Good morning!

I have a question and I hope you don't laugh me out of the forum. I'm typing this with bandaids all over one finger. I attempted my first Isomalt gems and burned my finger badly. I have the First Impressions silicone mold with the 1/2" gems. What can I use to fill the mold with the tiny amount of isomalt required safely?

Thank you in advance!
JudyZ

I just did a jewel cake and I ran into the same problem. I didn't want to spend $$$ on a professional candy funnel, but needed at least some precision poring the hot isomalt.

I found this:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001CDEUOQ/?tag=cakecentral-20

While it's not perfect, it worked pretty well. Popped it into the microwave for a few seconds when the sugar thickened too much, and was able to handle it w/o gloves. I was able to pour even tiny jewels, like the little ones on the crown. I did them first when the sugar was very liquidy.

Here's the cake.
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1603002

hope this helps.

You can also try a silicone individual muffin (or cupcake) liner

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000H86FGI/?tag=cakecentral-20

The isomalt can be reheated in the liner, and you can squeeze the liner to make a little pour spout. I found the liners in a local outlet mall.

Thank you for the great ideas. I have been wondering the same thing.

Going to try the silicone cup cake liner today! Oh, I hope it works. Thought I would post before I burn my fingers off! :0 Thanks for the great posts.

I use the silicon muffin cups as well. You should still wear some gloves while doing this to protect your fingers in case you spill.

It worked great!! Now if I could just say the same for the 10 pieces of my RI Tiara that broke apart coming off the waxd paper!

I just got into making my own gems and realized the same difficulty. Melting the isomoalt, then getting it poured then re-melting, pouring, on and on... I knew there had to be a better way. I turned to my metal measuring spoons, right over a candle. AWESOME and ingenious. I can melt small amounts at a time and pour into the molds perfectly. No muss, no fuss and clear.

My only challenge right now is the humidity. I thought I could make them ahead of time and store. But I was wrong. First they got sticky, then they they went from cloudy to white. even the blue are aweful. They're all ruined.

Sandy

Sandy,

If you get some food grade silicate (available from Make your own Molds) and put them in an airtight container with it, you won't have that problem with your gems.