Chocolate FAIL. This project had potential. It certainly didn’t taste bad, but for whatever reason, my chocolate bloomed. Working with chocolate is no easy task sometimes, especially if weather conditions are less than ideal, thermometers aren’t working, or if I get distracted. I’m not totally sure what went wrong with this one, but it’s something that I’m working on. I also haven’t mastered the art of getting rid of air bubbles, as you can see. Despite the apparent failure of the project, I was still proud that I made fondant from scratch for the first time, flavored it with raspberry jam, and filled chocolate shells for a delicious end product, even though it’s not the prettiest.
Making the fondant (Sorry, I can’t get things to line up correctly!)
After mixing and cooking the sugar syrup, I poured it onto a marble slab (the top of a kitchen cart, in my case), to begin the crystallization process.
I worked the sugar syrup on the marble slab using a bench scraper. At this stage, the sugar has begun to crystallize and has taken on a ribbon-like pattern, similar to salt water taffy. It also has become slightly opaque.
The syrup continued to crystallize as I worked it on the marble slab, becoming more and more opaque and taking on a glue-like consistency.
The end result? FONDANT!! Woo hoo!!! When finished, the fondant is uniformly white and resembles a mass of that glue paste that we all used as kids. It is now ready to go into a sealed container to “ripen” overnight. Ripening will improve the texture and flavor.
Shannon Wheel, RD, CPT 