Friday, April 16, 2010

Caramel Fondant

I combined a soft caramel recipe with a fondant recipe. A word to the wise... I should have thought before hand that I was adding two recipes together therefore I only needed half of the recipes of each... but I realized it too late. So now we have a LOT of caramel fondant, but it sure is yummy and makes a great little soft caramel candy! (The ingredients listed below are for the full recipe that I used, so you will be making a LOT and it takes a while... but it can stay in the fridge until you are ready to use it for the weeks ahead!)
Ingredients

2 Cups Heavy Cream
1/2 Cup Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 Cups Light Corn Syrup
1/2 Cup Water
2 Cups Granulated Sugar
1/2 Cup (1 Stick) softened butter, cut into small cubes
1 bag of Mini Marshmallows
2 Lbs Powdered Sugar
1/2 Cup Shortening

Directions

Combine the cream and sweetened condensed milk in a small saucepan, and place the saucepan on a burner to the lowest heat setting. You want to warm the milk and cream, but DO NOT allow it to boil.
In a large saucepan combine the corn syrup, water, and granulated sugar over medium-high heat. Stir the candy until the sugar dissolves, then use a wet pastry brush to wash down the sides of the pan to prevent sugar crystals from forming and making the candy grainy.
Insert a candy thermometer and reduce the heat to medium. Allow the mixture to come to a boil and cook until the thermometer reads 250°.
Add the softened butter chunks and the warm milk-cream mixture. The temperature should go down about 30°.
Continue to cook the caramel, stirring constantly so that the bottom does not scorch. Cook it until the thermometer reads 235°, and the caramel is a beautiful golden brown.
Remove the caramel from the heat and add the bag of marshmallows. Stir in the marshmallows until they have all melted.
Allow mixture to cool for about 30 minutes.
Prepare the counter and your hands by covering with shortening.
Pour some powdered sugar on the counter, then on top pour some of the caramel-marshmallow mixture. It will take a while to knead all the powdered sugar into the mixture.
After you knead the powdered sugar in. Cover the fondant in shortening and wrap in saran wrap and place in a ziploc bag overnight.
When you are ready to use the fondant remove from fridge and allow to sit for about an hour. This will allow it to come closer to room temperature and be easier to work with.

This Caramel Fondant can be used on cakes or it is great as a nice delicious candy!

ENJOY!!!

**Just so you know, making fondant does tend to leave things a little messy!!!**

Apple Spice Cake

My mom and I made a cake for my Grandmother's birthday this year. She likes apple spice cake and my mom and I thought it would be yummy to have a caramel fondant... so that's what we did!!!
I based the recipe off this one found at allrecipes.com.
Ingredients

2 Cups All-purpose Flour
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1 tsp Ground Allspice
1/2 tsp Salt
1 Cup Butter, Softened
2 Cups White Sugar
4 Eggs
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 TBSP Warm Water
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
3 Apples - Peeled, Cored and Chopped (or Grated)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Butter a 9x13" pan. Whisk together flour, spices, and salt. Set aside.
Cream together butter (or margarine) and sugar. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Stir together soda and 1 TBSP warm water, and mix into the sugar mixture. Stire in flour mixture, and apples until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake for approximately 45 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool in pan. Once cool, shake pan to loosen cake. Turn onto plate.
To frost the cake you can just dust with confectioners' sugar. Or you may use my recipe for caramel fondant. We used a Buttercream Frosting between the layers.