How to fail at making fudge, step by step
Posted 18 February 2011 by Cheryl ClaudineI remembered that I had frozen some fudge resulting from an earlier attempt at making real old-fashioned fudge, which I described previously. I took it out of the freezer, took a photo…
…and threw it into the garbage.
Then I embarked on my most recent attempt at fudge. I used the same recipe I always use, because I am determined to make this recipe work for me. I only did a few things differently this time: I used real butter instead of margarine, I didn’t double the recipe, and I waited till a couple degrees past soft ball stage.
I took pictures as I went along this time.
2:25pm – Add cocoa, milk and sugar to a large saucepan. (Yes, that’s a keyboard in the background. The best lighting in my apartment is by my computer by the window.)
2:28pm – Heat.
2:32pm – Heat and stir.
2:33pm – Reduce heat to a low simmer once it reaches a boil. As per other reviewers’ advice on this recipe, stop stirring at this point.
2:34pm – Boiling
2:35pm – Candy thermometer
2:36pm – Candy thermometer in place
2:40pm – Prep the pan while waiting
3:04pm – Simmering at about 220 degrees F
3:37pm – At 228 degrees F
4:38pm – Reaching soft ball stage, 238 degrees F. I don’t know how other reviewers are able to reach this stage in under an hour.
4:39pm – Closeup of just-past-soft-ball-stage
4:39pm – Remove pan from heat and allow to cool (wait till cooled to 110 degrees F, according to reviews)
5:30pm – When cooled, add butter and vanilla
5:43pm – Beat the mixture with a wooden spoon until it loses its sheen (hard for me to tell, but I stopped after 15 min)
5:44pm – Transfer the fudge from the saucepan to a small square baking pan. Mine was too big and the fudge didn’t even reach the edges.
8:40pm – Cooled at room temperature…the moment of truth
8:41pm – Too sticky. Another fail.
As the post title states, it was another failure. Not as huge a failure as before, as the fudge actually was edible this time (and not just as an ice cream topping), but it wasn’t the right texture – too sticky and nearly impossible to cut into squares. I probably need to wait for it to reach a temperature about 5 degrees hotter next time. I think my thermometer is not calibrated correctly. Oh fudge! :-P
- Tagged As: fudge, recipes Filed As: In The Kitchen Shortlink:
I can’t bake and I can only MELT chocolate… so this same thing would happen to me too! time and time again!
you know what they say though — third times a charm! <3
JENN @ PEAS AND CRAYONS recently posted..Tomato Soup and Cheesy Croissant Panini
Aww, anyone can bake! And making fudge requires no baking anyway. I’ll keep at it and hopefully my 6th time’s a charm!
Shoot! I really want that fudge to work out so you can share the recipe! Although I would probably burn it, I burn everything.
Lisa Pike recently posted..Hitting the Wall
I really want to make that fudge recipe work, too! It has worked for so many other people (check out the comments on Allrecipes), I am determined to make it work for me!