Jo and I have been doing lots of projects over the last month or so for Little Jo’s birthday party. I’m not gonna let you in on what the theme was just yet, but I want to show you one of the projects I did for part of the party decor. We found ourselves needing some round gems in just the right color of teal. If they could be edible, all the better. So I did some shopping and some research and came up with everything I needed to make hard candy jewels. And I gotta tell you, this turned out to be one of the most fun projects I’ve done in ages!
By the way, there was a lot of trial and error as I figured out just the right techniques for making hard candy, and I’ll tell you about that at the end of this post. But for now, here is the right way to do it!
You’ll need to pick up a couple of custom supplies for making hard candy. First, you’ll need some hard candy jewel molds.
Before we even think about turning that stove on, we’ve got lots of prep work to do. The prep will make this so much easier, so get everything ready to go before you start. The first step is to spray the molds with the non-stick cooking spray. I put my molds in the sink to keep from spraying my counters. Don’t be too stingy, but don’t let it puddle, either.
Next, you want to cover your work area with aluminum foil. The candy won’t stock to the foil, so it’s a great surface to work on. Put a piece of aluminum foil on the counter next to your stove, making sure it’s close enough to catch any candy drips later. Put the Pyrex measuring cup right on the foil. Then put another big piece of foil on the counter and put your molds on top.
Now go ahead and mix up your ingredients in the pan. You’ll need:
- 2 cups granulated white sugar
- 2/3 cup light corn syrup
- 3/4 cup water
- food coloring as desired (I used 20 drops)
Stir it all together so that it is mixed well and the color is uniform. Then clip your candy thermometer to the pan, making sure it does not touch the bottom of the pan.
Okay, all set? Everything greased and covered and set up and ready to go? Then go ahead and turn the burner on high and get it going. By the way, do not leave this unattended. Stay put!
When the mixture first starts to boil, the temperature will rise to 212 really fast, and there will be lots of steam as the water boils away. If your thermometer is anything like mine, it will be covered with condensation and hard to read. That’s okay, though… you’ll see why in a sec…
As it continues to boil, you’ll see the the temperature rises much more slowly now. (Don’t use that as an excuse to leave, though… please stay and watch it for your safety!) You’ll also notice that the steam dies down as the water goes away, and soon there is no steam at all. You’ll also notice that your thermometer is suddenly dry and easy to read. Awesome.
Now this part is critical, so pay attention. Let the sugar boil to 275 degrees F but not a bit more! (I’ll explain why at the end of this post). The minute you hit 275, take the thermometer out and set it on the foil (aren’t you glad you had that ready?). Then immediately dump the boiling sugar into the Pyrex cup. We do this for two reasons. First, it’s easier to pour from the spout. Second, we want to stop the cooking process, so we need to get that liquid out of that hot pan or else it will keep cooking.
NOTE – This sugar syrup is VERY hot, so make sure your measuring cup is made of something heat-proof like Pyrex. Also make sure it’s at least the 4-cup size so that you have enough room for the bubbling liquid.
At this point, you can add your optional flavoring oils, and stir them in quickly.
Now you’ve got to work pretty fast to pour the sugar into the molds before it hardens. You’ll have a few minutes of working time, so don’t trip over yourself to rush, but don’t waste time either.
Just pour the sugar slowly and carefully into the molds, taking care not to overfill them. Do your absolute best to not leave huge puddles or trails of sugar between the pieces, because they will be nearly impossible to remove later.
When you fill the “breakaway” molds (those with the pieces right up against each other), you need to be really careful not to overfill. If you cover up those little white lines between each jewel, I can pretty much guarantee that they will shatter when you try to break them apart later.
While you wait for the candy to set, let’s talk about cleanup. That pan looks awful with the caked-on sugar, right? Fortunately, all you need to do is fill it up with water and let it sit a few hours. Go ahead and toss the thermometer and spoon inside, too. The sugar will all dissolve after a good soak.
After five or ten minutes, your candies will be set. Just flip the mold over onto the foil and give it a gentle bend, and the candies should pop right out.
And that’s it, your candy jewels are done! They will have a slight film of oil on them, which will help keep them from sticking together, but you can wipe that away with a paper towel if you like. As long sure to store them in an air-tight container, they shouldn’t stick at all.
I just love how these came out. I can’t wait to show you guys what we ended up using these jewels for at the party!
Update! Okay, the secret is out on what we used these jewels for. They were the decoration on the Princess Peach birthday cake that I made for Little Jo’s Super Mario Brothers themed birthday party!
BONUS – lessons I learned
Now that I’ve shown you how to make these candies the right way, let me share with you some lessons I learned while figuring it out.
#1 – Don’t overfill the molds
Those molds are labeled as “breakaway” and you might think that you can just snap the candies apart when they are cool and everything will go great. That is not the case at all. If you put too much candy in the molds, you’ll end up with a huge slab of hard candy that breaks into every shape imaginable EXCEPT the one you were trying for! Here’s what happened to me on my first attempt. What a mess it made.
#2 – Don’t undergrease the molds
When I made my first batch of candy, I didn’t have any non-stick cooking spray, so I tried to just wipe some oil onto the molds with a paper towel. The result was a film of oil that was no where near enough, and the candies stuck like crazy. Take another look at the picture above and see the bits of candies stuck to the mold. Ugh!
