Why is fudge not setting

The pyrex bowl I was using had retained a lot of heat and that's what was causing the fudge to not thicken so I was actually cooling the bowl off, not so much the fudge. My cake batter consistency fudge quickly went to that of taffy and continued to thicken from there. It never got to cookie dough consistency but I really couldn't stir it much anymore at all so I poured it into a pan and it's now in the fridge.

Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Fudge not setting up-- any salvaging possible? Alternate uses? Ask Question. Asked 6 years, 10 months ago. Active 5 years, 8 months ago. Viewed k times. Improve this question. Jennifer Jennifer 31 1 1 gold badge 1 1 silver badge 3 3 bronze badges. You didn't cook it long enough.

Fudge needs to be heated to the "soft ball" stage. It is salvageable, but you'd have to be very careful of sugar crystallization. If you make a mistake you'll wind up with a grainy mess. I'd go with fudge sauce. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer. I agree with the "not heated enough" part, and I know that further heating with cream can concentrate the syrup pretty well - but she already mixed it with chocolate.

Do you think this will still work without ruining the chocolate? If there is too much evaporation, when the cooking time is too long, there will not be enough water left in the fudge and it will be too hard.

Conversely, if the cooking time is too brief and there is not enough evaporation, too much water will remain and the fudge will be too soft. This will ensure the fudge has the ideal concentration of water and sugar. Fudge is difficult to make. There are too many unknowns to set an exact time. Cooking time depends on the size of your pan — the bigger it is, the more evaporation will occur — plus the heat intensity or power level of the microwave. Fudge can be cooked on the stove or in the microwave.

The advantage of using a microwave is that the mixture will not stick to the bottom of the pan during cooking. In both cases, sugar and cream must be brought to a boil by gently stirring then — and this is very important — refrain from stirring again throughout the rest of the cooking process. Sugar crystallization causes a chain reaction: if a crystal is present in the mixture, other sugar molecules will attach to it and the mixture may seize and become grainy.

During cooking, sugar crystals can stick to the sides of the pan. If you stir the mixture, these crystals could fall in and crystallize a part of the sugar again. Once the material is no longer shiny, you can pour it into a pan and see if it sets up. Let it cool completely to room temperature before placing it in a refrigerator. You can reuse fudge for many things: chocolate sauce for ice cream, icing for cakes and cupcakes, or a drizzle for cookies and other pastry desserts.

If your fudge failed to set, there are a few other uses for it. Your fudge is useful in recipes that call for melted chocolate. Fudge can be used in pudding cakes, regular cakes, and cupcakes, replacing melted chocolate directly.

Keep in mind that unless your fudge is very dark, the recipes will come out sweeter, especially if they request semi-sweet or dark chocolate or baking chocolate.