On a recent holiday from school, I asked my youngest how she want to spend the day.  Without a moment’s hesitation she said she wanted to make caramel cages.  Having done this as a child about her age, I could relate.  The day’s agenda was set.  There are several ways to approach the sugar caramel scenario.  Although I still have most of the recipes I collected as a child, sadly this was one that got lost somewhere along the way.  So we set out for a day of fun and experimentation to find a recipe that worked well and reliably.

Technique 1:

•    2/3 cup light corn syrup
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
•    1/2 cup water
•          cooking spray

 

Place corn syrup, sugar, and water in a 2 quart heavy sauce pan over medium high heat.

Heat until reaches the ‘hard crack’ temperature, about 311 degrees on a candy thermometer.

Quickly transfer the mixture to a heat safe bowl.  This will stop the cooking process. If you do not, the sugar will continue to cook and may darken and turn bitter.

Spray the inside of the bowl you wish to use as your form with cooking spray.

Dip the tines of a fork into the hot sugar mixture and drizzle a pattern of your choosing over your form. What we found when we drizzled the sugar in metal bowl, the metal heated up and stayed hot so the sugar syrup sank to bottom of bowl.

We tried the same technique but this time sprayed the inside of glass bowl with oil.  As the bowl did not heat up, the sugar syrup could cools more quickly and sticks to sides, generating a more even pattern.

Using  a strong, sharp knife slice off the edges of the sugar drizzles of the edge of the bowl.  Cool at least 5 minutes or until you plan to use.  Unmold.  As you see this recipe has a smooth golden glass like appearance. As you can also see, It did not unmold in one piece.  The shards, however, still make an exquisite accompaniment to any desert.   It tastes a bit different than  plain sugar and our jurors were mixed on which they through was better.

Technique 2:

• 3 cups of sugar

 

Place sugar in a 2 quart heavy sauce pan over medium high heat.

You may stir.  Unfortunately when you stir, you make lumps.  Which then have to be stirred constantly.

Once it is melted and smooth, quickly transfer the mixture to a heat safe bowl.  This will stop the cooking process. If you do not, the sugar will continue to cook and may darken and turn bitter as you can see below. It in effect ‘auto- burns’.  After we took it off the heat, but left in the pot, it started bubbling and cooking all over again and in a flash was the dark color you see below.

Technique 3:

• 3 cups of sugar
• oil

 

Place sugar in a 2 quart heavy sauce pan over medium high heat.

Do not stir until absolutely necessary to avoid making lumps.

If you don’t melt long enough, sugar remains opaque, not translucent.

Pour oil in a folded paper towel and rub on the OUTSIDE of a glass bowl.  Drizzle sugar in desired pattern.

          

We also had difficulty unmolding these cages as you can see above.  I suspect we will need to be much more generous with the oil than we have been.

Once the sugar mixture hits the translucent stage and you have transferred to a heat safe bowl, you can wait until the mixture cools slightly then wrap around a sharpening blade to make swirls as shown below.

You can make spiral all different thicknesses and lengths depending on how cool and thick the sugar syrup is.  As you can see we had a lot of fun with this!

To summarize:

The corn syrup, water, and sugar generates a light and clear result.

     

The plain sugar if not melted enough is not  translucent, but if melted properly is darker in color.

Either mixture if not transferred into cooling bowl overcooks, darkens, and becomes bitter.

Once done, the sugar cages, fragments or swirls can be used as a garnish with fruit and ice cream and simple ginger syrup for an elegant dessert.

For another lesson, caramel drops.  They are amazingly dramatic.  Look for them possibly on the pumpkin pie this thanksgiving.

Tip:

Clean up can be a nightmare if not approached properly.  Do not try to scrub the caramel.  Do not try to boil water in the caramel pot.  All you have to do is fill your pot with hot tap water.  Let it sit for a few hours or overnight.  The sugar will dissolve away.