#3 – Don’t overheat the syrup
You can get decent candies with varying temperatures, but for decent and true COLOR, you need to stop at exactly 275 degrees. On my first batch, I let it go to 300 and the sugar started to caramelize. The syrup was yellowish by the time I added my blue food coloring, and the result was quite green! Then I tried again with 280 degrees, and it was still too much. I ended up with a greenish tint that I didn’t like. Finally I hit the jackpot with 275 degrees, and I kept my true blue.
Here’s a picture of the three batches I made with the exact same amount of blue food coloring, but I let them cook to different temperatures. Can you believe the difference? If you want your colors true and bright, be sure to stop at 275 degrees.
#4 – Don’t leave the syrup in the pan
As I mentioned earlier, you need to dump the syrup into another container when it has reached the proper temperature. Otherwise, the hot pan will continue to cook the syrup and you’ll go over 275 degrees and it will start to turn yellow. If you don’t believe a few degrees will make that much of a difference, take a look at this picture of my pan. After I had dumped it out and made my candies, I went back and looked and the small amount of sugar left in the pan started to turn yellow just from sitting there. Discoloration like that will ruin a batch of candies fast!
I hope you guys find these tips helpful and if you try your hand at hard candy, let me know how it goes!
161 comments so far:
So very cool. Thanks for all your trial and tribulations on this project. I’m thinking a pirate themed birthday party is in store for my son next year and these would make great goodie bag treats.
What a great idea, Iisha!
They look amazing. I cleaner, easier to distribute solution may to suck up the liquid candy in a cheap turkey baster or something similar as opposed to pour from measuring cup.
Becca, I like your idea, except I would be afraid a turkey baster, being made of plastic, might melt with the hot candy inside. It’s 275 degrees after all
Pouring from the measuring cup actually worked quite well for me, as long as I took my time. Plus the cup had a nice cool handle that kept me from burning my hands!
Very cool! I’ve featured this on Dabbled.org today
Thanks, dot! I love how the color of the jewels in the photo just happens to match your site design so perfectly
I have tried before and failed miserably! Thank you for your cool tips! I shal try and let you know if I win this timez…
O.K., these are ABSOLUTELY gorgeous and look yummy to eat, but I can’t wait to hear what you’re going to do with them!!!!
These look so beautiful! And I LOVE LOVE LOVE that you showed that mistakes happen. Made me want to try this even more.
Sarah, I was heartbroken after my first attempt, when everything went wrong. It took me three times to get it right and I just had to share my goofs with you guys too, to hopefully save you from the same trouble. Glad you enjoyed it!
Don’t give these to very young children. The sharp edges can hurt them and they will think all shiny jewels are edible.
This is such a great idea, I’m excited to test it out. (I’ll have to have a party)
Hi, Just wondering now that the jewels are made and are lovely how do you attach to fondant ?Thanks for posting these instructions …they are great !
Hi heather! I attached the jewels to the cake with simple white icing, used as a “glue”. Make sure you use white, so that the color of the jewels will stay true (if you use something like pink or yellow, it will show through).
Great article for all the DIY Brides out there that are looking for alternative decorations for their wedding cakes. Thank you for the step by step instructions.
Great idea, faithb! Imagine how pretty a cake would look adorned with clear gems that looked like diamonds!
I am making a wedding cake with jewels and your website helped me more than any other site! thanks so much! I can’t wait to start
melissav, I would really like to see a picture of your finished cake. My sister-in-law is getting married next year and I am thinking about using jewels on her cake. Would love to see how you incorporate them. Please email us a picture or add them to our Flikr group!
I will definitely post it, it wont be till july 30th though… but its going to be really pretty
cant wait
Wow…that looks like real gems…I have not tried anything like this..I am going to try for sure…you are great
I wish I had seen your tips beforehand… I did every one of your ‘don’ts’ just the other day. Thanks
Haha, that’s too funny, Christina!
Question I forgot to ask… can I remelt the hard candy once it cools? I only have one alphabet mold and need to put together Happy Birthday and a name but have to do some letters one at a time. I’d love to just rehead the candy and pour into the molds once needed. My email is trenthamfamily@yahoo.com if you get a chance to answer me, thanks!
Christina, I have only a tiny bit of experience with reheating the liquid candy — I tried it once by putting the glass measuring cup in the microwave. The candy wasn’t totally hard when I did it, but it was too thick to pour. I heated it carefully because I was afraid of letting it get too hot (and darkening), but it didn’t really get very liquid. I was hesitant to mess with it any further because of the high temperatures.
If you want to try reheating it, I’d love to hear about your results. If it doesn’t work out, consider halving the recipe (to reduce waste) and just keep making batches as needed. The ingredients are really so inexpensive that it shouldn’t matter much if you end up throwing a whole batch away because you only used a tiny bit.
HELP!!! I could not for the life of me get the mixture past 240 degrees! I sat with this stuff over the stove for 45 min! The jewels came out like gummies…tasted fine….but sort of fell out of shape after I popped them out of the mold. What did I do wrong?
Thank you for any advice.
Melissa, that sounds so weird! My first thought was that maybe your thermometer was broken, but from the gummy result you got, the syrup clearly did not get up to temperature. Was your burner turned all the way up to high? If so, and you were unable to get to a higher temperature, I can’t help but wonder if there’s a problem with your stove not getting as hot as it should. Maybe try a different burner?
