Chocolates & Confections Week 9

Sorry about the late update... Things have been so busy with the finals and everything. I'll post the actual final project--basically Weeks 10 and 11--in a few days.

In Week 9, we made aerated confections, which are confections that involves incorporating air into the product. A marshmallow is a well-known example.

Marshmallows are surprisingly easy to make. Sugar syrup is cooked to a certain temperature, then poured into a stainless steel bowl to allow to cool. In the meantime, gelatin is melted, and once the syrup has cooled to 212F, the gelatin is poured into it. The whole thing is whipped until it starts to stiffen. Then before it cools down too much, the whipped marshmallow is poured onto a sheet pan dusted with powdered sugar.

We spread it into one giant sheet--which was perfect for a roulade. Or marshmallow-sushi dessert, maybe?

We then made sponge candy, a confection aerated by stirring in baking soda vigorously, causing it to bubbled up and swell. And swell it did.

The sponge candy, looking like it's about to explode. We let it cool, then smashed it into pieces.
Here's the cross-section. Looks like a honeycomb.

It kinda tasted like honeycomb too. The texture on the outside is quite hard and crunchy, while the interior just melts in your mouth.

Then there's the nougat. In America, a nougat is that chewy marshmallow-y stuff in Snickers and 3 Musketeers candy bar. The nougat in France is made from beaten egg whites and cooked honey. LOTS of honey. A mixture of toasted nuts and dried fruit is mixed in at the end of whipping. The rather stiff mixture is then spread into a pan to allow to cool.

When I started cutting them into bars, I was amazed at how beautiful they were!

I love these shots. The nougat looks like white marble slab embedded with precious stones and minerals. They turned out delicious, and my parents ate them quite quickly.

These are all the confections we made today, clockwise from lower left: Orange pectin slices (from previous week that we sliced up today), gourmet peanutbutter cup, nougat, sponge candy, spiced chocolate marshmallow.