Confection Confessions

By  Chef Thobeka Shangase

These are my confection confessions; I love sweets/candy or whatever you call them. Sweets are pure sugar I tiny bite size morsels that I can just pop into my mouth one after another. Hard sweets, toffees and bon-bons, I love it all and I can't get enough of them. I love my sweets sweet and eat so much of them my teeth start to rattle, that’s when I know I should put the packet down and walk away slowly.

Without a doubt my favourite confectionary to eat is fudge, it ticks all the boxes of my most obsessive loves in the world, sugar and more sugar.

 But what I love most about fudge is that it’s essentially a blank canvas and there is nothing I love more in the world then a food that is a blank canvas for me to be able to scribble all over.

One of the first fudge recipe I was able to perfect was from A Nestle promotional recipe book, I was 8 years old when I found this recipe, which turned out to be the most perfect fudge in the world, it was sweet, smooth and ultra decadent, it just melts in your mouth. I loved every piece of it and so did everyone who tried it. This was a recipe I lost and found over the years, a recipe I have relied on and have longed for when I didn't know where to find it.

 I remember being a chubby 8 year old gorging myself on homemade fudge until I broke out in a sweat. I don't quite know why I would sweat whenever I ate this fudge, so don't ask me. But I also remember the same thing happening years later when I was high school in the eighth grade, we made fudge in Home Economics and I used my trusted recipe and even then I broke out in a sweat. I guess this fudge does things to me I can't even explain.

Being the eater I am, I like to reinvent the wheel and fudge was not safe from my creativity, now I have also eaten my fair share of chocolate fudge, or fudge with nuts, but I really think that my collection of fudge recipes that I have created over the years, tips the realms of fudge into a new domain, these recipes will make you just as excited about fudge as I am and open you up to the wonderful sweet potential of fudge.

All recipes use the classic fudge recipe as the base and all I do is add a few extra things into the mixture which are enough to transform the whole fudge experience. My favourite and most beloved is the Chilli Flakes Fudge, chilli fudge I hear you say? It works and it works beautifully. The sweetness of the fudge balances the heat from the chilli flakes and chilli powder in the most wonderful way. It also looks really pretty, red flakes speckled across the golden blocks of fudge, it’s a marriage made in heaven, the true definition of sugar and spice and all things nice.

Pink peppercorn is a close second, also just as beautiful, blushing specks or rosey pink inbedded in golden-tan fudge, you take a bite and the initial taste is soft, lovely, morrish fudge but then you get a hit of prickly warm peppercorn in your mouth which calms down the sugar canon that is fudge in its true form and it transforms it and creates a really sophisticated and elegant taste sensation that makes you go, mmmm.

Classic Fudge

1x397g tin sweetened condensed milk

500ml sugar

30ml (2T) golden syrup

75ml (5T) water

60g butter

5ml vanilla extract

Grease a small square baking dish and set aside.

Place water and sugar into a large heavy bottom sauce pot and place over a low heat.

Stir the mixture until the sugar dissolves. Add in the butter and syrup and stir until the butter has melted completely. Add in the condensed milk and stir until it all comes to boil. When stiring make a figure eight in the pot, this will ensure that you cover all the surface area of the pot and use a wooden spoon to stir.

Bring the mixture into a rolling boil. Get a cup of tap water and drop bits of the mixture into the cup, when the mixture forms a soft ball when dropped into the cool water, it's ready.

Remove from the stove and stir in vanilla extract, then start to beat the mixture quite vigorously until it starts to thicken and look like its about to set. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and leave to set and cool. It will set as it cools. Cut into small squares when cool and enjoy. I’m able to cut 24 squares from this recipe, if I'm feeling generous that it.

Coconut & Lime Fudge

When the mixture has reached the soft ball stage, remove from heat and beat in 10 ml coconut cream, 60 ml toasted dessicated coconut and 1 teaspoon lime zest. Beat the mixture well and pour into the prepared tin and leave to cool.

Chilli Flaked Fudge

When the mixture reaches soft ball stage, remove from the heat and stir in 2.5ml chilli powder and 5ml red chilli flakes into the mixture. You can add more if you can take the heat, I like mine extra spicy so I add in 5 ml of chilli powder and 5ml chilli flakes. It’s the perfect balance of sweet and spicy.

Pink Peppercorn Fudge

When the mixture reaches soft ball stage add in 10 ml crushed pink peppercorns into the pot and beat until it thickens and transfer into the baking pan.

Ginger Fudge

Add 5 ml ground ginger, 2.5ml ground nutmeg and 2.5ml ground cinnamon into the mixture after it reaches soft ball stage.

Orange, Chocolate and Chilli Fudge

When the fudge reaches soft ball stage add in 50g chopped dark chocolate, 5ml orange zest, 5ml orange essence and 5ml chilli powder.

Salted Pretzels

Stir in 82 ml roughly chopped salted pretzels into the mixture after it reaches soft ball stage, be careful not to crush the pretzels while beating the mixture to set it.

Lemon and Lime

Add 5 ml lemon zest, 5 ml lemon essence and 5 ml lime zest.

Chilli Coated Pecan

Toast 60ml of pecans in a dry pan, while hot dust with chilli powder well and leave to cool, then roughly chop and stir into the fudge mixture after it has reached the soft ball stage.