So last week I decided that I wanted to give making a fudge a go as it’s one of my favourite treats. Although the recipe is fairly simple in itself I always have trouble getting things to the right consistencies and temperature in order for them to set. True to form, my first go was a failure and instead of setting in a nice of fudgy texture I ended up with syrup! However my second go worked a treat and this is the reason for my post, to share firstly the recipe but also what I found out along the way.
First things first, I would recommend purchasing a sugar thermometer for making fudge, caramel or any sort of sweet! If you don’t want to get one then there is another way of checking to make sure your mixture is heated to the right temperature, by dropping a tiny bit of the mix into a cold glass of water. For fudge you want it to reach what is known as “soft-ball” stage, basically when you take it out of the water it should be a soft-ish but well formed ball. I would research this online further before starting because I don’t have much experience of this!
So here’s the recipe: (makes about 30 pieces)
Ingredients:
500g granulated sugar
150ml Whole milk
175ml Evaporated milk
100g Unsalted butter
2 Teaspoons of Vanilla Essence
Method:
1. Grease an 18cm square tin well.
2. Measure out all the ingredients. Place milk, evaporated milk, sugar and butter together and place on a low heat.
3. Stir together until all the ingredients are combined and bring to the boil.
4. Keep the mixture on the boil and continuously stir until it reaches 115 degrees Celsius or soft ball stage.
5. Once it has reached 115 degrees Celsius, take the mixture off the heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
6. Leave the mixture to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes or until thicken.
7. Pour into your tin and let it set. This could take anywhere from 20 minutes to a few hours.
8. When set cut your fudge up!
My Tips:
First of all it is essential that you that you heat the mixture up too 115 degrees Celsius or soft ball stage; accuracy is key here. If you don’t your fudge will not set properly or at all.
Be careful of your mixture, its super hot and don’t let it boil over. Trust me, it does not come off the hob easily.
Following the note above, to keep it from over boiling and more important to get the right consistency you must continuously stir when it begins to boil. This really is important!
Last of all, if your mixture doesn’t set and is sitting there like syrup you can just put it back in the pan and try again. I did this and it worked out really well without me having to waste anything.
Hope you try this out 🙂
beauty and the baking 