I’m not one for hard candy but this tutorial is really cool
great post! i just bought some really cute candy molds online so i have been looking for some good candy making advice
Thanks for the valid info & warnings. I needed to know how to do this in order to make a camera lens for decoration. I’m not yet sure where I can get a mold for this purpose, I may have to improvise & use something not made for that.
Do you know where I can get a beads mold? I’d like to make a rosary for the nuns of my church.
Genevieve, a candy camera lens sounds neat! I’ve got an idea that might help you make it. Rather than pour the candy right away, let the candy cool just a bit until it starts to thicken and set up a little. Then you can pour a puddle of it right onto some aluminum foil, making a round shape that should work for your lens. It is important that the candy be partially cooled and thicker, or else it will run all over your table!
I tried this once with some extra candy and it worked great for making large pieces. It will peel right off of the foil. I suggest you make several lenses with your batch of candy, so that you can choose the one that hardens the nicest and roundest.
Let me know if this works for you
P.S. I have not seen bead molds anywhere, but that’s definitely an interesting idea!
These are really great instructions:) I wondered how long can you keep the candies before you should throw them away? I’d hate to make even half a recipe for only 5 candy jewels, to throw the rest away:(
Angie, because the hard candy is basically just made of sugar, it will not go bad, and will last for months or even longer. The only thing that I can think of that would damage the candies is too much moisture or heat, which would cause them to stick together.
Great advise. Thanks, now I am not afraid to try this. I seem to always try something new on an important project like a wedding cake. I will be using clear to make them look like diamonds for a wedding cake. I assume I only need to worry about the bubbles. Any more hints for that. thanks for the info.
Cyndi, I think clear candy jewels will look amazing on a cake! Just be very careful not to let the sugar overcook, or they will be more yellow than clear. As for air bubbles, that was never something I had a problem with, but if you do see them, you could probably poke them out with a toothpick while the candy is still very hot. That will slow down your pouring, though. We’d love to see the finished cake, so please come back and share a picture with us!
Thanks for all the info, I am getting ready to try this. For the person who didnt want left overs. I heard you can us Jolly Ranchers in the color you need. Would choc. molds work or is the syrup to hot? Thanks again, I feel confident to try this now. You made it very clear. Other sites had me confused, something about sifted powdered sugar and cutting the candy before all the way cooled.
Hi Emily. We’re happy you feel confident and are getting ready to make some candies. I would not use chocolate molds for hard candy, because I think they would probably melt. You need something suitable for high temperatures. Let us know how it goes
I want to make white hard candy…any suggestions on the brand/type of food color to use? Thank you.
Hi Karoline! I found some white food coloring that’s suitable for hard candy. Check out this white food color by Lorann Gourmet.
Couldnt afford a glass slipper for a cinderella pillow cake i wanted to make so i googled and googled and am molding alum. foil around my 2yr olds dress shoe(making my own mold). Will update later on the glass slipper. Hope this works because i dont want to spend $40 for a cake topper that will only be used once.LOL
Wow, Angelia, what a challenge! We can’t wait to hear how it comes out.
OMG! It worked! It is a bit yellow/amber but i think it is because of the thickness of the candy. After i made my “mold” i figured i would renforce it with packing tape(real good idea)! I did everything like you said. When i peeled the alum. foil back(3 hours later), i had a glass slipper. Thank you so much for the step by step instructions.
Angelia, you HAVE to show us a picture! You can e-mail it to chicaandjo@chicaandjo.com or post it in our Flickr group.
Need to make some rhinestone broaches for a friend’s wedding. Where can I find the molds? Thanks.
You can find them here: candy jewel molds.
This sounds completely awesome! I want to try making star candies to decorate some cupcakes for Christmas! But i was wondering, what kind of food coloring should i use, or does any work? And for the flavoring, is there any specific brand? I have a bottle of Torani peppermind syrup i’d love to use, and works awesome for peppermint hot chocolate, but i don’t know if it’ll be suitable for a candy. Thanks so much!!!
Little Crow, that sounds like a fun idea! Because the food coloring is added during the cooking process, any moisture in it will evaporate out, so I think you could probably use any type of liquid food coloring without messing up the candy’s consistency. Of course, food coloring created just for candy would work best!
Since the flavoring is added at the end, though, you need to use something really concentrated. If you introduce too much liquid into the candy, it will likely mess up the consistency and the candy won’t harden properly. (And you don’t want to add the flavoring while it’s cooking, or the flavors will likely be ruined.) It really is best to use a candy flavoring oils that are highly concentrated, so that you only need to add a few drops. I suspect you’d have to add too much of the Torani syrup to get a good flavor out of it.
P.S. Have you seen our candy cane syrup recipe? When you run out of Torani, save some money and make your own
This has got to be the best tutorial ever! Thank you for documenting so throughly, esp. posting your errors!
For those who asked, I just made a batch and I used regular food coloring. Also, since I only bought 1 mold I divided the recipe into 3rds. The corn syrup was a little tricky as 1/3 of 2/3 is .22 so a little less than 1/4 should do it. I’m gonna go try to post my pic. in the flikr group. I have one more batch to make (will be pink jewels).
