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How is Kendal Mint Cake made?
Four ingredients, a copper pan and a lot of stirring. Here is how Kendal Mint Cake is made, why the stirring turns it white, and why the same syrup left alone would set clear.
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Kendal Mint Cake is a peppermint flavoured sugar bar from Kendal in Cumbria: see Kendal Mint Cake. It is made from four simple ingredients: sugar, glucose, water and peppermint oil. The makers keep their exact recipes and methods secret, but the basic process is known.
The method
- Boil. The sugar, glucose, water and peppermint oil are boiled together in a copper pan.
- Stir. The mixture is stirred continuously as it cooks.
- Pour. It is poured by hand into moulds. In its history of mint cake, Kendal's Stricklandgate House Trust says the skill lies with the sugar boiler, who has to know the right moment to pour.
- Set and break. Once it has set, it is broken into individual bars.
Why stirring turns it white
Sugar sweets fall into two families. Crystalline sweets, such as fudge and fondant, get their texture from tiny sugar crystals, which makes them easy to bite or cut into. Clear boiled sweets have a disorganised structure with no crystals at all, and are hard and glassy. Stirring pushes a sugar syrup towards the first family: some of the earliest fudge recipes were stirred all the time, and the fudge came out crumbly because the syrup crystallised. Mint cake is stirred continuously, and without that stirring the result would be clear: see how is fondant made?
The Trust describes the result as a blend of textures, half solid and half granular, that tastes creamy when eaten. Romney's says the first bite of its mint cake is firm, but it quickly goes soft and melts in the mouth.
Born from a batch that went wrong
The same chemistry sits behind the origin story. In 1869 Joseph Wiper, who married into the Thompson family of Kendal confectioners, is supposed to have left a boiled solution for glacier mints overnight, only to find in the morning that it had turned cloudy and set solid. Glacier mints are the clear kind: see Fox's Glacier Mints. Romney's, which bought Wiper's in 1987, says it still makes mint cake to Wiper's original recipe.
White, brown and chocolate
Mint cake made with white sugar, mint cake made with brown sugar, and mint cake covered in chocolate are the main kinds. Romney's covers its white mint cake in Belgian dark chocolate. It gives its white and brown mint cake as 379 kcal per 100 g, and the chocolate covered bar as 402 kcal per 100 g, and its bars carry a best before date of 12 months.
Fuel for explorers
Mint cake is almost pure sugar, which is why it has long been carried as energy food. Wiper's Kendal Mint Cake went with Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans Antarctic Expedition of 1914 to 1917, and Romney's went up Everest with Edmund Hillary's team in 1953: see the sweet that went up Everest. For the odd name, see why is Kendal Mint Cake called a cake?
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Questions and answers
How is Kendal Mint Cake made?
Sugar, glucose, water and peppermint oil are boiled in a copper pan and stirred continuously. The mixture is poured into moulds and left to set, then broken into bars. Each maker keeps its exact recipe and method secret.
Why is Kendal Mint Cake white and not clear?
Because it is stirred as it cooks. Stirring makes the sugar crystallise, which gives the cake its white, opaque, slightly granular texture. Without stirring, the same mixture would set clear, like a boiled sweet.
Is Kendal Mint Cake vegetarian?
Romney's says all its mint cake is suitable for vegetarians, and that it may contain traces of milk because milk fudge is made in the same factory. Recipes and factories differ between makers, so check the label.
Sources
- Kendal Mint Cake, Wikipedia
- Frequently asked questions, Romney's Kendal Mint Cake
- The story of Kendal Mint Cake, Stricklandgate House Trust
- Hard candy, Wikipedia
- Fudge, Wikipedia
Keep reading
- British heritage sweetsKendal mint cakeKendal Mint Cake is a peppermint sugar bar from Kendal in Cumbria, said to have been born from a mistake in 1869. It went to the Antarctic and up Everest.
- Questions people askWhy is Kendal Mint Cake called a cake?Because cake is an old word for any flat, rounded mass, not just a baked sponge. Kendal Mint Cake is a slab of peppermint sugar, never baked.
- British heritage sweetsFox's Glacier MintsFox's Glacier Mints are clear peppermint sweets sold since 1918, with Peppy the polar bear. Fox's once used a real stuffed polar bear in its adverts.
- How it is madeHow is fondant made?Fondant is sugar and water boiled to the soft ball stage, cooled undisturbed, then beaten hard so many tiny sugar crystals form at once, giving a smooth cream.
- How it is madeHow is fudge made?Fudge is sugar, butter and milk boiled to about 116°C, cooled to around 49°C and beaten until thick. Tiny sugar crystals give it a creamy texture.
- Stories, heists and recordsThe sweet that went up EverestRomney's Kendal Mint Cake went up Everest with Hillary and Tenzing in 1953, and the pair buried sweets in the snow on the summit. Here is the story.