Oh Fudge!
(Left : Chocolate and ginger fudge. Top to bottom : White chocolate, green tea and cranberry fudge, Peanut butter fudge, Trish Deseine’s Chocolate fudge, Alain Ducasse’s Brown sugar fudge.)
If your local supermarket has recently been suffering from a severe lack of caster sugar, chances are, you live in my neighbourhood. Up until last week, fudge and I had been existing on this planet, on separate orbits. Even now, I feel like we will forever remain on speaking, but separate, terms. But it was a swift sweet romance and breakup that had to happen : my kitchen, it overfloweth with fudge.
This obsessive affair all started with Lorraine and her quest to make the perfect creme brulee fudge. A few perfectly harmless emails were thrown back and forth, concerning the subject and I confessed at that point that I had never really paid much notice to fudge. Fudge? Isn’t that merely a clash between condensed milk and chocolate, coupled with a few extra expensive visits to the dentist?
Her enthusiasm however leaked into my innocent fudge-free world, and soon I was reaching for every single possible cookbook I had that might contain information on fudge.
(White chocolate, lavender and coconut fudge)
In theory, fudge is a crystallised sugar confection, produced using a somewhat similar method to fondant, with the addition of flavours, fat and dairy products (butter, cream, milk). Who would have guessed that such a simple handful of ingredients accompanied by a deceptively easy set of instructions, could yield so many different results? It is with some relief that I read Greweling’s statement that, “in spite of the fact that these candies are often made by nonprofessionals, achieving the proper crystal size and moisture content, and therefore a smooth creamy texture, is not a simple feat”. Indeed, Greweling is quite detailed and comprehensive on the topic and has a few recipes I would love to try, as soon as I get my hands on some invert sugar. Wybauw had similar points to note regarding fudge, but the few recipes I tried of his didn’t work well enough for me to be convinced that I had been successful.
Seven batches later, and I have finally come across a recipe that I’m fairly happy with. I’m still experimenting with it, so a final recipe shall be forthcoming in a future post.
In the meantime, for those wanting to make an easy, quickfix, crowd-pleasing batch of fudge, you can’t go wrong with the recipe below. This is not by any means a traditional fudge, but whatever you want to call it, it is incredibly delicious and deserves at least two seconds in the spotlight. The lemon juice and salt cleverly elevate this above the many pedestrian fudge recipes of its ilk. In fact, the next time I make this, I would be tempted to add even more lemon/lime juice, to further cut the sweetness of the white chocolate.
White Chocolate Fudge :
(based on a recipe in The Cook’s Guide to Chocolate by Christine McFadden and Christine France)
600g good quality white chocolate, chopped
375g sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice [or lime juice]
pinch of salt
(optional : 175g extra ingredient of choice – eg. pistachios, cranberries, dessicated coconut etc)
Grease and line a baking tin with greaseproof paper. [The choice of tin is up to you, depending on how thick or thin you want your fudge to be (for presentation purposes). The Cook’s Guide recommends an 8″ square tin.]
In a saucepan over low heat, melt the white chocolate and condensed milk until smooth, stirring frequently [use a heatproof spatula, to make sure no bits get stuck on the bottom of the pan]. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract, lemon juice and salt. Stir in any additional ingredients. Spread the mixture in the prepared tin. Chill for 2 – 4 hours until set.
Tags: fudge, matcha, white chocolate
Lorraine @NotQuiteNigella said,
March 16, 2009 @ 4:15 pm
*wolf whistles* That is some goood looking fudge Y! Haha I felt much better having you an email away when my fudge wouldn’t set 😉
Y said,
March 16, 2009 @ 4:18 pm
Hehe..I’m still cradling my box of tissues, Lorraine!
the projectivist said,
March 16, 2009 @ 4:53 pm
that is as designer-fudge as it gets.
Anita said,
March 16, 2009 @ 4:59 pm
All that fudge looks extremely tempting! You have such a variety of lovely flavours too.
betty said,
March 16, 2009 @ 5:03 pm
i think this is wayyy too sweet for my liking (also failed attempts at making this when i was younger un motivates me to try again, consistency of the fudge i made came out.. not very solid haha)
but im lovin the eye candy 😀
Christie @ fig&cherry said,
March 16, 2009 @ 5:49 pm
Chocolate and ginger fudge – great combo! I’m not a fudge fan either (too sweet!) but you two have certainly tweaked my curiosity to try it again…
lili - pikelet & pie said,
March 16, 2009 @ 9:02 pm
As I read this, my partner was looking over my shoulder, giddy with excitement, jiggling excitedly. “But I want some fudge!” Looks delicious, he will be trying this recipe shortly, no doubt!
Arwen from Hoglet K said,
March 16, 2009 @ 9:48 pm
Wow, you have such tenacity to try seven batches! Well done.
Aran said,
March 16, 2009 @ 10:06 pm
wonderful!
Marija said,
March 16, 2009 @ 10:32 pm
I love them all! And can’t wait to see that final fudge recipe!
Caitlin said,
March 16, 2009 @ 11:04 pm
Wow, 7 batches?! I admire your perseverance 😛 Beautiful! And now I want fudge….
