Paul Richards' book of breads, cakes, pastries, ices and sweetmeats

Scroll omamento, vases and baskets, also large the color, if color is required. Now turn the fancy pieces are made with this sugar. Molds sugar on the slab, and when cool cut in pieces; or are used for vases and baskets, etc. set the pan in cold water for a moment, to pre- 136 PAUL RICHARDS' BOOK OF BREADS, vent the turning of the sugar into caramel; let cool a little, and use with the spoon as directed above. 1 139. —WEBB SUGAR. For a silver webb, use the same sugar as above without any coloring. For a gold web, boil the sugar a little higher, till it turns yellow. A little saffron color may be added. As soon as the sugar reaches the proper degree, take the pan off and set it in cold water for a minute, and let the sugar cool a little. Take a bunch of straight wires tied together, or use an egg beater with the ends cut off straight. Take a stick and hold it up high in your left hand, dip the points of the wire in the sugar with the right hand and throw it over the stick, where it will hang from it in fine threads. When sufficient threads have accumulated, place them on the table and cut in suitable lengths. This sugar is used to represent the hair of helmets, the water of a fountain, etc. An easier way to prepare the web sugar for nests (for which purpose web sugar is mostly used) is to place five or six long sticks (clean broom or peel handles will do) crosswise between two tables. Place on the floor, under the sticks, some sheets of paper, to take up any drops of the sugar falling on the floor. When the sugar is ready, and has cooled some, dip the points of the wire in the sugar, and pass the wire with a quick forward and backward motion over the sticks, so the sugar forms in long threads on the sticks. Set the sugar in a pan with hot water, or keep near the fire, if it should cool too much during this process. When a sufficient part of the web is formed, put it on the table and cut it in suitable lengths to form the nests. These finely-spun threads of sugar are very much affected by a damp atmosphere, and readily collapse, losing much of their beauty. For this reason they are best made only a short time before using, and should be kept in a dry place, or placed in tin boxes till wanted for use. 1 140.— NOUGAT SUGAR WORK. From the nougat mixture No. 1116, other large decorations are made in form of castles, temples, vases or baskets. The nougat is cut after the designs, or pressed in metal forms, which are generally made in two parts; each half is lined with the nougat, both sides are pressed together and left in the mold till cold. Baskets made from nougat are fastened to another plate or socle, made also from nougat, or from the gum paste or the croquant pastes No. 88 and No 8g. The handle is made from spun sugar in two pieces, which are fastened together and on the basket with caramel sugar. Or a CAKES, PASTRIES, ICES AND SWEETMEATS. plainer handle may be made by boiling sugar to the hard crack and, when cooled on the slab, pnll and twist, or braid into handle, and bend it over a half round tin. When cold, fasten it to the form by heating the ends on the fire, or with caramel. Other pieces of this kind may be made from clear or colored sugar, boiled to the hard crack, and poured on the marble slab in a thin sheet. When cool enough to handle, the sugar is pressed in the molds like the nougat, and finished in the same manner. Blanched almonds are split and colored over the fire in prepared syrup, and pressed in the soft sugar in the molds to form borders or other designs. Large baskets and vases of this kind made from brown nougat, clear or colored sugar, may be filled with frozen creams, molded in the shape of flowers or fruits (fruits made from marcipan paste, or flowers made of sugar); and also with fresh or candied fruits, dipped in caramel. 1141.— CHANTILLY BASKETS.