Lollipops and pulled candy
Boiling sugar to hard crack, pulling it while it is warm, and shaping lollipops on sticks.
What happens in this class
Classes
Six classes on the bench
Two hours each, twelve children at most, and everything made goes home in a box. Ages on each class are a guide rather than a rule; ring us if your child is close to the edge of one.
Rock with letters through it
The one everybody wants to understand: how the letters get in, and why they run all the way through.
What happens in this class
Gummy and jelly lab
Gelatine, pectin and setting times, with moulds the children fill themselves.
What happens in this class
Honeycomb and chocolate
Bicarbonate foaming, tempering by hand, and dipping what comes out of it.
What happens in this class
Family Saturday bench
One adult and one child at the same bench for two hours. Our most booked session.
What happens in this class
Teen sugar art
Pulled sugar ribbons, blown sugar spheres and the beginnings of showpiece work.
What happens in this classWhat a class actually looks like
Ten minutes of talking, then everybody is standing at a bench. Sugar is weighed and started in pans; while it climbs to temperature, moulds are prepared and colour is chosen. The interesting part is the eight minutes between soft ball and hard crack, when the whole room stops and watches thermometers.
The last twenty minutes are packing and cleaning, both of which are part of the class. Children wipe their own bench. Nobody has ever objected.
Six weeks or a single session
| Format | When | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Single Saturday class | 10.00–12.00 or 14.00–16.00 | €26–€34 depending on class |
| Six-week block, after school | Wednesdays 16.30–18.30 | €140 for the block |
| Family bench, in pairs | Saturdays 10.00–12.00 | €45 per adult-and-child pair |
| Teen sugar art | Fortnightly, Thursdays 17.00–19.00 | €34 |
What to bring, and what not to
- Hair tied back, sleeves that push up, and shoes that cover the whole foot.
- We supply aprons, ingredients, boxes and everything else.
- Please do not send food into the workshop. The no-nut rule only works if nothing comes in.
- Parents are welcome to stay; there are six chairs at the back and a kettle.
If your child has an allergy
Tell us at booking rather than on the day. Nuts are not in the building at all. Dairy, egg, gelatine and soya do appear, and for most classes we can swap an ingredient if we know in advance — gelatine for pectin in the jelly lab, for instance. On the day, with a full bench, we usually cannot.