- Apparently isomalt can cause
first, second or third degree burns.
Contact your doctor immediately for medical advice.
I just wanted to make hot chocolate.
(musical blast)
(popping)
Hello everybody, it's Barry here.
Hope you are well, you, right there, you.
Today I don't how to summarise what we're doing,
so I'm just gonna call it how it is,
we are doing some crystal
or possibly transparent tea bombs.
(explosive blast)
So I broke the news the other day
that I actually finally like one cup of tea.
So we're gonna try and evolve it.
We're gonna try and make a tea bomb,
and then we might go for coffee bomb,
and then a hot chocolate bomb.
Okay, we've done hot chocolate bombs before,
they were amazing.
Actually spherical chocolate things you put warm milk on,
and it melts you, you fill it to your heart's content.
So fun, a lot of people love that video.
This is transparent
using something that I discovered yesterday.
(packet thuds)
Yeah, this is called isomalt,
it sounds like an aftershave, right?
I did not know this was a thing until literally yesterday.
So ordered it, and here it is.
Apparently it's very popular in baking,
and cakes and confectionary, and stuff
because when it's mixed with water and boiled,
it can be very dangerous by the way.
This is generally how hot that gets.
(packet thuds)
They recommend using sugar gloves,
which again, isomalt, sugar gloves,
I didn't even even know that was a thing.
So I-so-sorry that I didn't know of isomalt,
but now I do, I think the best thing to do
is to just get this going,
and make something with one of our silicon moulds,
and see what it looks like, all right?
The conclusion by the end of the today's video
I wanna have a glass that I pour hot fluid on
over a crystallised, or even ideally transparent,
bomb of tea, chocolate, or coffee.
We're keeping it quite open-ended.
(packet rustles)
And that is it there,
it looks a little bit...
Oh, it's got the texture of icing sugar.
All right.
So this is 60 mil of water that I've boiled,
and that goes in. (water trickles)
Now apparently the more water we add,
it affects the final consistency of it.
It can either be fairly soft, which I would love,
or literally as hard as a rock.
(hob clicks)
It is just coming up to a boil.
So it's been on a medium heat.
Put this lid on, (lid clatters)
lower the heat for about five minutes.
So this is me just trying to understand what's going on,
and how this works right now.
I don't really know.
Right now I'm feeling very, very un-confident
how we're gonna turn that
into a hot chocolate bomb, or whatever.
We then take it up to 160 C,
which is beyond the hard crack stage on my temperature,
320 Fahrenheit.
And that's why I've got the sugar gloves.
Apparently isomalt can cause
first, second or third degree burns,
and these gloves are recommended.
And we could just put hot chocolate in a mug, right?
"In the event of getting isomalt on your hands,
"quickly peel off the gloves, put your hands in iced water
"and contact your doctor immediately for medical advice."
Just wanted to make a hot chocolate!
The thermometer goes in.
(liquid bubbles)
All right, come on, baby.
Can you see that temperature is just
getting up to about 110 C already.
It smells, oh, it's just past 160.
Right, time to get it out.
But it smells like it's burnt.
Look, I can see amber in there.
That's not good, folks.
But anyhow, I'll just pour it out.
It's fairly clear, isn't it?
I have got a little bit left in there.
So I've got some green food colouring.
(liquid hisses)
Oh, that looks awesome.
I'm just trying to understand how this works.
No word of a lie, Mrs. B walks in,
and I've got my gloves on going,
ergh, doing that step then.
You come away, and you're like,
"You can't do this in a microwave, you know?"
Hmm, well, anyhow, this has been like two minutes.
Check this out.
(spoon clanks)
- Oh, wow.
(spoon clanks)
- But apparently by getting it to this stage
from the powder, you can let it cool down,
and it's glass,
which is very decorative,
or you can smash it up, melt it, and reuse it.
But instead I like the idea of using the microwave.
- Yeah, I think we should try the microwave,
see if that works.
(spoon clanks)
- [Barry] That is absolutely nuts.
- That's crazy.
- So I guess we don't need them gloves now
if we do the microwave step.
That to me sounds way safer.
I am not looking forward
to having to touch that saucepan again.
- Okay.
We need jug and the powder, and that's it.
- Water? - No.
- My confidence in you has dropped
by about 5% after that chat.
- So you put it in for 30 seconds, stir it.
30 seconds, stir it, just until it's melted.
(microwave door clanks)
You don't like this microwave anyway.
(microwave bleeps)
(microwave hums)
- I'll tell you what, I am not feeling...
