Four Kinds Of Edible Sugar Art, And How Each Is Made

Sugar has some truly amazing properties, besides being delectable to taste buds of all ages. In fact, it is these properties and flexibility with its crystalline structure that make it ideal for sugar art. Edible sugar art is a craft that is mastered by some of the best cake makers and patisseries from around the globe. If you are interested in the many fascinating and beautiful ways in which sugar is transformed into edible art, here are the four dominant forms and how each is made. 

Sugar Floss

Also known as cotton candy, this edible sugar art transforms sugar crystals into fluffy, flavored, pastel clouds. If you ever want to use an edible product to represent clouds or sunsets in your edible scenery, this is the stuff that will do it. Sugar floss/cotton candy is made by heating pure sugar up to a very high temperature while simultaneously spinning the crystals rapidly in a circle. If you want to color or flavor your "floss," do it right before the stuff starts fluffing up from the basin of the machine. 

Sugar Glass

Water and sugar boiled until it reaches a specific candy temperature can make sugar glass. The sugar crystals go from opaque white to clear, and you can even lightly color or flavor your "glass" before you pour it into molds and refrigerate it to get it to harden. This is what Hollywood uses to create the glass windows and glass bottles used in movie scenes because it will neither cut nor kill the actors that smash through it or use broken glass in a fight scene. You can use it to create sugar glass windows on cakes and gingerbread houses. 

Sugar Paste

Fondant is not sugar paste. Sugar paste is stickier, thinner, and easier to roll out than fondant. It can be cut into all kinds of exquisite little shapes and placed on cupcakes, cakes, cookies, etc. The best part about sugar paste is that it just needs a little moisture to stick and stay in place. That feature makes it ideal for covering cakes that are still warm where fondant would begin to melt, and for adhering lots of little shapes to fondant or more sugar paste with just a little water. You can dye and hand-paint sugar paste, too. 

Solid Sugar Molds

Out of all the edible sugar art, this is the one that hardly transforms the sugar itself. A little water and a lot of sugar to create a gritty sugar substance is all you need. Press the sugar/water mixture into a mold and freeze or bake it to get the water to evaporate and harden the sugar forms in the molds.

For more information, reach out to a company like Truly Mad Plastics LLC. 

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