is the size limited to your imagination, or after a certain point is it just ridiculous? can you cut off part of the bottom to make an enclosed dome (like a snowglobe?)...

thanks for sharing your technique! maybe one day I will be able to try it too...

c

I find that if they are completely enclosed that it will pop from expanding air. As far as size there is a fine line when it is a circle and starts going oblong!

Sweet! Thanks!

I just a few minutes ago posted a message in the how to forum asking about sugar balls and isomalt!! I am pretty new to cake decorating and didn't check out all the forums.....someone on there pointed me here. I have been searching and searching on how to make these!!! Sooo glad I was directed here and found this thread.
I am in a rural area in Canada and have never heard of isomalt sugar. In the recipes I have found they use either granulated sugar or sugar cubes.....since you have actually made bubbles, could you tell me if this will work?
Here are the two recipes I have found;

1000g sugar
2T white vinegar
175g water

cook to 160 C

good recipe for pulling, blowing, casting


Blown sugar bubbles

3 lbs. granulated cane sugar
1 lb. water

Bring to a boil and add 8 drops tartaric acid. Boil until it reaches
314° F. Pour onto a marble slab or a large silpat sheet. When cool
enough to handle, pull off balls marble to golf ball size, depending
on the size of the bubble you want. Attach to the end of a wooden
straw and blow. Twist the bubble and melt the end shut with a spirit
burner and cut away with scissors.

Also....do you "prepare" the end of the pump before putting the glob of sugar on? I have seen/read that some people insert items (other food or figures) into the balls...do you know how this is done? Sorry for all the questions....I just would really like to try this. Thanks for any help you can offer.

I do not put anythng on the end. After I cut it off the sugar has hardened enough that it just twist right off. I am on my second pump and also broke a needle too!

As far as the recipes they can really can be affected by climate. I used the ratio of 3 parts Isomalt (sugar substitute) to one part water and told that was way too much water.

Believe me I am only in the infant stages of sugar. There is a member here who does amazing work and is in Cananda too.

www.kincaellan.com

His username here is kincaellan

Hope this helps!

Thank you so much for posting your instructions! You are so talented! I love your work!

GRAMMASUE!!!

As are you and your family !! I saw your cakes in Mail Box News!! WAY TOO GO!!!

moydear...thank you so much for his site. He really is extremely talented!! I will certainly look up his username and ask him where I could get some isomalt. And thank you also for answering my questions You have been very helpful.

Isomalt can be hard to find In small quantity. I can get in two pound bags! Good Luck and glad I can help!

MaryAnn

moydear.....I searched the member list and it said no member by that name but his site has an email and I will try to email him about where I could purchase isomalt. In the meantime I will try these with cubed sugar and maybe get a bit of a feel for them.....that is when I get some time
Did you see the swans on his site???? I just love them! Oh and you can order "sugar bubbles" from him also. I would just like to try making them myself. I enjoy creative things haha.
Thank you again

would a balloon animal pump work?

Probably but it really takes some getting used. I use long plastic pumps because it is what I am used to.

i just looked at a previous post about bubbles, and someone mentioned a recipe with 3 lbssugar, 1 lb water and 8 drops of tartaric acid or cream of tarter (same thing?). someone said that you could also use vinegar instead of the c.o.t. but didnt give amounts. do you know? thank you!!!!

I only pull isomalt and the climate you are in palys a huge role in ratios. I was putting 3 parts isomalt to 1 part water and it was too much water.

All right I finally got a notice that somwone posted on this topic. I'm in Montreal writting a beginers book for pulled and blown sugar pieces. a CHEAP begineers book that I'm going to use as a manual for my classes from now on it will be done by late january early february.

Anyway, and yes Montreal is amazing, anyone who has not been needs to go; Isomalt can be used on it's own, you want to melt it not boil it. The longer you boil it the harder it is to work and the more water you add to make it soft. You jsut need to melt it until it stops bubbling. In regards to all sugar you should take ATLEAST 20 minutes to melt / boil it. The longer melt creates a better molecular structure. Nothing hurts more than creating a masterpiece and having it crack or collapse because of poor preparation.

Water in isomalt ratio should be 5-10% of the isomalt weight in water. melt the isomalt take it off the heat and add the water. watch out it's going to spit and add it slow or it could explode hot sugar all over you and scar your face forever.
not a joke, add it slow.
if you add colouring you have to use a NON gelatine based PURE powdered colour. any impurities in the sugar will cause it to go opaque and crystalize. when adding the colour you add it to the water, than STRAIN the liquid to get out any tiny tiny impurities. Than you add it to the isomalt and stand back, also the steam from the sugar / water will stain anything it touches, walls, stove tops, clothes...
If you are doing this somewhere with snow, take the pot outside, and the colour / water and see the amount of splatter and mess the steam makes.
If you want a softer easier sugar for pulling add 10% water if you want a harder sugar for blowing add 5%. the more water you add the longer it takes to harden and that may effect the shape of your bubbles etc.

wow can you tell i've been writting a book....LOL
that's it for now,

oops p.s. if you make sugar bubbles use a METAL tube on the pump, wood or plastic is real sign of poor sugar knowledge. There's lots of "professionals" that say to use wood, but when you need to heat it up and take the bubble off wood burns, also it doesn't last long and the splinters of wood from an old wooden pipette will help cause crystalization of the sugar piece.


