How to make Coral out of sugar

For my son's birthday this year he wanted an Aquarium cake. I had remembered watching CakeBoss and loved the coral he made. They made it out of Isomalt, so I went and bought a bag of it. I found directions online on how to cook it and make coral. The Isomalt didn't work so great and it is expensive for one little bag, that doesn't make very much. Also Isomalt melts if it is real humid out, even though I had the air on. If you watched the show it melted on them also because someone put it in the fridge. I was real bummed that it didn't turn out.

My best freind had a great idea to try making it out of plain sugar! So we went on line and found a hard candy recipe using good old cheap sugar. I was so happy and pleased with the results as you can see.

First you will need ALOT of ice. I went and bought 2 of the big bags of ice from the party store. You will also need a tall stock pot to put the ice in. It works better if you can clean your freezer out to make enough room to be able to put the stock pot in it.

In a stainless steel pot you will add 2 cups of sugar and 2/3 cup of water. I double this so I got a thicker and less fragile coral. Stir this with a stainless steel spoon or whisk, but only until it starts to boil then stop. You want to boil this until it reaches 300 degrees. Just befor it reaches that you want to pull out of the freezer your tall pot, filled to the top with ice and have that ready to pour you sugar over it. When you pull your sugar of the stove sit the bottom of the pot in to cold water just for a few seconds until all of the hissing sounds stop. Then you want to really quickly stir in your coloring and then pour it over the ice in a circular motion. Let it sit for about a minute then very very carefully tip the pot on the side and pull out your sugar coral. You might have ice that is stuck on it or in it, so what I did was run cold water over it until it the ice melted. I then took my air brushing machine and blew air on it just to get as much of the water dryed off of it that I could. It will still be very sticky so let it dry until it is no longer sticky to the touch. Make sure you dry it on wax or parchment paper. I did notice that it won't stay totally clear, it will become cloudy and crystalize. I think it just makes it look more realistic because coral is not see through.