape. Unfolding the caramel, squeeze it a little, and then pass it through the skewer, strengthening it approximately in the middle of the base. Raise the edges of the candy slightly to create a slight waviness.

Step 10.
The rose is ready. You can limit yourself to one flower or, repeating all the steps, make a few more buds to get a beautiful and unusual bouquet.

Water is poured into the dishes intended for cooking caramel in an amount of 33-35% by weight of sugar, heat it to a boil, then add sugar and stir thoroughly. The resulting solution is brought to a boil, molasses is added, again heated to a boil, filtered through a sieve and boiled to a caramel sample. To take a sample, take a few drops of caramel, combine them into a lump and cool. If the chilled, hardened caramel does not bend, crushes easily and does not stick to the teeth, then it is ready. The finished caramel mass is poured onto marble, oiled with vegetable oil. Dry citric acid and essence are added to the cooled floor, the essence is painted over with food paint and stirred well.
For 1 kg of sugar - 500-550 g of molasses.

The boiled caramel is painted over with food paint, then pulled by hand, and then pressed against a plywood board. First, they pull out the core with their fingers, allow it to cool, after which they first stick three small petals to it, then four, etc. until you get a lush, beautiful rose. The caramel is drawn in the same way for other colors. It is good at this moment to have before you samples of flowers from a different mass.

The caramel flowers are attached to a thin elastic wire and decorate the caramel pyramid with them.
Caramel leaves are prepared from non-stretched caramel, colored green with food paint; a small caramel piece is made of various colors using a paper envelope.

From a viscous thick caramel mass, having a temperature of about 70 °, you can prepare decorations for cakes in the form of fountains, domes, coasters, cobwebs, etc. or thoroughly refined granulated sugar. For this you need to take a light caramel molasses; the more molasses are used, the more plastic the caramel mass is. If the molasses is replaced with other anticrystallizers (invert syrup, various acids) or the dose of molasses is reduced, the caramel mass quickly solidifies after cooling below 70 °, which makes molding difficult. When making caramel mass, it should be borne in mind that the less molasses is added, the more water must be added.

Caramel syrup is prepared in the same way as fondant, only the caramel mass intended for decoration is cooked in small portions in a small bowl over high heat, since when boiling over low heat, the caramel mass turns out to be yellow. To cook the caramel mass, take sugar, dissolve it in hot water, after which the edges of the dishes are washed with water. After that, the syrup is boiled. As soon as foam appears on its surface, it is carefully removed. After boiling the syrup, wash the edges of the pan again, cover the dishes with a lid and boil the syrup to 118 °, add molasses heated to 50 ° and, reducing the heat slightly, boil the mass to a caramel sample of 158-163 °. So that the color of the caramel mass does not change, it is cooled immediately after cooking. Dishes with caramel syrup are immersed in cold water for a few seconds, or the caramel syrup is poured onto a cold marble or baking sheet, lightly greased. The fat should be free of moisture, odor and impurities. The caramel spreading on the marble is folded up with a wide knife, also greased. The caramel mass is tinted with dissolved food paints. At high heat, the paints decompose and curdle, so they are placed after the caramel mass has cooled to 100 °. The consistency of the paints should be creamy; dry paints dissolve poorly and form small dots in caramel. When coloring the caramel mass in several colors, it is poured in portions onto a table with a marble lid or into small pans and tinted separately.

If you need to warm up the caramel mass, then put it in a frying pan and put it in an oven, oven or heating devices. Aromatize and acidify the caramel mass with various acids and essences after cooling it to 80-90 °, since at a higher temperature, some types of acids are destroyed, and aromatic substances evaporate. The best way is to make a paste and knead it into a caramel mass. For 1 kg of caramel mass, take 8 g of crushed tartaric acid, 3 g of fruit essence and 2 g of diluted paint. Products made from caramel mass have the ability to quickly absorb moisture from the air, which makes their surface wet, sticky, loses its shine, becomes covered with a sugared dirty crust, under which further destruction of products continues. To prevent caramel products from collapsing, you must adhere to the following rules: a) add molasses and acid to the caramel mass in doses not exceeding the norm; b) make products from caramel mass in a warm dry room; c) do not take caramel products from a hot room to a cold one and vice versa; d) mold caramel products with your hands, having previously washed them with alum, so that your hands do not get wet; e) dip the caramel products in the circulation syrup; f) hold the finished caramel products under steam for 1 second, sprinkle with white or colored sugar and then dry.

A fountain made from caramel mass is made to decorate cakes. On a table with a marble lid, draw six figures in the form of knots of the same size, which are lightly covered with melted fat. Roll four cornetics of the same size from wrapping paper, put them tightly into one another and glue them with eggs, cut off the thin end of the cornet so that a hole 5 mm in diameter is formed. This cornet is made in order to maintain the temperature of the caramel mass and not burn your hands when working with it. After that, roll the parchment paper cornet, which is inserted into the wrapping paper lornetics, so that the thin end of the parchment cornet protrudes outward. Then cut the thin end of the parchment cornet to create a hole with a diameter of no more than 1 mm. Pour the caramel mass into the cornet until half of its volume, close the parchment cornet first, and then the rest. From the prepared cornet, squeeze the caramel with a thin thread along the contour of the previously drawn images. Then, while the knot is still flexible, carefully remove and move to another place to cool. After that, pour the caramel mass onto a table with a marble lid, giving it the shape of a round small cake, into which you insert the prepared cooled caramel knots. Glue the ends of the knots on top with hot caramel mass. The dome is made for decorating cakes and other custom products. Apply a thin layer of fat to a metal dish or dome-shaped dish. After cooling the fat from the cornet, release the caramel mass on the mold according to the drawings previously outlined on it. Circle the base of the mold with a thicker layer of caramel mass. When the caramel mass has cooled slightly, carefully separate the caramel dome from the mold. To do this, lift it slightly with your fingers and turn it, but do not remove it from the mold until it cools completely. After complete cooling, glue caramel-glazed nuts, fruits or flowers from caramel, marzipan onto the caramel dome and carefully remove the product from the mold. The dome can be made from caramel of different colors.

Plates and coasters are made from caramel mass boiled down to 163 °, which is cooled and quickly rolled into a cake on a warmed board. Place the cakes in greased forms of various sizes and styles (narrow, flat, in the form of plates). The leaves are made from showering caramel, tinted green. Cut small veins on the half of the potato, resembling leaf veins, then dip the potatoes in the hot caramel mass and put on the table with a greased marble lid. The caramel leaf, freed from potatoes, can be bent and shaped in a warm state. The caramel cobweb is prepared using a wire broom, the ends of which are dipped in hot caramel mass, and the thin caramel threads formed at the ends of the wires are applied to specially placed thin metal rods or wooden sticks. A trifle of caramel should be done with a cornet. On greased marble or on a confectionery iron sheet, plant all kinds of figurines that can be used to decorate cakes, pastries and other products.