You don't normally microwave powder, do you?
(microwave bleeps)
- Right, that's one 30.
- [Barry] Okay, and what's happened?
Has anything happened?
- [Mrs. B] It feels very warm.
(Barry laughs)
- [Barry] It's been in the microwave.
(microwave hums)
- [Mrs. B] Look, it's starting to melt.
- Right, that has been about three minutes
of solid microwaving and stirring,
which is the opposite of what it told me to do.
But look at that.
It's a bit cloudy though, isn't it?
All right, so we've done 30 seconds more.
Look, these have fully cooled.
You can lift that one off, mate, look.
- Oh, wow.
- Look. - That's cool.
- Look how transparent that sort of is.
- It's really sticky.
Oh! (isomalt cracks)
- But apparently, wow!
We can melt this down and kind of create
the equivalent of what that is.
(microwave bleeps)
- Oh, okay.
- Whereas this one, (spoon thuds)
that looks pretty darn cloudy,
but if we get it straight into the moulds,
which we're supposed to, it might go thin.
Pour a little smidge.
And then I work with a teaspoon. and push it up the sides.
Oh wow!
Okay, I think we got one.
- [Mrs. B] It sets straight away.
- [Barry] Yeah, it does, doesn't it?
It's very fiddly, isn't it?
- [Mrs. B] It is.
- I mean, I'm not that thirsty, so I only want one.
(Barry laughs)
The only thing with the temperatures
on the microwave version
is you don't actually know how hot you got it.
So we just kept going until it was super manoeuvrable,
but that's actually amazing, Mrs. B.
I was doubting that.
I didn't think you could literally microwave powder,
but then it isn't, it's like microwaving a sugar.
I think we've probably got, out of all of this,
maybe two, or one, whole one.
Okay, two halves.
- [Mrs. B] I hope so.
(Barry laughs)
- This row here is our best ones.
Do you me to, there we go.
(Barry gasps)
(magical music)
Oh, no, there's a little hole on it,
but that is way better than I thought we were gonna do.
You see where we're going now?
Look!
Right, Mrs. B, keep doing those.
I'm gonna melt this, and we'll see if we can pour it
into that mould using this method too.
(microwave bleeps)
Let's find out.
Actually... (isomalt cracks)
Oh my gosh.
(Barry crunches)
It's okay.
The only other thing, ah, I've done it again.
The only other thing with this recipe,
if you're doing this,
what with the breaking up that's happening,
you turn into Annie Lennox.
♪ It feels just like I'm walking on ♪
- Oh, broken glass. - Broken glass.
- It really smells like burnt sugar.
- [Barry] Yeah, it said to me that it can't be burnt.
(isomalt sizzles)
Oh my gosh, look at that.
Yeah, only a little bit like that, that's cool.
So the whole point of this was to see
if we can break down those crystals,
and get it fluid again, which we have.
Okay, it's yellow, so not so good.
But if we boil it on the hob again
to the point where it doesn't quite go as hot,
I don't want it to be that rock hard.
The hot water will dissolve it,
and then actually sugar our coffee, tea or hot chocolate.
It's just the colour of this one is yellow.
And these are too misty.
I think the best combination is gonna be the pan
to the point where just maybe a bit more water in there,
and also not quite as hot.
- Okay. - We don't risk it burning,
but we still know it's blended in there,
and it's clear, and then we work crazy fast, all right?
- Okay.
- Water. (water trickles)
And then the isomalt goes in.
All right, lid's going on for five minutes.
(liquid bubbles)
Now this is the point it was looking good,
but I think I pushed it up to 160,
and then that's what made it go yellow.
It's up to 100 C now,
we're gonna take it a little further,
but not too much more.
It is still clear and holding on,
but the more we push it temperature wise,
the harder it'll be.
It's at 120, all right, let's go for it.
- [Mrs. B] Turn it off? - Yeah.
So we'll get it into a jug.
If I go at the front here.
Oh, this is way more controllable.
We're even fronting up and doing it without gloves.
We are hardcore.
I'm feeling really confident with this.
So let's leave these to set.
What are you thinking, Mrs. B?
- I'm thinking these have worked a lot better.
- Yeah, it is all down to the set, isn't it?
- Yeah.
- But there are some bits,
we are getting those strands of hair, some lumps here.
Let's see.
(isomalt cracks)
Oh no!
It's shattered.
Just to go back to the amber one we made,
we just pour it into this Nintendo...
Do you remember I did chocolate gaming bar controllers
years ago, that video?
There we are, a glass NES controller,
and that's fairly transparent, right?