Thanks for the update, Joyce! Glad to hear that the regular food coloring worked.
I did some calculations and 1/3 of 2/3 of a cup is 3.5 tablespooons. Hopefully that will help you the next time you try cutting the recipe in thirds
Thanks for e-mailing us the photo of your candy. I’ve posted it in Flickr for you, and everyone can see it here!
Great tutorial! I only had one issue. Mine burned. Haha. I’m not good in the kitchen and always burn things, but I followed the tutorial to the t. I had it on high and didn’t allow it to get over 275 degrees. Help please! Haha. Thanks again!
Shannon, when making candy, it is important that your pan have a very thick bottom. I also find it helps if it isn’t too wide so that your candy liquid is thicker in the bottom as opposed to thinner if you are using a large bottom pot. I would turn the heat down on your burner a little as well. Perhaps medium-high? Your burner could have a hot spot or could be just very hot over all. I hope your candy turns out not next time!
Beautiful result, but I’m concerned about adding boiling liquid to a glass measuring cup. The Pyrex web site even warns against subjecting their products to sudden changes in temperature. There are quite a few stories on the web about exploding Pyrex, although there isn’t a good way to authenticate them. Would you have an alternate suggestion on how to stop the cooking but still have a safe, desirable vessel for pouring the hot liquid?
Joanie, you could use a plastic measuring cup instead, but then there’s a chance of it melting, I suppose. Another option would be to pour the candy into another metal pan that is completely cool. That would avoid the overcooking problem, but you wouldn’t have the nice pouring spout, so be extra careful when pouring into your molds.
Thanx so much for going step by step. I am going to be making a fashion birthday cake for my friend. And she really likes jewels. Thank you also for putting a link so i could by molds on amazon.com!!!
I am making a candy village display, and wanted to make a candy lake using this recipe. Will this work if I use just an aluminum cake pan and leave it in there? Or will it be too thick to cool correctly?
Rachel, a candy lake in a candy village sounds so awesome! Extra thickness won’t matter when it comes to cooling, as long as you give it a little extra time. Using an aluminum cake pan is an interesting idea, but I see two potential issues. First, the pan will presumably be at least an inch or two tall, and the edges will show in your display. Second, the candy will look darker in the pan, which might dull the effect of the color. If you try the pan idea and don’t love it, maybe try this instead: stack 2-3 large sheets of aluminum foil on the counter and let the candy cool in the pan until it’s thick and just barely pourable. Then pour it directly onto the aluminum foil in a loose, lake-ish shape. When it cools, you can pull it right off the foil and put it in your display with a sheet of white paper cut to size underneath. The white will make the color of your water really pop!
Hope that helps, and we’d LOVE to see a photo of your finished candy village!
Well, I ended up pouring it into the aluminum cake pan, and just peeling that away once it cooled. Turned out great. Will send pics of the village when I put it up next week
Oh, you were able to get it out of the pan? It must have been a disposable one. I thought you were going to use a real pan, which is why I was worried
Glad it worked out, and can’t wait to see pics.
I dont know what happend… Followed the directions on isomalt package but candy never got hard… even leftover is syrup is still syrup should I try to reheat it or start over using regular products and forget the isomalt? Help LOL
The isomalt won’t work for this application. I would suggest starting over with real sugar. Sorry!
Hey Jennifer! Isomalt can be used to make hard candy, but it cooks totally differently than regular sugar. From what I’ve read online, Isomalt needs to cook to a much higher temperature in order to get hard, so if you followed our directions and stopped at 275 degrees, then it’s no wonder the Isomalt stayed liquid
If you really want to use Isomalt, do some research and try experimenting to see if you can get good results. If you want to use our recipe, though, you’ll need to use sugar. Hope that helps, and good luck with your next try!
Hi, I’m planning on making something similar to this but I need some advice. I want to try using Jolly Ranchers and melting them in the oven instead. The recipe calls for the oven to be heated at 350 degrees using a silicone mat and cookie cutters sprayed with non stick cooking spray. Can I use a silicone mold or will it melt?
Iris, that sounds like an interesting idea. We’ve never tried anything like that, so I’m afraid we don’t have any advice to offer. Maybe check the label on the silicone mold to see if it is oven safe? Some of them are safe to certain temperatures. Good luck and let us know how it goes
Thanks, Chica. Well my silicone mold didn’t have a label with the oven temperatures but I tried it anyway. They turned out looking frosty and not clear like regular sugar candies but my mold didn’t melt! Maybe with a bit more practice they will come out better. Just to be on the safe side and not melt my molds,I grabbed a cookie sheet and placed a silicone mat on top of it. Then I put my silicone molds on top of that with 4 Jolly Ranchers inside each cavity. I still followed the recipe and preheated the oven to 350 degrees except I had to extend the cooking time from 6 minutes to about 10 minutes. Once completely melted I left them cool a bit outside and then put them in the freezer until they hardened.
Iris, I’m glad to hear that your mold didn’t melt! That’s interesting about the frosty look. I wonder if you might have better results if you cooked them at a lower temperature (for longer) and let them cool slowly at room temperature?
Hi! Your pictures are great! I was going to buy some jewels for a cake I am doing but after reading your directions I am convinced I can do it myself! I am so excited! Thanks for helping me out!
