In which I am most certainly not 6.5

“I’m making marshmallow” she said.  Course she is.

Little bit later.

“It’s very good” she said.  Course it is.

And then she blogged it.

And I got all excited and really had to try it.

And yesterday a parcel arrived in the mail from Ms 6.5 which cemented (the already done deal of) making it in the afternoon.

Which was where things started going wrong…

Stir sugar and glucose syrup in a pan until it drops as a hard ball in cold water.

Done.

Meanwhile whisk egg whites until they form soft peaks, add sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.

Done.

Bring strained passionfruit juice to boil, add gelatin powder and mix until dissolved.

FECK (thank you Father Ted) I forgot to strain the passionfruit – which are still whole and uncut.  I cut the passionfruit and begin the straining process, realising along the way that I don’t actually have enough passionfruit to provide the juice needed.  Never mind, it will still be OK.  Yes?

Passionfruit strained, lets go to the stovetop and boil the -  FECK (thank you Father Ted) the sugar has gone into one solid white mass.

Never mind, thinks I.  Sugar will become melted again with a little heat and stirring perhaps.

FECK (thank you Father Ted) the sugar is breaking up and dissolving but there are still large blocks that are taking longer to dissolve and the remaining syrup is starting to tan and look scarily toffee-like.

At least the beaten egg whites are perfect and marvellous over there in my electric mixer.  How I love my electric mixer…… the speed, the grace, the beautiful traces it leaves in the wake of the beaters….

OK, sugar dissolved now, add passionfruit/gelatin mix ignoring how little of it there actually is after the boiling process.

FECK (thank you Father Ted) the sugar/passionfruit/gelatin mix is bubbling up and looking dangeous and very hot.  It’s also going stringy and looking even more toffee-like.  I have a feeling this is not going to be as elevated a result as experienced by Ms 6.5 from the recipe available in Vogue entertaining in the Dec/Jan 2009 issue.

Breathe in.

Add sugar/passionfruit mix to egg whites whisking the egg whites the entire time.

And this is where I realise that ‘whisking’ is probably best done with a hand-held whisker – as the sugar mix causes the egg white mixture to froth WILDLY, spilling all over the bench, my clothing, the machine and filling the bowl completely.  Note to self – the words ’slowly add’ were probably important vital…

FECK, FECK, FECK, FECK, FECK (thank you Father Ted) .

Oil a flat rectangular tin and dust it with icing sugar and cornflour mix sifted (are you kidding – the strainer is still filled with passionfruit seeds.  FECK (thank you Father Ted) I should have done that before.

Pour remaining marshmallow into the oiled, dusted beautiful tin, stand back and admire the result – which actually looks very pretty and smells like it might even be edible. A toffee marshmallow perhaps?  Maybe even a miraculous, serendipitous discovery!

And how is it?

FECKing awful.

But I will try again,

after I’ve cleaned the kitchen….