Molded Sugar Roses and Leaves

Molded sugar makes for a very pretty presentation for any beverage that needs a touch of sweetness and they're easy and quick to make. This project took me less than 20 minutes from start to finish and it's a kitchen craft that is perfect to share with children.

The photos accompany the instructions in this post.  If you want to see the instructions and photos together, you can find them at Pink Martinis and Pearls.

Things you will need:

• Superfine or regular Sugar
• Food Coloring
• Water
• Plastic Candy Mold*
• Cardboard
• Baking Sheet (optional)

Select your candy mold.

I have made sugars in the shapes of hearts, stars and daisies but roses and leaves are nice for any occasion.

How To Make Molded Sugar

The Mixture:
1. Place about 3/4 c. of sugar into a zip lock bag.
The amount of sugar depends on how many you wish to make.

Add one drop of food coloring. I used a gel color for cake decorating but any liquid-type will work fine. You'll see once you start mixing it if you want more intensity of color but start with a tiny amount. Usually a drop or two is all you'll need.

Add enough water to moisten the sugar.
Maybe a little less than a tablespoon. You're looking for the consistency of wet sand that will hold it's shape when you squeeze it. If your sugar mixture is too wet, add more sugar. Too dry? Add more water. Color too intense? Add more sugar and adjust the water.

There is no exact recipe and you cannot do it wrong. Isn't that great?

2. Knead the sugar, water and color mixture together in the baggie. This is a perfect job for little helping hands. Leave some air in the bag so you have room to move the sugar around to mix everything. If you're making lots of sugar mixture you can use an electric mixer to mix instead of the baggie.

3. After the color and water is evenly incorporated into the sugar, take some of the mixture and test for "wet sand consistency."  You can see my pink 'sand' photo ready to be placed in the molds.

4. Press the loose mixture into the molds.

5. Take a peek on the under side of the mold to make certain all areas are packed tight.

6. Level off with a spatula or knife.

7. Place a piece of cardboard over the back of the mold and flip it over. Before lifting the cardboard, tap each mold cup with the spatula to make sure it is released. From here, air dry or place the sugars on the cardboard on a baking sheet in a warm oven (200 degrees) to dry. Oven drying will take about 10 minutes.

Tips:
Don't let the sugar harden in the mold. It will not come out if the mixture is dry.

I find working with cardboard or poster board sheets are best because if you do want to speed up the drying process you can add more than one finished set to your baking sheet. Can't do that if your baking sheet is what you flipped your sugars on to dry.

The sugars are dry when they are hard.  They will keep indefinitely so make up a big batch to have on hand for friends who might drop by for coffee or a cool glass of iced tea. 

Presentation Ideas:

• Fill a vintage tea cup with the sugars and give for a birthday or hostess gift.
• Place the sugars in a cello bag and make a cute topper with ribbon.
• Fill a small bowl with daisy and leaf sugars for summer parties with sun tea.
• Fill a small bowl with red, white and blue molded stars for patriotic holidays.
• ... or hearts for Valentine's Day, bridal showers and weddings.

* Two OC cake and candy supply stores that I shop at are:

Calico Cake Shop in Buena Park off the 91 at Beach Blvd. and ABC Cakes in Orange not far from the circle.  They are very different from one another but both have an extensive selection of candy molds.

Happy sugar molding!