So glad we could help, Melissa. Let us know how it goes!
I have tried and tried making butterfly wings for a wedding coming up in the summer. Am interested in trying out your method (I’ve been going at it without the corn syrup) but wonder 2 things: 1) how well does this cany recipe store? Is this something i can do well in advance? How to/where (freezer or ziploc) store? 2) I want to make multi-colored wings but still have them transparent, dots, stripes, etc. Any thoughts would be VERY appreciated. I’m plowing thru sugar and not getting this right. Glad I have time to practice!
Hi Connie. Butterfly wings sound like a lovely idea! The best tip I can give you for storing hard candy is to keep it in an airtight container. As long as they are kept dry, they should last for weeks. To create multi-colored candy, perhaps you can make a few colors of candy and put drops/stripes of one down first and then pour another over the top to create the wing shape? Good luck and let us know how it goes!
I’m going to be trying to make the jewels with your recipe. The one question I have is that I’m going to be making the very tiny jewels 1/4″. Do you have any suggestions for pouring into something that small? I’m a little concerned using a pyrex since the mold is so small.
Becky, those tiny jewels sound so sweet! I can’t believe you found a mold that small. I agree that trying to pour the candy into something so small would be overkill. One idea I thought of would be to use a wooden skewer — dip it into the candy and let it drip down into the mold. Hope that helps, and let us know how it comes out.
How much flavoring do you add? Your recipe doesn’t say. Most candy recipes call for a teaspoon. Is that you’d recommend? I want a nice strong flavor.
A teaspoon sounds like a good start to me, Becky. How much it takes for a strong flavor might depend on the concentration and quality of the flavoring you use, so you might have to experiment a little.
What do you recommend I could coat the gems with to make them look shiny. I made them for the first time today and they look a little dull.
Maria, a tiny bit of vegetable oil or cooking spray will make the gems look shiny and still be safe to eat.
I made candy jewels and they turned out great on the first time! I used Isomalt but am gonna try your recipe, I do have one question. Why did I have small bubbles in the jewels? How do I make them again without the bubbles?
Thanks!
Melissa, I’m glad you had success with the Isomalt. I’m not sure what would lead to the bubbles, unless maybe it was from using Isomalt? I don’t remember that being a problem when I made mine. Let us know if you have better luck with the sugar recipe.
Thank you so much! I am an amature cake decorator, I make cakes just for family events and such. this will be GREAT for my friends cake!
What an awesome idea! I’m planning a Princess Peach party for my daughter’s 5th and I’m sooo happy to have found your website! I’m curious as to how you put the pink fabric sashes and the jewels on the cake table & it all stayed in place
Jen, the table we used wasn’t fine furniture, so we actually used a staple gun to hold most of the fabric in place
I don’t remember exactly how we attached the large gems… hot glue maybe?
I just wanted to say thanks your instructions were so helpful. It is kinda trial and error with getting your color right,it also took me a total of 3 times,I was very diligent about taking it off right at 275degrees,so I recommend watching how much color you put in.Thanks for your help!
I’m throwing my daughter a cake decorating birthday party on Saturday and thought these would be fantastic to give to the girls to put on their cakes! Each girl is getting her own 8×8 cake to pipe and decorate. I don’t have a candy thermometer, would a meat thermometer do the job or does it get too hot for that?
Amber, that’s a great idea! Any thermometer that can measure temperatures in the 250-300 degree range should work, so just check your meat thermometer and see if it has those measurements. I suspect it won’t, simply because you would never cook meat to 300 degrees
so I made some of these but they turned out a bit gooey. and were very difficult to get out of the molds. Do you think I just didn’t get them to a high enough heat? I didn’t want the candy to burn so I think I took it off too soon, but wanted your opinion. Thanks!
Cindy, it does sound like you didn’t let the sugar cook to a high enough temperature. Sugar is very fickle, and just a few degrees can make a big difference. Fortunately, it doesn’t cost much so mistakes aren’t so bad
Make sure your thermometer is accurate, too!
How can I lat the candy stay hard ? I made cuples of hard candies but will not stay hard
Sarah, as long as you keep the candies dry, they should stay hard. Just like any hard candy you may buy, humidity or other moisture will cause them to soften up and/or become sticky.
Ok…crazy question. How did you prevent the candy from sticking to your pyrex measuring cup? The thought of hard candy on glass did not cross my mind once and now I have TWO pyrex cups coated in hard candy and it isn’t budging for the life of me! *lol*
Brooke, just fill the cups with water and let it sit overnight. The hard candy will dissolve into the water and you can just pour it away. If the sugar is really thick, it might take more than one time to get it all to dissolve
thanks for your patience and getting it right , going to try it today for my church bakesale. thanks Chica
I loved your tutorial and was wondering if there is a way that I can shape the candy for an online game themed cake or if you know of another recipe. The cake is going to be a computer and I need the monitor screen to be broken outwards so it looks like the character has broken the screen and is stepping through to the real world. Any suggestions would be a tremendous help.
