I'm totally new to candy. (never used isomalt) I saw some beautiful gems made with isomalt and so I bought some. However, I cant find the recipe or directions on how to use this stuff. I want to make some to put on my daughters bday cake. I will be using the little bitty shells instead of gems mold and i will be coloring them. Any and all help is much appreciated. and what do you use to attach them to buttercream and fondant or gumpaste? I will be placing the on the canopy of a mermaid themed carousel cake.

I love working with Isomalt, at first I thought I be intimated, but once I did it the first time, it was really easy to work with., and I live in Fl. were humidity effects everything. I am still careful when and were I use it. I have done the Isomalt crystals and cooked on the stove. I made sure to use a stainless steel top quality cook pan. That way I knew it would help in me in not buring it. Gerladine Ransome does it the easy way in the microwave and in a parachment bag with isomalt crystals and corn syrup. I took her class this Janurary, it was really great. She makes them the easy way. I,ve done several methods with isomalt, but hers is the easiest and you can make small amounts. I have lots of sugar jewerly molds also. I like to attach mine with royal icing or lay on fondant., sometimes the buttercream will change the isomalt jewel, make it foggy . So be careful with that. If they do get foggy, just use a light brushing of vetgable oil and it will bring it back to life. Again you will love working with it, it is beautiful. I have made some really beautiful gems with them. Also make sure to store any extras in tin, not plastic. Visit Gelerdine Ransom's site and she will have instructions and great tips to make this experience a very pleasant one. Hope this helps

Hi Lizamenz
I have also recently started with sugar and would love to have the link to Gelerdine Ransom's site.
Thanks so much.

I searched and couldn't find her either...

If you find isomalt on the global sugar art website, they have a link from the product description to a recipe and directions

The link to this site does't work... I am also trying to find directions for isomalt. Why doesn't the bag have instructions printed on it??

One of the posts states they use royal icing to attach it to the cake. I was going to use buttercream stars as my border and stick a gem into each one all around. Will this work or will it discolor them?

Thank goodness I have plenty of time to figure this out... I have a Winter Wonderland in June, Sweet Sixteen cake to do and she wants edible rhinestones so she doesn't have to pick them all off!! So much easier on me if she didn't want these... THE REAL ONES LOOK BETTER!!!

thanks!!!
Kelly

I just learned how to make gems due to the wonderful people on here. Here are the intructions that someone sent me.

They were so much fun to make.

Boiled or poured sugar

I hope this message area lets me put in all the text.
Boiled Sugar Recipe
32 oz (2 pounds granulated sugar)
16 oz (2 Cups water)
8 oz (1 Cup glucose or light corn syrup)
2 Level Teaspoons Cream of Tartar
Before starting fill your sink full of cold water.
Bring sugar and water to a boil over low heat stirring constantly until the sugar has dissolved. When the water comes to a boil stop stirring and do not stir anymore after this.Add your candy thermometer at this point.And raise the heat to medium.
With a pastry brush and and warm water constantly wash down the sides of the pan. This prevents sugar crystals from forming and getting into your sugar mixture. These crystals could cause your mixture to recrystallize later.
When the temperature reaches 285F add the glucose or light corn syrup and the cream of tartar dissolved in a tablespoon or two of water.Continue cooking to 305F.
Remove from the heat and allow the bubbles to subside then plunge your pan into the sink full of cold water for 10 seconds make sure the water comes half way up the sides of the pan. Dry the sides and bottom of the pan well after removing it from the sink do not want that water in your sugar mixture!
At this point i poured it int my mold. I poured a little, torched to remove top bubble, then poured some more. It took me a couple tries until i hwas able to pour with ni bubbles caught inside. I waited a while to let it cool and used a mini blow torch that came in a crem brule set to get rid of the bubbles that came to the top.
Keep on reading the direction if you need pulled sugar ===>
1. Now you can pour it out onto a greased marble slab or cookie sheet or silpat. Silpats do not have to be greased but I have found it is easier if they have a light coat of vegetable oil on them.
Begin turning the outer edges of the sugar toward the center of the mass.Continue doing this all the way around the edges and moving the sugar around this hastens cooling.As soon as the sugar is cool enough to handle pick it up and begin pulling it. As you pull double it and pull agian. I would not pull it more than 20 times as over pulling will cause recrystallization.The sugar will take on a silky sheen.
At this point you place it under your heat lamp until ready for use.

edited to add pic and and say i belive that these were her instructions. http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1548078 isnt that the most awesome ring!!

