One style of cake that I love is when lollies are added onto cakes as cake toppers. They add such a fun element to cakes and I I love that the lollies can be made in any colour, any flavour and you can decorate them in so many ways. So in this weeks tutorial I’m showing you how to make some pink sugar lollies decorated with fun sprinkles.
Just click below to watch the tutorial ⇩ or scroll to the bottom of this post for the full recipe and step by step instructions.
These lollies are so much fun to make and don’t actually take that long either. You just need to combine sugar, water & liquid glucose (you can also use corn syrup too) and boil this to 149°C or 300°F which is when sugar gets to the hard crack stage. If you want to create a sugar free version you could also use isomalt too.
Why do we add glucose to make sugar lollies
Now if you’re looking at different recipes you may see some tell you to use liquid glucose, some use corn syrup or even cream of tartar. All these ingredients are doing exactly the same thing. As you boil up your sugar mixture you want it to be nice and smooth and clear, so to stop any crystals forming in your mixture you need an interfering agent and this is the job of the liquid glucose / corn syrup. It stops crystals forming, giving you the perfect mixture for your lollies.
In the UK it is impossible to get corn syrup so liquid glucose is a great alternative.
Creating your Lollies
Once your mixture reaches the hard crack stage you want to remove it from the heat straight away. If you allow it to get any hotter, then the sugar will start to caramelise giving you a slightly yellow colour.
Once the mixture is removed from the heat you can then add any flavouring. This is my favourite part. Who doesn’t love trying different flavours of lollies. You can then add any colour. In terms of the colour you want to use gel colour rather than liquid colour. Liquid colour will add water into the mixture which can make your lollies sticky. You can then pour your mixture onto a silicone mat or into some lolly moulds.
You can download the circle template I used here!
I found the lollies then take around 20 – 30 minutes to completely cool. You can then remove them from the mould or silicone mat and add them onto your cake.
Sprinkles
Now what lollies would be complete without some fun sprinkles. For these I used the Princess Diary and Paste Vibes sprinkle mixs by Happy Sprinkles.
If you want to get your hands on some Happy Sprinkles they have also kindly given me a 10% off discount code for me to share with you.
To receive 10% off Happy Sprinkles all you need to do is visit their website www.happysprinkles.com or The Cake Decorating Company and enter the code HAPPYLYNZ10 at the checkout! (This code can not be combined with any other discounts)
I had so much fun making these lollies and love how they look on the top of the cake. In regards to storing the lollies if you want to give them as gifts I would wrap them in cellophane bags as soon as they have cooled. Depending on the humidity where you are the lollies can become quite sticky as sugar absorbs moisture in the air. For the cake I didn’t find this was too much of an issue. But you can store them in an airtight container and add a little rice to absorb any moisture in the tub. Also avoid popping them in the fridge if you can as this can also make them quite sticky.
I really hope you enjoy the video and also enjoy making the lollies. If you haven’t already you can subscribe to my YouTube channel for more Free cake decorating video tutorials.
Tools I used
I have put a list below showing all the tools that I used throughout this video or if you would like to see all my favourite cake decorating tools just click here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/shop/cakesbylynz
Silicone Mats: https://amzn.to/3ciTfVX
Silicone Lolly Moulds: https://amzn.to/3qbzFkS
Lolly Sticks: https://amzn.to/3p3L3Qn
Thermometer: https://amzn.to/3q1VTpm
Happy Sprinkles Princess Diary: https://bit.ly/3F4VN6l (Get 10% off with code ‘HAPPYLYNZ10’)
Happy Sprinkles Pastel Vibes: https://tidd.ly/3megNjJ (Get 10% off with code ‘HAPPYLYNZ10’)
SweetStamp Pink Gel Colour: https://bit.ly/3e6R5cp (Get 10% off with code ‘CakesbyLynz’)
~ Please note that the links above are affiliate links. If you click the link and purchase any item through that link, I will receive a small commission from the website but this does NOT add any additional costs to you. Thank you so much for supporting this blog x ~
Sugar Candy Lollies Recipe
Ingredients
- 150 g Granulated Sugar
- 95 ml Water
- 60 g Liquid Glucose
- 1 tsp Flavouring extract or a few drops of oil based flavouring
- Gel colour
Instructions
- Into a mixing bowl sift in the plain flour. Add the bicarbonate of soda, the ground cinnamon and the ground ginger and pop to one side.
- Into a saucepan add the butter, caster sugar, the brown sugar and the golden syrup and place this onto your hob until all the ingredients have melted together.
- You then want to add your melted ingredients to your dry ingredients in your mixing bowl. Using a wooden spoon or spatula mix this all together until it forms a dough. You can finish this off mixing it with your hands to make sure the ingredients are all combined.
- Take a piece of cling film / plastic wrap and push down your dough, coving it over. Place this into the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Whilst your dough is in the fridge you will need to print off and cut out your template pieces. You can find my template here.
- After 30 minutes take your dough out of the fridge. You can then dust your surface with a little flour and roll out your dough until its around 5mm in thickness. Then use a knife to cut out all of your shapes and place on a baking tray.
- Place your cut out shapes into a preheated oven set to 180 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes. You want the edges just to start changing colour.
- After 10 minutes you can take your shapes out of the oven to let them cool. I like to use my templates and carefully (they will be hot) cut around the template a second time, to cut off any areas that have spread in size. This will help your house fit together a little easier.
- You then have all the pieces for your gingerbread house. I like to use royal icing to stick my pieces together. Watch how to decorate your Gingerbread house in my tutorial above.
Notes
Storing your lollies
These sugar lollies do not like moisture as it can make then go sticky. So they need to be stored in a cool, dry place. If you have high humidity the lollies can become quite sticky as sugar absorbs moisture in the air. You can store them in an airtight container with a little rice added to absorb any moisture in the tub. Avoid putting them in the fridge as this can also make them quite sticky. If you’re cake needs to be refrigerated, then you want to add them to your cake once it comes out of the fridge.Plus why not save this tutorial for later and pin it to Pinterest