Hi Robin. What a fun idea! If I had that challenge, here’s what I would try: Assuming that you are making the rest of the computer and monitor out of cake, you just need candy for the glass on the monitor. I would try laying out some aluminum foil on a cutting board and crimp the edges so that it’s the size you need for your screen, creating a mold. Make the edges as smooth as possible so that the candy doesn’t get trapped in the wrinkles when you try to remove it later. Then use our recipe and pour the liquid candy into the aluminum foil, so that it’s maybe about 1/4″ thick. After it’s cooled complete, you’ll need to carefully break it. Try folding a towel a few times and put it on the counter, then put the candy on top. Put another towel over that, and then press down with the heel of your hand in the middle, gently, until the candy breaks. Hopefully you’ll get a clean break with a manageable number of pieces that you can carefully place onto your cake. Hope that helps, and let us know how it goes!
WOW!! This worked perfectly! I’ve never in my life made hard candy (and i’m 56 here… ;/)
It worked so well, and your instructions were really well written… anyone could make this! My daughter’s b’day party is tomorrow and I’m making her a fondant cake shaped like a jewelry box, with all kinds of jewelry in it, etc. These are going to be so beautiful! I made jewel shaped candies, and I can’t wait to get that fondant cake finished with all these goodies on it.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Happy in Oklahoma,
Sheila aka Gammaw
Sheila, please share a picture of your cake with us! I can’t wait to see it! What a creative idea.
Shelia, I’m so glad our tutorial helped you learn a new skill. Age is no limit when it comes to being crafty!
Like Jo said, we’d love to see that cake!
I tried hard candy this morning – first go ever! I had your instructions printed out and near me and followed step by step. They came out SOOO great! Could not be happier!! Well I could have added more flavour but they still taste great. If i sprayed too much oil could this create bubbles in the candy? I think i did that in a few. But I still am still super happy how well they came out
Thank you!
Tia in Australia
Tia, I’m so happy to hear that you had a successful first attempt with our instructions. Isn’t it amazing what sugar can do? I’m not sure what would cause bubbles to appear in the candy. I suppose it could be oil or it could be due to temperature. Perhaps I’ll experiment a little the next time I make candy.
Thank you so much! My husband and I used this recipe to make hard sugar candy coral. It turned out beautiful! Thank you for your photos and detailed instructions! I hope to get some molds some time in the near future and try this again. Thanks again!
Coral sounds really interesting, Nicole! I’ve heard of doing that by pouring hot candy over ice. Is that how you did it? We’d love to see a photo if you have one to share
The best and simplest and most effective candy jewel recipe I have tried. Thanks so much for sharing. They are going on my sister’s birthday cake tomorrow. TJ from Cairns, Australia
Yay! Thanks, Tee-Jean. We’d love to see a photo of the cake if you want to email one to us
Hi! I’m trying your recipe today, but I only have wilton gel colors. Will that work or do I need to purchase the traditional liquid food coloring from the grocery store?
Gosh, Mark, I have no idea how gel colors would work in this case. My first instinct is that you would plop a glob of gel into the sugar and it would just sit there and not dissolve (I’ve tried similar before), so I think you should first try to thin it down with a few drops of water in a small bowl. The more watery it is, the better chance you have of it dissolving quickly in the sugar. I also have no idea if the chemical composition of the gel would interfere with the sugar or not, but I’m sure you’ll let us know afterwards!
Thank you so much for publishing this information. My son is desperate for a Indiana Jones theme party, and since those toys are no longer super popular I am having a difficult time finding supplies that fit our theme. I purchased a 3D skull mold and plan to leave the candy clear (aka the crystal skull). Add that to some dirt cake and voila! He is soooo excited to help me make the candy skulls…Thanks a million for all the helpful hints!
Stayathomemom, I love that idea! Please share a photo of your crystal skull with us after the party!
This is such a great post. I plan on making little edable jewels for my birthday cake and this is SUPER helpful. Thank you.
I live in Brazil and it’s impossible find anything about princess peach. My dora loved it and we will make all the same for her party. Thank you very much for that. She is very happy.
Paloma
I want to make so me of the edible gems but live in the uk where it seems to be very difficult to find light corn syrup = can I use golden syrup instead?
Norma, I had never heard of golden syrup before, but I did a quick search online, and according to the Wikipedia article, golden syrup can be used in general as a substitute for corn syrup. I don’t know if it would work for this recipe or not, but if you give it a try, please let us know how it comes out!
You’ve basically made traditional toffee here – it’s super easy and yum! If you are not concerned about colour, we find it is actually best to cook them for long enough to turn yellow – the flavour is actually a bit nicer then, and it’s more likely to set rock hard. Once it turns yellow though, take it off the heat as it cooks very fast after that point (particularly if you pour it from the hot saucepan). It depends on personal preference, but if you let it go too dark you can begin to taste a burnt flavour. (It’s not too bad though, and still edible). I saw some commenters were worried about burning – you are unlikely to burn this mixture to the point of downright yucky candy unless you let it stay on the stove way past the point of turning yellow. I’ve never burnt it that much and I have been making this since I was about 13. As far as I can tell, the primary issue here with getting it off the heat in time is to keep the colour true.
We normally pour into and serve these in patty cake cases, so they are big enough that you can pour straight from the hot saucepan. The only problem with candies this size is they don’t fit in your mouth and you have to hold onto them and suck on them
We also don’t bother using syrup in our recipe, I imagine it’s only there for the flavour.
