Caramel Decoration

Caramel decoration is a refined technique of the confectionery art, consisting in creating striking ornaments for desserts from melted and caramelised sugar. It is a combination of precision, speed, and artistic feeling.

The basis is caramel — sugar cooked down to an amber colour. While it is hot and pliable, a great many elements can be created from it in time: thin golden threads (“caramel spun sugar,” made by flicking the caramel), openwork patterns and domes, spirals, curved “petals,” three-dimensional figures. The caramel quickly sets into clear, glass-like, brittle, and shiny ornaments. The main difficulty of the work is precisely its transience (the caramel hardens instantly) and its high temperature. With such ornaments, cakes, pastries, and individual desserts are skilfully adorned, giving them an elegant, festive, and professional look. Caramel decoration is a vivid example of how ordinary sugar is transformed into a material for true art.