Sugar sculpture, the art of producing artistic centerpieces entirely composed of sugar

Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...

 and sugar derivatives, is an art that is rapidly garnering support. There are many competitions that include sugar sculpture, and popular television networks, such as Food Network

Food Network

Food Network is a television specialty channel that airs both one-time and recurring programs about food and cooking. Scripps Networks Interactive owns 70 percent of the network, with Tribune Company controlling the remaining 30 percent....

, televise many of these events.

Sugar showpieces can be composed of several different types of sugar elements. All begin with cooking sugar, and possibly an acidic agent and/or non-sucrose

Sucrose

Sucrose is the organic compound commonly known as table sugar and sometimes called saccharose. A white, odorless, crystalline powder with a sweet taste, it is best known for its role in human nutrition. The molecule is a disaccharide composed of glucose and fructose with the molecular formula...

 sugar product to avoid unwanted crystallization, to the hard crack stage, around 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

When all components are completed, they are welded together using a gas torch. The sugar is melted, and then joined together.

Pulled sugar

Once the sugar has been cooked, the now-liquid sugar is poured onto a silicone rubber

Silicone rubber

Silicone rubber is an elastomer composed of silicone—itself a polymer—containing silicon together with carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Silicone rubbers are widely used in industry, and there are multiple formulations...

 mat (e.g., Silpat

Silpat

Silpat is the brand name of a silicone mat used in baking and in the production of candy to provide a non-stick surface without fat or parchment paper. Silpats contain a Fiberglass weave that reinforces the silicone...

). Any coloring is now added. The sugar is then folded repeatedly into itself, until the sugar is, while still flexible, cool enough to handle. The sugar is then stretched out and then folded on itself repeatedly. This process incorporates air into the sugar, and gives it a bright lustery sheen. The sugar can then be sculpted by hand into various shapes, made into ribbons, or blown.

Blown sugar

In blown sugar, a portion of pulled sugar is placed on a rubber pump which is tipped with either wood or metal. Pumps are most commonly hand pumps. While being blown, the sugar can be shaped, often into animals or flowers. Blown sugar cannot be quickly cooled by dipping it in water, so chefs must use fans to cool the sugar, all the while rotating it, so that it does not come out of shape. This technique is very useful in making balloons for wedding cakes.

Cast sugar

In this technique, sugar is poured into molds. This technique produces more sturdy pieces than pulled and blown sugar, and is almost always used for the base and structural elements of showpieces.

Pastillage

A thick sugar paste, similar to gum paste, is molded into shapes. When dried, it is hard and brittle. Made with gelatin, water and confectioner's sugar, it hardens quickly and can be shaped for a short while by hand, and after hardening, with electric grinders, cutters, sandpaper and assorted files.

Pressed Sugar

Granulated sugar is mixed with a minimal amount of water, and is put under pressure. It hardens into a solid piece. Though this is used for showpiece bases, it is less often used because of the time required to produce it, and its lesser aesthetic value.

Rock Sugar

The liquid sugar is blended with a small amount of royal icing

Royal icing

Royal icing is a hard white icing, made from softly beaten egg whites, icing sugar , and sometimes lemon or lime juice. It is used on Christmas cakes, wedding cakes, gingerbread houses and many other cakes and biscuits, either as a smooth covering like marzipan, or in sharp peaks...

. The heat from the sugar causes the air incorporated in the icing to rapidly expand, causing the mixture to grow to several times its original volume. The mixture is quickly poured into a lined dish, and placed into a blast chiller to set. This process produces a sugar mass with the texture of volcanic pumice

Pumice

Pumice is a textural term for a volcanic rock that is a solidified frothy lava typically created when super-heated, highly pressurized rock is violently ejected from a volcano. It can be formed when lava and water are mixed. This unusual formation is due to the simultaneous actions of rapid...

, the color of which is determined by the color of the sugar syrup.

Spun Sugar

Sugar syrup is made into long extremely thin strands which can be shaped to make things like birds nests. The sugar is gathered on a fork or a special tool designed for spinning sugar and is flicked in long strokes over succeeding pipes.

Sugar Sculpture Examples

Sugar sculptures are becoming more popular as alternatives to a wedding cake

Wedding cake

A wedding cake is the traditional cake served to the guests at a wedding reception after a wedding. In modern Western culture, it is usually a large cake, multi-layered or tiered, and heavily decorated with icing, usually over a layer of marzipan or fondant...

. However they are often much more expensive, as they are made-to-order

Bespoke

Bespoke is a term employed in a variety of applications to mean an item custom-made to the buyer's specification...

and very time consuming to create.

External links

• Sugar sculptures: Chef designs 'glass' creations with painstaking skill, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 30, 2009