Bubbles that appear in the candy are from it still boiling (in my experience). It mightn’t look like it’s really boiling, but bubbles can still form and as the mixture cools and thickens, the bubbles get trapped in it. I don’t see it happen a lot though.
I have often thought about trying this mixture in silicone ice trays, particularly the novelty-shaped ones. That would make little gems like you’ve got here
Re: the concern with exploding pyrex cups: that sort of behaviour comes about from rapid, severe temperature change. As long as you’ve not refrigerated your pyrex cup, you should be ok. Even test tubes used in chemistry labs (that get stuck over open flames on bunsen burners) will crack and explode if you switch them between extreme temperatures too fast, and they are DEFINITELY made to handle extreme temperatures!
As for how long they keep… I’ve got some in my fridge from 18 months ago and they still look good to eat!
Leah, thanks for all the great tips. I’m sure our readers will find your comments very helpful!
Thank you for this easy to follow tutorial, I had been looking for a GOOD recipe alternative to using Isomalt which most sites seem to prefer (Isomalt while sugar free can cause some embarrassing tummy issues if eaten in quantity lol).
Many moons ago when we were kids here in Australia we used to make what we called “Stick jaw Toffee” in much the same way as Leah mentioned poured into patty cases, sometimes they set rock hard sometimes not, resulting in “stick jaw”, we always let it get to the brown stage for that lovely nutty toffee taste…. how did our teeth ever survive lol
Golden Syrup is a staple in Australia, YUM on toast with lots of butter or used in dumplings as a pudding and cakes, cookies etc.
It can easily be used as a substitute BUT being golden in colour it will never make a clear candy or give true colours when tinted.
Thankyou again, I will be making some gems as soon as my new mold arrives!
PS. I always (because I am paranoid about exploding glass lol) pur boiling water into my pyrex jug and let it sit, then when the sugar is jusr about done quickly empty it and dry thouroughly, that way the jug is nice and warm and the hot candy won’t lead to a visit to the emergency room
Lisa, thanks for sharing your stories about candy from your childhood. Sounds like quite a treat, especially when you get to make it yourself. Thanks also for the comments about Golden Syrup. Maybe one day I’ll get to try this stuff out… sounds interesting! Nice tip about the hot water in the Pyrex, too!
Great Tutorial. I have a doubt. You use regular granulated sugar, Not Isomalt, right?
That’s right, Sonia. We use regular, granulated, white sugar
Excellent, I can’t wait to try it. I will let you know how it turns out. Thanks.
if you only have a few candy molds, can you reheat the left over mixture and make more
Lauri, I do not think the mixture would be usable if you reheated it. A better idea would be to try to make a half-batch so that you don’t have much waste leftover.
this is truly impressive ! i cant wait to try it out. tried with isomalt,but this is definately going to be cheaper and much fun and loads of great tips tooo like the foil
OMG! I just made them. I can’t believe they came out perfect the first time! I made gems for my daughter’s best friend bridal shower cake. All the bridesmaid’s dresses have rhinestones on them and her color is plum. I mixed up the food coloring in my water before I added it, to get as close to the dress color as possible. I will send pictures of the cake, after it is finished this weekend! A big thanks to y’all from Texas!
Mary Ann, I’m excited that you got such great results! Can’t wait to see the picture
Ladies, just made a batch for a bachelorette party I am hosting, they turned out amazing! The clear ones are straight from the heat, no coloring, they are clear enough to look like diamonds when put on a white background so they could be used instead of isomalt. I used an old coffee can and bent it to make a poring spout instead of the pyrex, worked great, no mess, no clean up, just toss it when you are done.
Jeffrey, love the idea of using the old coffee can! Brilliant! I like things I don’t have to clean up!
I want to use the candy jewels to decorate a wedding cake, will bw that possible? stop the jewels for melting? Are the jewels last long on the cake ? Thank you very much
Hi Mary nany! I used these candy jewels on a Princess Peach birthday cake and I attached them with frosting. I did not have any issues with them melting, and they stayed hard on the cake all day.
Hi Chica
I just went on your site for the hard candy jewels your step-by-step instructions are amazing your lesson learned tips are valued knowledge in case we run into them thank you so much for taking the time to set up your instructions so clearly with amazing visual aid thanks again Maria
You are very welcome, Maria! I hope you continue to be a fan of our site and check out our other project tutorials as well
Hi
This is awesome!! How long in advance can you make them so they stay shiny? They are really pretty!!!
Delia, I kept the gems I made about two weeks before they were all used/eaten, and they stayed shiny with no problem. I don’t know how long they would last, but I imagine it would be in the range of several months.
I made them. But they are so Sticky!!! What was wrong? Too much water?
Norma, if the candies are too sticky, you probably didn’t cook the syrup to a high enough temperature. You can reduce the stickiness by coating them with powdered sugar, but they will become opaque and lose their shine. Try cooking the next batch a little more or borrow a friend’s candy thermometer in case yours is a little off. Good luck!
