I have a question about Isomalt. I've never used it but have seen it used on several cakes shows. Recently on cake boss, he used it to make coral.

First - where do you buy it. I saw several online options but do grocery stores/craft stores ever carry it?

Second - does it have to be isomalt or can I get the same effect with sugar.

I'm wanting to make corral like on Cake Boss but wasn't sure if it had to be isomalt.

Help! My son's shark party is this weekend so if I need to order online, I need to do it quick. Thanks so much!

where do you live ??? in uk i bought some from squires kitchen.....its harder to use than the instructions say !!! make sure you use a stainless pan , althou i tried in the micro....i spoke with a bit of an expert the other day , she suggested you melt it all down to the said temp , then put on a baking sheet leave to dry then break up and store as reqd, then when u need some just melt a little bit...apparently this gives it chance to settle as when put in silicone moulds first time round you generally end up with air bubbles...
shelley xx

I'm in the US. Thanks for the tips though!

Anyone else??

In my limited experience, Isomalt is better. But, sugar will work. Sugar turns amber (starts to burn) very easily. If you don't get the temp high enough, it will be soft and sticky. Too high and it is amber to dark brown. Isomalt is a specialty product, not available in this area at all. Check out the Pulled Sugar/Blown Sugar forum here for some good tips on working with sugar. You can make a quick test tonight with sugar and order Isomalt tomorrow if you need to. Remember that Chef Dominic of Make Your Own Molds has a forum here at CC and sells Isomalt at a very good price. He has a great free tutorial on his website on working with Isomalt

http://www.makeyourownmolds.com/isomalt

There is a technique that uses just sugar and water. If I remember correctly, you take it to hard crack and add some royal icing to it. You have to be careful but this will start to bubble and you want to dump it out on a silpat. You will be able to break into pieces..

Another option is to take corn syrup on a silpat mat. You bake it in the oven til it start to bubble. This will give flat coral.

You can order isomalt at www.nycake.com
They sell smaller packeages of isomalt.

I buy my isomalt at

www.MakeYourOwnMolds.com/Isomalt

You can buy it at other locations, just search the internet. The above website is great if too if you want to make your own molds. There is a video on this site that has video on how to make bottles.

The above website I believe has instructions on how to make coral too.

Great effect for coral!

I can get isomalt at my local cake store. So if you have one near you give them a call, by local i'm talking about an hour drive.

When using sugar, water actually helps with preventing crystallization as well. I did say to take it to hard crack which is 320*. This would be well above 220*. This is why I only Isomalt with no water.

I haven't tried this yet, so I can really say if it works or not, but I found this on youtube and it worked for them. I did search for Blown Sugar

Cream of Tartar
Sugar
Water
Spray Pam
Candy therometer

2 Cups Water
3 1/2 Cups Sugar
1Cup light corn sytrup
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Stir often while heating. Ok, now I can't find the link, I will keep looking.

OK, I found a different one

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=129524102651&ref=nf