I like to think of myself as crafty; an aspiring, much younger version of Martha Stewart if you will! I blame endless years of watching Sandra Lee on the Food Network and the beauty that is Pinterest. That being said, I'd love to start sharing more of my DIY projects, recipes, and potential Pinterest fails on this blog!
First up is this past weekend's creation: DIY sea glass hard candy used to decorate my parent's birthday cake. My whole family loves the beach, my mother especially, and one of her favorite things is walking on the beach to find sea glass. When I saw this tutorial on Pinterest, I immediately thought I could use them as decoration for cupcakes (my favorite thing to bake) for mother's day or my mom's birthday! Well, when I decided to throw them a big birthday party, I threw out the cupcake idea and ordered a super simple cake from Publix I could decorate myself because 1) total time-saver, and 2) Publix cake is delicious.
Now, I had never made candy before so I really did not know what to expect. Overall, I didn't find it to be that hard but the cleanup was kind of a bear so leave yourself enough time for that! I purchased a candy thermometer from Hobby Lobby and followed the instructions on the tutorial pretty exactly. I didn't have non-stick baking mats but I lined cookie sheets with aluminum foil and had no sticking problems. I was surprised at how long it took the syrup to heat up to 300 degrees but stay patient! If you don't get the sugar to heat all the way to 300, it won't dry hard. My only two regrets were not having any plain blue food coloring on hand to make cobalt blue sea glass and not adding flavoring oils to the syrup, but nonetheless I think the candy turned out adorable and it tasted sugary and delicious!
To finish off my cake, I crumbled up graham crackers to make "sand" and spread that out around the corners of the cake. Then, I arranged some of my candy sea glass around the cake and voila, done! My mom and dad both loved it and I have TONS of candy left which I'll save to use on that cupcake idea I proposed earlier lol!
What you'll need
For the candy:
medium saucepan
candy thermometer
3 cookie sheets
aluminum foil
Pyrex measuring cup
metal spoons
2 cups of sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup water
food coloring (green and blue)
candy flavoring oils (optional)
powdered sugar
ziplock bag
For the cake:
iced sheet cake
1 sleeve of graham crackers crumbled in a ziplock bag
sea glass candy
Directions
1. Prepare cookie sheets with aluminum foil and set up pyrex measuring cups and food coloring so when the syrup is heated, you can work quickly. It will harden fast so you want everything ready for that moment.
2. Stir together the sugar, corn syrup, and water in the saucepan.
3. Attach the candy thermometer to the pan (about 2 inches deep but not toughing the bottom) and boil the syrup mixture over medium heat until it reaches 300 degrees, stirring very frequently.
4. Once the mixture reaches 300 degrees, you can pour one third out onto one of the cookie sheets (this will harden clear and be your "white sea glass").
5. Pour half of the leftover mixture into a pyrex measuring glass and mix in a few drops of food coloring with a metal spoon. Pour onto another cookie sheet.
6. Mix in a few drops of your second color of food coloring to the last part of the mixture left in the pan. Pour the rest of the mixture onto a cookie sheet.
7. Let the candy cool for about 20-30 min.
8. To break the candy into smaller pieces, pick it up and hit the cookie sheet with it (not to hard), or use a food safe hammer.
9. Place your candy pieces in the ziplock with a tablespoon or so of powedered sugar. Shake the bag up to coat the candy pieces. This will give the candy the "frosted" sea glass look.
10. Brush off the excess powdered sugar with your finger and you're done!
11. Arrange crumbled graham cracker "sand" and candy sea glass on your cake to decorate.
As far as cleanup goes, simmer the pan you used with water and it will dissolve the hardened candy along the sides. You can place the spoons you used in the pot of water as well and the candy should dissolve off them too. I was scared to try and simmer water in the pyrex, so I soaked it in hot water for a while and scrubbed it with a sponge. It takes some time, but everything will eventually be clean once the sugar dissolves.
Happy baking everyone!
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