ACan anyone tell why the sugar paste made at home melts? when i work with it its firm enough but melts after a while.
The ingrediants i used rre bellow: 60ml (4 tbsp) cold water 20ml (4 tsp/1 sachet) powdered gelatine (you can use the vegetarian version) 125ml (4fl oz) liquid glucose 15ml (1 tbsp) glycerine 1kg (21⁄4lb) icing (confectioners’) sugar, sieved, plus extra for dusting
Can you clarify what you mean by "melts"?
If you leave it sitting on the counter, does it return to a liquid state? If so, does it do this only when the room is hot, or also when the room is cool?
Is it merely very soft and won't retain it's shape?
Are you refrigerating something with the paste on it and the paste sweats when taken out of the fridge?
Are you applying it to a very cold cake and it sweats/liquifies in the warmer room?
Sounds like humidity in the refrigerator. When I do a cake with flowers on it I box it up and tape any openings. When I take it out I leave it sit for an hour before I unbox. I read this in another thread on Cake Central and haven't had any problems since. Most recently I did a cake with ranunculus that was in the fridge (boxed & taped) over night and it was fine.
When I take it out of the refrigerator it sweats.
The shape retains fine. It gets hard too. That is the flowers keep the shape. But has dewy effect when taken out of the fridge.
OK, that's not "melting".
It's just condensation forming because you've put a cold cake into a warmer, more humid area. It's a natural, common physical reaction that always occurs and is the same reason a glass of iced tea sweats on a warm summer day.
The humidity condenses into water droplets on the cold surface. Because the surface of the paste is sugar, it creates sugar syrup. If left alone to dry over time or with the aid of a fan, it should be fine.
It has nothing to do with the paste that you're using and no changes to the paste will stop it.
To minimize the issue, you can box the cake before putting it in the fridge and then leave it boxed on the counter until it comes to room temp. The box will "dampen" due to the condensation, but the condensation will no longer sit on the cake surface.
If you have any silica gel tabs (the little packet of things you get in new shoes/bags etc) I always leave one or two of the packets in the corner of the box not touching the food bits and then close the box like they guys here say, and come back up to room temp a bit before taking the lid off. Good luck.
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