SC - Re: Sugar Plate and Moulds

[Elise Fleming]

Greetings!  A number of the moulds for sugar work were wooden. If using 
melted sugar they would be soaked to prevent sticking.  Directions vary 
on how long they should be soaked in cold water - from two hours (I 
think) up to a day.  A number of the moulds were in two or three parts, 
tied with string once the melted sugar was added and twirled in the 
hands to coat the inside of the mould, leaving the center hollow.  The 
making of "sugar plate" in Forme of Curye would seem to imply that the 
melted sugar was poured out, possibly within a tin/metal form to make 
it form a (square?) plate.  As mentioned, molds  could also be made of 
plaster.  I keep looking for the reference that instructs the cook to 
press down the lemon/fruit into wet sand, pour in the plaster, and thus 
make the mold to cast the sugar in.  I've read it, but I can't find it!

Sugar paste could be "printed" in molds, possibly wood or plaster.  One 
could also cut shapes out of sugar paste by using a knife or a tin 
cutter, which I assume to be like the small tin cookie cutters one can 
currently buy in cake decorating supply shops.

The Manuscrito Anonimo mentions making a castle of sugar as well as all 
its furnishings.  I assume a mold would need to be made.  Carving a 
wooden mold would seem to be easier than soapstone, would it not??

Alys Katharine -- FYI (personal information):  I've been "absent" for 
two weeks - first week was clearing out my father's house after his 
March 10 death.  I had been home no more than 5 hours when I was 
informed by the nursing home that my mother was now dying.  I spent all 
last week by her bedside until she passed away on Saturday afternoon, 
46 days after my father. 
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