Pulled Sugar Leaves

Appears in

Published 2015

Warm a piece of light green sugar in the microwave until it is hot and pliable but not so hot that it is fluid; check frequently to ensure that it does not become too hot in one place while still hard in another.
Place the sugar under a heat lamp. With both hands, grasp the sugar firmly at the opposite ends of the piece and pull your hands apart, pulling the sugar to form a thin edge. This thin edge is important because it is the thinness of the leaves’ edges that will give them a delicate appearance.
Place the piece of sugar on the edge of a sugar workbox with the thin pulled edge protruding over the edge. With the index finger and thumb of your nondominant hand, grasp the thin edge of sugar and pull it down and away. Cut the sugar strip at an angle with scissors to create a leaf shape.
Immediately place the sugar piece into the bottom half of a silicone leaf mold and press down on it firmly with the top of the mold. Remove the leaf from the mold and while it is still warm, pin the thicker end of the leaf slightly. Curve the leaf slightly to make it look more realistic. Cool under a blow-dryer. Repeat to make more leaves as needed.
To attach the leaves, heat the thicker end of each leaf over a flame. Press the heated end of the leaf to a base stem or petal and cool the joint with a blow-dryer.