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!!!**
I used this for a wedding cake and it turned out beautifully. I made a few adjustments: I added a LOT more powdered sugar (a little more than a pound more), and indeed eventually some cornstarch, because this would have been way too soft as-is. (Of course the wedding was in the most humid July New York has seen in years! But I suspect it would have been rather soft regardless.) I also added 1 tsp. xanthan gum and 1 tsp. gum tragacanth in hopes of helping it firm up, and 2 tsp. glycerin to help with the pliability.
ReplyDeleteThe result was still a very soft fondant, but again, it was very hot and humid; done in another season this would have been pleasantly soft, not troublingly so. I had problems with it sliding and it never set like a conventional fondant. I used it to drape the cake but would not have relied on this for molding without adding a lot more gum tragacanth.
The important part, though, was that this was DELICIOUS. I'm not a fan of fondant in general and wouldn't settle for anything less than something delectable for this wedding (the couple are serious foodies). Thank you for this recipe!
I made this and out it over small loaf sized spice cakes. My wife loves traditional spice cake with caramel icing that her grandma makes. I knew I couldn't come close so I added my own tweak to it and did this with some caramel sauce on top and little marshmallow flowers. She loved it. Thank you for the recipe.
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