Making fudge - advice?

[onceinabluemoon]

Hi

My DS made some fudge today. He got the recipe form River Cottage family cookbook, he's made loads of stuff out of there and it's always been fine before.

He's never made fudge before but is good at reading instructions etc and usually is able to make anything he tries.

Today the fudge didnt set. It separated and the top layer was all fatty, the bottom layer the right colour (and tasted divine) but really runny.

We didnt have any butter so he subbed in hard margarine, could this have been the problem?

Anybody got any idea please yell cos the kiddo is really sad and I hate seeing him like this (plus I was *really* looking forward to tucking into a piece or two of fudge, lol!)

Thanks! Tiggs xx

[Zoomie]

I used to make a lot of fudge but I am from another hemisphere and my version of fudge seems to differ from what is the norm in the UK.

Anyhows, did the recipe call for soft ball stage or something like that (probably a temp on a sugar thermometer) - when you were cooking and stirring it on the stove ?????

If it did then that sounds like where it went wrong ?

Best to use a sugar thermometer, or get one, if it is something you want to make a few more times, but if you really want to trial and error, then you'll have to experiment with the soft ball stage, which is where you drop a drop of fudge into a glass of cold water and then take it out and examine its texture. If it falls apart (or doesn't even form) it hasn't cooked long enough, and luckily enough you can just keep repeating this every minute or so, till you get the right soft ball stage, or if you let it cook too long, then the ball becomes hard ball stage and you could end up with a boiled sweet product at the end.

HTHs

[onceinabluemoon]

Thank you for your reply.

He used a sugar thermometer and said it got to the correct temp but he turned it right off then, should it have cooked for longer? The recipe said when it got to 116 degrees to turn the heat off and let it cool for a few minutes before adding butter. (It got to 116 and then rose right up the pan, freaked him out a little bit as I'd drilled into him how bad sugar burns were and how careful he had to be beforehand)

Does it matter if you use marg instead of butter? I cannot think what else he did differently to the recipe..

Thanks again x

[tashaleee]

Sorry I dont know the answer BUT using hard marg (stork?) instead of butter shouldnt make a difference because the fat content is similar - It may well of been different with soft marg though as the fat content is way lower

[Twinkles]

I had many problems when I tried making fudge just before Christmas. I tried several recipes and gave up in the end. They all tasted good but I couldn't get the consistancy right.

I made it years ago but don't know where that recipe went.

I like cooking and baking but this one beat me :(

[Zoomie]

Aren't you suppose to allow the fudge to cool and then just before you pour you drop in the vanilla essence (or marg) ..... I seem to remmber that this stage was quite tricky too as you need to mix as much as you can, but also if you over mix then the mixture is too dry to pour into your setting pan ..... but if you don't mix enough, it doesn't bind, which is why the marg may have separated ?????

Fudge is tricky. I made it many times before I finally succeeded, but once I got it right, it was easy peasy and soooo yummy :D (but that was quite a few years ago ... pre children days :blush: )