FFichiban said,
March 16, 2009 @ 11:09 pm
Oh woow so cuutte ^^! and wow 7 batches! That is dedication haha
anna said,
March 17, 2009 @ 12:35 am
That looks amazing, especially the matcha one…ooh, and those little white chocolate lavender coconut (awesome combination!) fudge balls. Yum!
Howard said,
March 17, 2009 @ 12:52 am
Looks fudging fantastic Y! That peanut butter fudge looks tempting atm (1am)
pea and pear said,
March 17, 2009 @ 1:31 am
y, you’ve been blogging your heart out lately. I haven’t had a minute to comment but I realised the posts are stacking up and I am yet to remark!!
So much to say I don’t know where to start. Everything has been so gorgeous and grounded… I love it x
prettytastycakes said,
March 17, 2009 @ 1:45 am
sounds delicious and intriguing. the wrapped white chocolate fudge is adorable!
erin @ dessert girl said,
March 17, 2009 @ 4:03 am
Those all sound sooo good, especially the ginger one. How did that turn out?
Sophie said,
March 17, 2009 @ 5:35 am
Your fudge looks so yummie & tasty!! In Belgium, we do not eat fudge!! We can only buy it in an English food shop!!
Mike said,
March 17, 2009 @ 7:56 am
I love love love fudge. Whenever I go on vacation and happen upon some touristy dessert stop, fudge is almost always my weakness. This looks stunning. I’m almost afraid to try this…lol, I would have it all the time
Zita said,
March 17, 2009 @ 8:44 am
green tea and cranberry fudge, the top of the stack… my favorite… 😉
shez said,
March 17, 2009 @ 9:35 am
fantastic idea using lemon juice to cut through the sweetness of the white chocolate – it tends to get cloyingly sweet no? beautiful photographs as always 🙂
Sneh said,
March 17, 2009 @ 1:07 pm
Wow! That looks simply awesome! Thnx for sharing a beautiful recipe too 🙂
Y said,
March 17, 2009 @ 2:53 pm
Thanks for the comments, everyone! If anyone out there would like to throw their favourite fudge recipe into the mix, feel free to do so!
lili : Ah, another fan of fudge. There seem to be a lot of them out there!
betty : Yeah, it can be pretty sweet, that’s why I usually stay away from the stuff. But that white chocolate one is I think quite well balanced.
Arwen from Hoglet K : I don’t know if I would call it tenacity. Insanity, maybe!
pea and pear : Always great to hear from you, especially when I know how busy you are! Thanks for dropping by 😀
Erin : I love chocolate and ginger together. That one turned out pretty darn good.
Sophie : It’s just as well you don’t eat much fudge in Belgium – it’s lethal stuff! 😉
Mike : Too bad you don’t live next door – I’d happily give (read : offload) you a batch!
Zita : Mine too 🙂 I thought of incorporating the matcha into the fudge, but I quite like the effect of it dusted on top too. The bitterness goes really well with the sweetness of the fudge and slight tartness of the dried cranberries.
grace said,
March 17, 2009 @ 9:23 pm
i’m a true fan of white chocolate, and your presentation here is far superior to the simple squares with which i’m familiar. 🙂
Sophie said,
March 18, 2009 @ 12:31 am
I agree, making fudge is not easy…I’ve only tried it once and it didn’t come out half this pretty. Your white chocolate lavender coconut fudge would make a yummy party favor for a wedding shower or reception!
Christy said,
March 22, 2009 @ 10:11 pm
The fudges I’ve had so far are bad—which is pretty much why I say that I don’t like them. I went to the markets today and one lady who was supposedly selling ‘fudge’ was actually selling ganache. Really. I looked at the ingredients list. But anyway, let me know when you’ve perfected it and I’ll make it, then I’ll know what excellent fudge tastes like. Or better, send me some!!
Vera said,
March 23, 2009 @ 7:03 am
I’m looking froward to this final recipe of yours, Y 🙂 Mouthwatering confections!
Jude said,
March 24, 2009 @ 1:48 pm
There are many things I would do for a piece of the green tea dusted fudge. Where do I place orders? 🙂
Lee Tran said,
March 26, 2009 @ 6:44 pm
White choc + green tea + cranberry – oh my! x
G3 said,
April 26, 2011 @ 6:00 pm
I’ve just stumbled across this lovely post 2 years later! The fudge looks awesome!! Question: how did you get the White choc, lavender and coconut fudge looking so lovely and round? Did you use a mold and if so could you kindly let me know which type please? Ps I’m loving your entire blog!!
Y said,
April 26, 2011 @ 6:11 pm
Hi G3! Yes I used a flexible silicon mold, somewhat similar to this http://bit.ly/fhtXtB
Erin said,
November 23, 2011 @ 4:48 am
I want to do this for xmas. Please post the other recipes for the chocolate ginger or the brown sugar one!
Y said,
November 23, 2011 @ 8:55 am
Hi Erin,
Unfortunately, this post was written so long ago that I can’t actually remember which recipes I used exactly. I’ll look into it though, and post a recipe when I find it. In the meantime, I can I suggest these caramels by Dan Lepard as a sweet alternative. They really are amazing, and you can add ginger to them too if you wish.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/dec/04/edible-homemade-gifts-recipes-lepard