Bon Soir,
www.kincaellan.com

kincaellan.....thanks so much for the response to this thread, it is very much appreciated I look forward to finding your book. Your site is wonderful as is your work....you are VERY talented.
I still haven't had a chance to try this as I still have not found isomalt in our area.....but I keep checking various places. Maybe by the time your book is released I will find it.
Thanks again, I have your site bookmarked

I would like to know how you keep the sugar mixture from hardening while you are making your bubbles? I have seen it under heat lamps on TV. Is there another way to do it?

Heat lamps work great --I use my toaster oven but it is tricky because it can cause the sugar to crystalize.

There really is no other way to do it that is effective. If you get the sugar too hot it changes the chemistry. If it gets too cold you can always microwave it for 15 seconds or so in a bowl lined with a small silicone sheet.

the more you microwave it the worse it is though.

www.kincaellan.com

sugarcreations suggested to me (since i dont want to spend money till i know i like this) to use my oven at the lowest setting with the door open. place the sugar on a lightly greased baking sheet. the only problem is you can not work on the sugar IN the oven.

I do not know for the life of me why this warming sugar is such a big deal its really simple when you get right down to it. Ovens will work granted, fan forced electric heaters will work if you do not get the sugar to close. In all the years I have worked with this stuff this has been a major issue especially when it does have to be. Microwaves work great for isomalt but I would not be so quick to do this with regular granulated sugar. The reason warmth is applied is two fold:

(1). It keeps the sugar pliable in order to work with it.
(2). Keeps it from re-crystallizing on you while your not working with it.

Another thing is that this is not an exact science and its not easy cause if it were everyone would be doing it. Also sugar recipes abound by the dozens and no two are the same. Some use granulated some don't, some use tartaric acid, some use cream of tartar or vinegar.

There are several good books out that will help with all of this. You can with a little imagination build your own sugar station for less than a $100! It appears that this work is intimidating to some simply because of working with hot sugar. I do not know what more to tell you about warming sugar other than the fact its really not rocket science.

Rgds Sugarcreations

when you put your sugar or isomal ont tohe silpat you shouldn't be using it unitl it moves like molasses.

You use your silpat to move it around until it does.

HTH

Jacque Torres comes up with some of the best ideas and inexpensive as well. He used a small bakers rack that fits on the counter top with a space heater turned upside down on the top of the bakers rack. Puts the sugar on a Silpat mat on the counter top with the bakers rack over it. Worked like a dream and here I spent all that money on a warming box.

My bubbles keep bursting when I blow them. They break before I blow them very far. How do you keep them from bursting?

Hmmm, sorry I missed that last post i'm not getting the notification e-mails i should be. Thank You for the compliments by the way. I'm working as we speak on getting the book done for the end of January. Trying to keep the cost down to $40.00 retail is a challenge but there's no point in making it otherwise. Anyway...
Using the Microwave is a great way to heat up the mass if it cools too much under the heat lamp or if you're in a hurry and accidentally let it harden. The heat lamp / warming booth and microwave are both IMPORTANT tools to have.
If you heat the sugar up to the point where it is liquid or really REALLY soft in the microwave you start to cook out the moisture and caramelize it. The more you nuke it the more brittle it will get and harder to work with. Eventually you will need to remelt it and hydrate it on the stove.
The EXPLODING bubbles sounds like it is getting too thin when you blow it, cold too fast and than you are forcing air into it still, or jsut pumping air into it too fast. Try using more sugar on your pump to create a thicker wall to the bubble, keep it warm evenly with the heat lamp while blowing, and if you see it blowing unevenly let the side that is warm cool down and warm the cool side to maintain shape. Small streams of air, lots of control, and patience.

It's not easy to do, every 3* of temperature change alters the sugars molecules. Time also plays a big part, if you don't cook it right or heat it up too fast or too slow the molecular structure of the sugar is altered too. This makes the difference between a flexible sculpture or one that just shatters when you move it even a micro millimeter.
It also changes the way the sugar reacts to humidity and to temperature changes in the room.
If you do a sculpture for a wedding cake and move it to the location it would suck if it blew up as you walked into a cooler room. It happens. Anyone can do sugar work, but there's lots of people that do it without knowing what they are doing. Isomalt is way easier to use than sugar, but Isomalt is WAY more fragile and brone to shattering but it lasts longer against humidity.


Let me know if that helps,
www.kincaellan.com

WOW I should have used spell check in that last post. I also didn't intend to come across demeaning in that last comment about "doing sugar work and not knowing what they are doing." There's lots of pastry chefs etc that do blown and pulled sugar and reallly don't care or need to know the details. It's fun, it looks great and usually you can get by with out all the details if it's something you are just doing once in a while.

Merci,
www.kincaellan.com

Thanks again,
Your site is great too, I wish I had seen it before coming back from south beach. I would have stopped in for sure.
If you use the isomalt and an "angel hair" tool ( a whisk with the ends cut off) You can make life like hair for your cakes. The isomalt should make it last a long time on the cakes.
PM me if want more info.

www.kincaellan.com