What did I do wrong fudge making!

littlesnuggy

Hi all,

This seems to be a recurring problem with my baking (made a thread last week about truffles not setting!)....

I made some fudge last night, to the recipe that someone had linked to in a post on here, but it is still not set despite being in the fridge since about 8.30pm last night!!

The top is solid (ie if you stick your finger in it, you don't get the fudge on you), but underneath that it is still not set, so there's no way it could be cut up.

Any ideas what I should do....just leave it and see if it sets eventually, make it into something else somehow, freeze it?!!

Thank you!

Gingernutmeg

It could be because the sugar in the fudge didn't reach a high enough temperature for it to set properly. I haven't made fudge for ages but I seem to remember that the way to test it was to drop a little bit in a cupful of cold water, and if it formed a soft ball then the fudge would set. You could try reheating the fudge until it reaches this point, and then seeing if it will set.

If it doesn't then you could freeze it in portions to heat and serve as a fudge sauce for ice-cream. I'd imagine that you could do similar things with it to toffee sauce - serving it with sponge puddings etc. I like to mix toffee sauce in with my apples when I'm doing a crumble, I'm sure that you could do the same with some of this fudge. The toffee apples also make a lovely filling for sweet pasties, if you've got some puff or shortcrust pastry hanging about, or you can make an upside down cake with the same mix.

I've also seen some US recipes that make fudge by mixing melted chocolate with the tubs of ready-made cake frosting that you can buy ... maybe if you mixed some melted choc into the fudge it might make it set?

organic_wanabe

When my last batch of fudge didn't set I added it to my banana bread mixture and it turned out very yummy. Previously, when it didn't set, I reheated as suggested above and it and it worked second time round - but it hadn't been left in the fridge overnight so I'm not sure whether this would affect it. I'm sure you'll find a use for it - good luck.

jessicamb

You can chuck it in a pan and boil it a bit more - it will set then

I found out the hard way

littlesnuggy

jessicamb wrote:

You can chuck it in a pan and boil it a bit more - it will set then

I found out the hard way

Will this be ok now its got nuts & raisins in it? and chocolate?! i added all that in after I'd taken it off the heat last night (as the recipe indicated), and on investigation it now looks like the chocollate is all that has set on the top, and underneath is the still liquid fudge!

Also, how long should I boil if for this time? I did it for 5 mins first time round!
Thanks!

kate83

My fudge never used to set until I re-read the recipe I was using and it said beat it until it goes thick and creamy (after it has reached soft ball stage) - I'd never done this and it always ended up how yours did. And I think it needs boiling for about 25/30 minutes altogether.
It'll be ok to boil with the chocolate and nuts in - you just end up with chocolate fudge instead of fudge with choc chunks in.

Bettyboop

I have a fudge recipe that I got from a friend and it's easy and very delicious.

You need:

1 x tin of condense milk
500 g of icing sugar
125g margarine/butter
5ml of vanilla essence/extract

In a large pyrex bowl:

Sift the packet of icing sugar, to that add the condense milk and the butter. Put in the microwave for approximately 18 minutes.

You will be able to leave it for the first 3 or 4 minutes and then you will have to remove and stir regularly with a woodens spoon. Depending on your microwave you will notice the mixture starting to rise in the bowl. When you see this remove quickly and stir or you could leave it in the microwave, just open the door, scrape the sides and stir well, shut the door and continue cooking, removing and stirring everytime you see the mixture rising. Watch carefully otherwise should it overflow you will have a very sticky mess everywhere.

Then approx 4-5 minutes before the end stir in 5ml of vanilla essence/extract, put the bowl back in for the remainder of the cooking time. The fudge should be quite brown and thickish by this stage. Stir well and then transfer to well buttered glass dish. Leave to cool and then cut into squares.

If you try it I hope you like it. : ). I made some today and I have already eaten 4 pieces. It's very rich so will last a little while. ENJOY.

nickij_2

Trying to be moneysaving by making not buying end of year teachers gifts, my ys and I made some cakes from a magazine recipe - ended up flat and crispy, more like biscuits, but still quite nice. I *think* the recipe was wrong - it called for 220g flour and 200g marg, add some sugar, glace cherries and choc drops and an egg. Isn't that too much marg? Gave some to teachers anyway!

Soooooo, we had a go at making fudge, which looks gorgeous but hasn't quite set enough to get it out of the tray it set in! Any ideas what I can do with a tray of very soft fudge? I assume I didn't let it boil for long enough?

Gingernutmeg

That does sound like a lot of marg to flour, although there could be too much sugar as well ... just tell people they were biscuits anyway

For the fudge, you could try reboiling it. I *think* that fudge needs to be boiled to a 'soft ball', I'm not sure of the temperature but if you drop a little in a glass of cold water it should form a soft ball. I haven't made fudge in ages but I do remember beating it like anything once it was cooked, I assume the air helps it set too ... Or, if you don't want to reboil it could you try rolling it into balls and dipping them in chocolate, to make little 'fudgy' chocs, or you could save it in the fridge and warm portions of it up to make hot fudge sauce ...

nickij_2

Mmmm fudge sauce and choc dipped fudge sounds good - thanks. Don't think I'll try reboiling it - will have another go sometime.