From the simple syrups used in cocktails to the colorful rock candy of dime store jars, sugar is one of the most versatile ingredients in the kitchen.
Using it to sweeten confections or to heap into a cookie batter is one thing.
Top: The rose was assembled petal by petal out of hot sugar at a cooked sugar class at SweetWise in Germantown. Bottom:…
From the simple syrups used in cocktails to the colorful rock candy of dime store jars, sugar is one of the most versatile ingredients in the kitchen.
Using it to sweeten confections or to heap into a cookie batter is one thing.
Top: The rose was assembled petal by petal out of hot sugar at a cooked sugar class at SweetWise in Germantown. Bottom: The apple was made using the same technique as glass blowing. The green leaf on top was made in a mold.
It’s another thing entirely when making what might be considered “eye candy.”
Transforming an amorphous blob of cooked sugar into a dazzling adornment for wedding cakes or edible centerpieces takes more than just a recipe and the talent of a sculptor.
And that’s partly why Kathy Wise Gentry got the idea of offering classes to customers out of her baking supply store, SweetWise, a popular destination for self-taught confectioners in Nashville that recently expanded to a second location at 7850 Poplar in Germantown.
“When you’re learning how to decorate cakes, there are certain things you can learn from YouTube,” she said. “Other things are more complicated. People were constantly coming into our store asking for instructions.”
Like many of her customers, she started out making cakes for fun. She went to college to study economics, but always found herself drawn back to the creativity of cake making. After attending the Opryland Culinary Institute, she started her own business making wedding cakes.
“I always got my supplies from little shops around Nashville,” she said. “When one of my main places was about to close, I had a little panic attack because I didn’t know where I would get my supplies.”
She decided to open her own store. About the same time, she married John Gentry, a former Marine and a CPA who had plenty of experience running large businesses, but little knowledge of the culinary arts.
“He saw how people lit up when they came into the store,” she said. “He thought he could build something. He calls it the ‘funnest’ job he’s ever had.”
John developed the website sweetwise.com, which also sells cake-making supplies.
One day, while Kathy was organizing a class on pulled sugar and blown sugar at a borrowed event site, John offered his assistance setting up the required gadgetry, making sure they could pull it off without blowing a fuse.
“He stayed through the entire class,” she said. “He made the prettiest rose I’ve ever seen on his first try. Sugar fascinates him.”
John recently visited from Nashville to teach a sugar-blowing class at the SweetWise store in Germantown, which opened in March.
His classroom setup looked more like a science lab than a cake-decorating demonstration. Each workstation was arrayed with heat lamps, a small stove, nonstick Silpat mats, scissors, gas torches, surgical gloves, thermometers, fans, small hand-pumps — in other words, enough accoutrements to warrant a store devoted to carrying the materials of the craft.
The most crucial part of cooked sugar is the cooking itself. Once dissolved in water, the sugar has to be raised to a precise temperature and the water evaporated until the mixture achieves the consistency of molten Jell-O.
The gooey amber-colored syrup is poured onto the mats and allowed to cool just enough so that food coloring can be worked into it. While still hot, it can be manipulated like silly putty. The bulk of working with cooked sugar involves managing the temperature.
If the sugar is undercooked, it won’t hold its shape after it’s cooled. Overcooked, it will be extremely brittle.
He showed how flowers are made by first shaping hunks of sugar into individual petals. The petals cooled just enough to retain their shape while still being slightly bendable. Then he assembled them into a rose, one petal at a time.
The process takes time, which is why Kathy Gentry says it’s rare that even professional cake decorators go to the trouble of adding cooked sugar ornaments.
“It would definitely cost more to have a decorator upgrade with those elements,” she said. “They’re really good for centerpieces at special events.”
John then demonstrated the art of sugar blowing by wrapping a blob of hot sugar around the nozzle of a hand pump and slowly inflating it. It takes him several tries before finishing a sugar bubble that doesn’t shatter into pieces. He adds a green leaf to the top, made using a mold, and the result is a delicate apple.
A range of flavors can be added to the sugar to make the pieces as delicious as anything found in Willy Wonka’s factory.
Finally, John showed the art of stretching the sugar into a long ribbon that eventually had the sheen of silk. It, too, was a long and delicate process with several failed attempts.
Denna Rayner, from Arlington, said the class has expanded her repertoire. “There are some advantages (to cooked sugar),” she said. “If I were sculpting a rose out of fondant, it would take twice as long.”
Fondant classes are also offered by SweetWise, along with other specialty classes geared to people of different skill levels, including children. Courses run from $75 to $139 (sweetwise.com, (901) 552-5243 ).
Kathy says reality cooking shows have increased interest in the SweetWise classes since she opened her Nashville store in 2006.
The Memphis store is her first experiment in expansion.
“We think the market is growing for people who want to learn how to do these things at home,” she said. “The television shows are challenging people to take their love of cake decorating to the next level.”
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