I've been working with silicone molds and the isomalt seems to release well from them, but once the hot sugar hits the silicone, the faceted bottom just holds tons and tons of air bubbles which don't rise to the surface. The rest of it is perfectly clear.

I use a plastic mold and they come out great without air bubbles, but they won't release from the molds without chipping.

The plastic mold I'm afraid will melt, and the silicone is a dream because it dissipates heat in no time whatsoever.

What am I doing wrong?? I've followed GSA's site directions, and surely don't get their crystal clear results.

When I made crystals using Isomalt, I did not add water or anything. I brought the Isomalt to a Hard-break level and then spoon fed it into the plastic molds (you must use molds for hard candy, not regular ones). FIRST, you must spray lightly with Pam. They will pop right out after about 10 miniutes and you can keep then in a ziplock bag. Mine have not gone yellow yet!!

I hope this helps.

You didn't add water? I thought you were supposed to in order to start the melting process. Hmmm....ok.

I guess I need one more tip, Chalupa - how do you get the isomalt into the tiny diamond sized molds? I've tried with a toothpick and the sugar just stuck like glue to the toothpick with little going into the mold. I tried pouring it out of a pyrex, but it overflows the cavity immediately. I haven't tried a chocolate funnel, but I'm assuming that'd be too hard to control. What's the best method?

Thanks for your help!

Before I forget, the silicone mold is rated up to 450 degrees....shouldn't I be able to use it for candy?

I was reading a minute ago on Sugar.. craft's web site that silicone can be used for hard candy. Maybe give it a spray with Pam for an experiment and see if it still bubbles? The other mold is from Sugar.. craft and was listed under their hard candy section as I just discovered through backtracking.

I have a multi size mold, but I only used the larger gems. I just used a ice tea spoon and slowly poured the melted sugar into each cavity. When it started getting thick, I put it back on the heat for a couple secs.

I saw Buddy making a large diamond with a silicone mold and also one of the other shows, the girl with the tattoos did too.

I got my advice from someone who does LOTS of wedding cakes and other stuff and she was right. Try it out using a small batch of isomalt for starters.

Hope this helped.

...AND BE SURE YOU ARE NOT USING REGULAR CHOCOLATE MOLDS!!!

You have to use hard candy molds. They are a different quality of plastic and usually white. Spray lightly with regular Pam first too.

hi i love in Australia and am very interested in making these gems  i have gotten the isomalt in stick and bits forms so no pre making just melting.   But i am having trouble getting the 3d moulds can you tell me where you got them so i can see if they will send here.

Hello

Not sure if you have sourced your moulds.

I also live in Australia.  I bought my moulds from an Australian supplier on ebay. You can search by Jewel/Jem stone"hard candy.

The EBay store that I used is renascentcollege. Not used them yet but they are the same as the ones that I had sent from USA.

Update. 

Used the Aussie sourced molds and they worked perfectly.  Unfortunately things are more expensive here than in the States so you may pay more than you expected for them.

I have only done isomalt gems a few times. i had problems to start with with them sticking to plastic molds and bubbles. I found that once you have made the isomalt you should put it in the oven at 270F for 15 minutes to get rid of any bubbles in it. silicone molds work great, if using the plastic ones put a little crisco/trex in the mold first to stop them sticking. I use a small silicon measuring cup to pour it into the moods which works great. if they go cloudy i give them a little blast with a creme brûlée torch which works really well especially on clear isomalt and i also use the torch to melt the back of the gem a little to stick it to the icing. Dont for get to laquer or glaze them once dried the first time i made them i forgot to and when i went back to them they were a sticky bubbly mess. I have only used isomalt a few times but have researched a lot and these methods seem to work well for me hope it helps

What brand of laquer (edible spray?/brand), what kind of glaze?