- Yeah, with an orange tinge.
- Orange flavour, no!
- No. - Just burnt.
You see what I mean, that's all right, ain't it?
All right, folks, so we have got it out.
I put it in the fridge for five minutes,
and I don't wanna get ahead of myself,
but over there we have got
a little transparent mug station
to hopefully make these variations.
Wanna go for it?
- All right.
- [Barry] We will take that, we will take that.
Ah, they're just breaking on the edges, aren't they?
Oh no!
- [Mrs. B] Oh no!
- [Barry] Well, that's a good one.
That's a good one.
That is a beauty.
Go on Mrs. B!
Good work.
- [Mrs. B] That's a good one.
- Yes.
I'm really happy with them.
So this is a stage I didn't think we would be at
at certain points in this video.
So you can put loose leaf tea in,
but we don't have any.
So we're just gonna put a tea bag in,
and I'm gonna do this is a hot chocolate mix.
So hot chocolate powder,
this is one that dissolves with water,
and then we can put marshmallows in.
And then we're gonna do a coffee one here
with some coffee granules.
(granules trickle)
All right, this is a hot tray, okay.
It's been warmed in the oven.
We just take it for a second like that, just touch it
and then join it together like that.
Ah, that's amazing.
You just literally touch it.
- [Mrs. B] Yeah.
- And it'll glue it,
and that holds the string in there.
Look at that.
- That's clever.
- Shall we have one?
- Yeah.
- Look, look, that's so cool.
That is gonna...
Oh my gosh, that dissolved straight away.
(Barry laughs)
Oh, you've got little lumps of it at the bottom.
There's a lump at the bottom,
you need to stir it to dissolve that through.
Oh, there we go, it's starting to break down.
Would you ever make this again?
I don't know, it's a bit quirky, isn't it?
I like the idea of actually making it a bomb though,
dropping it into hot water.
This could splash a bit, all right?
- Yeah. (cup clanks)
Oh, I didn't splash it.
Oh wow!
Oh, that's scarily weird.
- That's a bit weird.
It just looks like a bit of plastic floating.
(Barry laughs)
- Oh, there we go.
(spoon clanks)
Water first or bomb?
Oh, bomb.
Oh my gosh, it shattered a bit as that went in.
- Oh, no!
- [Barry] Here we go.
Oh, that's cool.
- Yay.
Oh, I see what you mean about the bottom of it.
- Yeah, it takes a while for it
to really sort of break it down.
But let me give you some milk as well.
Whoops! - Thank you.
- It's like the world's worst latte.
What a concept?
- I wouldn't say I'd wanna do it
all the time to make my drinks.
- No, I'm just glad it worked.
I mean, it is quite a fun concept, right?
- It is, yeah.
- It's different, I mean you could gift it.
I think the thing for us when we didn't do 160 C,
I think actually 130 would be a nice sweet spot to hit.
This is not softened at all,
but you could just see how it could maybe
be a teeny bit stronger,
but it it's fine, it's working.
- This tea one smells amazing.
- You want the tea?
I'll have a hot chocolate then.
- I'll try it.
(drink slurps)
- Oh my gosh.
There is an added sweetness in there.
It's like someone's putting an extra teaspoon of sugar in.
How's your tea, Mrs. B?
- Hmm, it's all right.
- Now, try the coffee as a comparison,
and see if that has naturally sweetened it for you.
- Oh yeah, oh, it has.
- Do you know what I mean?
That's crazy.
Our builders at the moment, they're like,
"Two sugars please, mate."
I'm like, "Or would you rather have one bomb?"
(Barry laughs)
They'll be like, "What?"
- That's really sweetened it.
- It has, hasn't it?
And it is a sort of, they say arguably
it's a healthier alternative to sugar,
with a sort of sweetness kind of vibe.
But a lot of bakers use it, so very fun indeed.
I feel like we we've done it, we can tick that off.
Some of you guys wanted to see it.
Hopefully this has nourished your fulfilment.
It's time for some afternoon tea.
Cheers guys.
(musical blast)
Hey, everyone,
so I've just got to the end of the video,
and I've edited it,
but we are not gonna end there.
I've decided I'm not happy with it.
In person, Mrs. B and I, when we were looking at it,
we are like, "Yeah, this is see-through,
this is looking good."
Teeny bit of pooling.
But when it came to the editing it for me,
which is obviously what you'll see,
like this step here, it was a bit sort of murky.
And I make a thumbnail out of that same thing, right?
So this is one there, and here's another one.
