Hey everybody, so my best friend and her husband just graduated college, so I wanted to make then a really cool cake. I decided to do a 3 layer chocolate cake with raspberry filling and french vanilla filling. I then want to do the chocolate walls/sides (not sure what this is actually called) Top the middle with a mountain of berries, and cover the berries with a sugar cage.

So here comes the problem, I've tried doing 3 practice cages, I just melted the sugar, and drizzled it over a sprayed stainless steel bowl. I think the sugar was too hot and there was too much spray because alot of the sugar just slid down the bowl to the rim. Next I tried putting the bowl in the freezer, covering the bowl with saran-wrap and spraying it, but couldn't get the sugar to stick. So then I tried the frozen bowl with the plastic wrap -sans spray. It looked great and I thought I had it figured out, until I tried to get it off the bowl. It still stuck with the plastic!

Please help! Next I was going to try spraying the bowl, so the plastic won't stick, but I thought I would run this by all my trustee fellow CC'ers out there. I haven't done much with sugar, so any advice would be greatly appreciated. I have until tomorrow night...

Are you using a candy thermometer? Your sugar has to be the right temp to work correctly. Hard crack stage is what you're aiming for.

Don't line your bowl with plastic because the sugar will melt it. Just spray Pam on the bowl, then wipe off the excess. You don't need much. Once the sugar has cooled, the sugar bowl should pop right off.

Are you using a candy thermometer? Your sugar has to be the right temp to work correctly. Hard crack stage is what you're aiming for.

Don't line your bowl with plastic because the sugar will melt it. Just spray Pam on the bowl, then wipe off the excess. You don't need much. Once the sugar has cooled, the sugar bowl should pop right off.

Actually, I don't even apply spray. I just use the straight metal. Once you are done cooking the sugar to the proper temperature (I cook it dry, until it is just barely starting to boil and all the sugar crystals have COMPLETELY dissolved), put the bottom of the pan into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. Then wait a few minutes for the sugar to thicken slightly. You should be able to get a nice "thread" falling off the spoon. If it drips, then it is too hot.

Hope this helps! marci