Seeking advice for working with sugar glass

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Soozanne

Assistant Cook
Joined
Feb 9, 2016
Messages
2
Location
London
Hi everyone. I’m new here and I’m looking for some specific advice about sugar glass. If anyone can assist, I’d be very grateful.

My husband is a huge train enthusiast. It’s his birthday in a couple of weeks and I thought I’d try to make him a cake in the shape of a London Underground tube train (I’m UK-based, incidentally). My plan for the cake is to make it in a couple of loaf tins, slice them across the middle and fill with a filling before covering in ready-to-roll white icing and decorating with doors, roof, wheels etc. in ready-to-roll icing in different colours. What I would really like to do is make windows for the train using sugar glass which I would then stick on. Having never made sugar glass before, I don’t know how ‘workable’ it is. In an ideal world, I would try to make a sheet of glass and cut it to the appropriate shapes using a sharp knife but I have no idea if the glass will be too brittle for me to do that and just shatter when I try.

Another option is to somehow make the windows from a mould but again, what kind of mould – silicon? Or to perhaps make window frames from icing and pour the liquid sugar glass into it but I have no idea how easy that would be to do and I would prefer to try the whole ‘cutting it to size’ thing if such an option were possible.

Can anyone advise?

Thanks in advance.
 
I'm pretty sure you can't cut poured sugar once it hardens. I've seen it broken into shards and used as decoration, but never cut. The cake shows that I've seen that use sugar work have all used molds for shapes. You can purchase silicone sugar molds fairly inexpensively, under $15, usually under $10, especially for the size you'll need. Making a mold/frame with icing probably won't work as the sugar is REALLY hot when you pour it.

Just a tip, you will have to watch the melted sugar extremely closely to get clear "glass." It will start to discolor to yellow to brownish very, very quickly. I'd suggest a dry run prior to making the cake and plenty of sugar on hand the day you are making the cake. Been there, done that when I wanted to make frozen ice shards for a Frozen Birthday cake for a GD.

Have you ever worked with and/or tasted fondant? If you haven't, I'd suggest also doing a dry run because it can be difficult to work with, especially to get sharp corners. It's taste/texture can also be not so pleasant to some.
 
Oh, forgot to add Welcome to DC and you're a great wife for making a cake like that for your hubs. Good luck with it!
 
Thanks medtran49 - appreciate the advice.

It's an ambitious plan I know and I'm not the most artistic of cooks but if nothing else, I'm sure he'll appreciate the gesture. :chef:
 
How about making a batch of windows using this cookie recipe. I'm thinking a cookie window frame with a "glass" center, just a thought!

Stained Glass Window Cookies Recipe - Allrecipes.com

I did a quick google of "London underground train cakes", I was amazed at the number of images from simple to quite elaborate. Take a look you may find some inspiration!

Good luck and welcome!
 
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Do you get the Food Network show "Cake Wars"? They do amazing things with sugar, including making "glass".

The old style western movies had windows made of poured sugar, so when the cowboys would throw each other out, it made a satisfying smash and nobody got hurt.
 
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