It's clear in the middle, but the top,
that's really enhanced that.
So I am gonna jump to a few days' time
where I'm gonna make another batch,
but try to avoid the pooling
to see if we can get it even clearer.
Fingers crossed.
All right, it's three days later.
You might notice in the corner
I've snipped my mould in half,
that's because I'm gonna try and go
chocolate style this time.
(gloves flap)
That's right, (gloves slap)
the gloves are back, or off.
No, the gloves are on.
I'm actually gonna transfer this,
once it's up to temperature, to a ramekin,
so it's a bit easy to handle.
(liquid bubbles)
The plan is to go chocolate style.
We're gonna stick it down, non-stick surface underneath.
Like when you pour chocolate in,
we can go like that a little bit, then turn it out,
so it doesn't sit at the bottom.
Hence the gloves, it's gonna be hot.
My ramekin will pour in there.
We might load it up quite a bit.
It might spill out, but I feel, fingers crossed,
this is the best way of doing it.
All right, here we go.
Here's my ramekin, I'm gonna pour it in.
I'm gonna pour, ah, that's so hot in that ramekin.
Oh my gosh.
It looks really clear though.
I took it to 125 to be precise,
tilt it around like that to coat it as best I can.
Nice and quick.
This is a bit overkill just for a cup of coffee, right?
It's probably gonna stick to this wire rack,
but I'm okay with that.
I feel like there's gonna be a snapping off point.
All I can do now is let it set
just to see if it worked.
Done another batch there, that ramekin,
although it took a teeny bit of time,
I got it nice and hot, poured it in there.
Although I did touch my finger just then
with the gloves on with that on it.
And I was on fire.
So I'm so glad I wore them.
But at the same time,
I felt like they were just washing up gloves.
I dunno if they're like legit.
Can you see that?
(Barry laughs)
Okay.
(Barry laughs)
Now what I'm gonna do is just snap off...
(isomalt snaps)
But this does look fairly clear.
That looks much better to me,
look, you can see my red t-shirt in it.
Hello, am I?
Okay, I cracked a couple of them, damn it!
Out of the six from that mould, only one is salvageable.
But from this set, there could be a good one,
but I'm not gonna risk it.
I'm gonna warm it up again.
This time, use a pastry brush to lick the side
so it's all coated before tipping it out, all right.
(Barry gasps)
(Barry hums)
And then turn it.
(tray clatters)
But whilst that's doing its thing, and setting, ergh!
We're back to this.
(Barry laughs)
Oh my gosh.
I don't think I've got any good ones in this.
Oh my gosh, what is that like Lego or something?
(isomalt cracks)
Oh, no!
(flame hisses)
(isomalt cracks)
Oh, no way!
(Barry yells)
No, they're breaking.
I just want one.
I'll just take that now.
I think is gonna happen again, ain't it?
(isomalt cracks)
Oh no!
I'm just doing one more,
but this time I've just filled two there,
and I'm just sticking it down
and using the trivets to rest it in the middle,
so there's none there.
This should hold it up away from the tray.
(celebratory blast)
Yeah, like that.
Oh, come on!
Yes.
Oh, yes.
I don't even know what this video is anymore.
All right, folks, it is time.
I actually fancy having a tea.
(water trickles)
To be honest, I fancy something stronger.
And that is a lot more see-through.
Can you see?
I can see that.
I think the hot chocolate bomb one looks way cooler.
Look, you can genuinely see those marshmallows now.
I looked at the thumbnail just a minute again,
the old potential one.
You couldn't see a thing.
I am much happier with that.
Here we go.
Ah (laughs).
Oh my gosh, that's really cool.
Yay.
(Barry chuckles)
All right. - Drop it in?
- Yeah.
I just microwaved some milk.
I figured, well, I never really like it with water.
Oh, look at that.
- Oh, amazing.
Well done. (hand slaps)
You can go and have a lie down now.
Oh! - So that's nice?
- That is so good.
It needed milk, didn't it?
- Yeah.
- Folks, it's been a long video making this
over like a week's time,
but I was determined to nail this today,
or another day,
and I think we've done it.
- You've done it, well done.
- Right, well, let's never make that again.
(both laugh)
♪ L-O-V-E is how you spell food ♪
♪ Gonna make some truffles to get you in the mood ♪
♪ To me your support is smooth as silk ♪
♪ When I have my cereal I pour on milk ♪
♪ If you've got a food mixer, give it a whirl ♪
♪ I gotta let you know ♪
♪ I'm still cooking in love with you, girl ♪