Hi Chica, I’ve try i did gave it a go and the candies are too sticky and melted away in less than 1/2 an hour. I’m just wondering what brand of liquid food coloring that’s suitable for use with hard candy do you used is it oil base? I do really apreciate your response. Thank you very much
Mary, make sure that whatever coloring you use specifically says that it’s suitable for hard candy. If your candies are too sticky, you probably didn’t cook them to a high enough temperature. Make sure you have a good working thermometer
Hello Chica and Jo! Thanks so much for posting this great and easy to follow tutorial!! I plan to use these candy jewels for my grandparents 66th Wedding Anniversary cake. I have made my first and second batches and was wondering if you or the group had any tips on how to smoothen the rough edges from the jewels that come out of the breakaway moulds? (I have cut some of the edges off but sometimes they still look rough) Also any tips on how to pour/fill tiny tiny jewel moulds? (The jewels are probably about 1 cm x 1 cm). Thanks again!
Hi flipballa23! I haven’t really tried to smooth the edges before, but it seems like either water or heat would be the way to go. Maybe you could wipe the edges with a wet cotton swab, or maybe heat up a knife blade in a flame and then touch it to the edge? Neither of those ideas sounds very quick and easy, but they might work.
As for pouring into tiny molds… well… melted sugar is pretty drippy and stringy, so all I can suggest is to pour slowly and be patient!
Hi guys,
Hope you can help.
I tried your recipe to make some sunglasses for a
Birthday cake. They looked really cool, but after a couple of days the glass started to melt…oops!
Any ideas where I went wrong would be much appreciated.
Thanks.
Glen, if the candy started out fine and then began to melt after a couple of days, I can only guess it was related to heat or humidity. It’s best to store the candy in an airtight container in a cool place.
hi is me againg Do you think that the jewells’ll last for 2 days on the cake? the event is to be held on Feb in Perth, Australia and I must drop the cake at the bride’s house the nigth before (??). The cake will required 140 diamonds.
Thank you very much
Mary Nany, the longest I had the jewels on a cake before was about 12 hours, and they held up fine. It will depend on the moisture in your frosting, though. I would suggest that you mix up a batch of the frosting you plan to use on the cake and stick a few jewels on it. Then let it sit on the counter for a few days and see how it lasts. Then you’ll know for sure!
CHICA: I’ll be using MM I’ll try stick a few jewels on it RIGHT NOW THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH
hi just wondering have you ever put luster dust on these gems im worried about them going sticky and was thinking of putting luster dust on them for a bit of smimmer
We’ve never tried that, Victora. If you do, please let us know how it works out!
Thanks for the instructions. Will try today, have made stained glass windows in the past, but not jewels. Made a fondant/gumpaste bra, jewels would be a pretty embellishment.
Why are my candy jewles melting they have been in the fridge?????
Liz, unless your room is super warm, the hard candy should be stable enough to stay hard without having to be refrigerated. If they are “melting”, then you probably did not cook the syrup to a high enough temperature. I suggest double-checking the accuracy of your candy thermometer to be sure you are cooking to the right temp.
@Liz Your refrigerator is adding moisture to the candies causing them to melt. Which is the trick to remelting already hardened candy.
hey i think making that candy looked really good
Can hard candy be remelted? I did the last batch (cinnamon) and realized as it set up and I didn’t have as much as the other pans, I left the water out…can I melt it down again and add it? or is it safe to keep and eat the way it is? Thank you
Jill, I have no idea if you can re-melt the candy or not, but if you try it out please share your results with us. I see no reason why it wouldn’t be safe to eat, though… it’s just sugar after all
Hi!
Love your tutorial, however after two tries my sugar would start to burn just before it hit 275. Also, I have a Wilton candy thermometer and it doesn’t specify 275 just candy stages, like hard crack, soft ball etc. I’m using an electric stove, any suggestions for it not to burn? Thanks.
Hi Lavina! According to this candy temperature guide that I found, 275 degrees is at the very beginning of the “soft crack” stage. I hope that helps!
Hi Chica! Beautiful tutorial! You seem to be very passionated in what you do! Thumbs up! especially from a confectioners point of view it is so nice to see how you translate our industrial ways of working to a kitchen – just great.
The one and only advise/remark i can give is:
Try to find moulds from metal. The speed up cristallisation and reduce sticking.
Thank you for the nice comments, Natalie! Thanks also for the tip on metal molds. I’ve never seen those before, but I will keep an eye out.
I love it and I am going to try it for my daughters party the theme is “Spa Glam”
Sounds like a fun party, Velorna. If you’re looking for food ideas for the party, you might want to check out our tutorial for peanut butter and jelly gem sandwiches, which would be a good fit!
Sounds delicious….. I slightly changed the theme to bejeweled, Im making a vanity for her gift and everyone is going to make beaded jewelry. Everyone is going home with a small bag of jewel candy.
Hi, Love your posts. Has anyone ever tried using Crystal Light drink mix (dry from the pack)for the color and flavors? I am homebound right now and in a pinch for the color and flavoring. I plan to try it soon and will let you know how the red punch flavor works out…Donna
Donna, we’ve never tried that, but I am intrigued. Can’t wait to hear how it comes out for you!
This is a great tutorial. I have made two batches attempting to make it white (opaque). Both times, the candy came out yellowed. I took it off the heat right at 275. I had the stove on medium-high heat and I added 20 drop of white food coloring in the first batch and 40 drops to the second. Do you have any advise? Thanks!
Darcy, I’m sorry you’re having a hard time. I haven’t tried to make white candy, so I don’t know what to suggest. I wonder if Isomalt might work better for making pure white?
Thanks Chica, I will try that!