Hello to everyone.  This is my first post, and I am looking forward to your replies.

A bride requested a croquembouche wedding cake.  I’ve been experimenting with spun sugar (pic below) in preparation for her tasting and consultation, but it seems like there’s no way that the delicate strands will last beyond a morning in the humid New England summer.  I know a few bakeries that make the croquembouche with just caramel or chocolate in between the cream puffs…but no spun sugar halo.  It is necessary to do sugar work on location?  Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Hi.  You may want to invest in some silica gel—I have used it to reduce humidity in an airtight container.  I usually put some silica gel in a dish and cover with a cloth or paper towel and use an elastic band to secure it to the dish.  I set this in a container with whatever needs to be kept a low moisture and it seems to help.  Obviously if you could gently remove some of the air and seal very well, then it should keep well.  I did this with a spun sugar ball I made for Christmas and while it wasn’t high humidity, it worked out ok.  I also used a zip-seal bag outside of the container for added security. 

You shouldn’t eat the silica gel and it sometimes needs drying before use.  It can be purchased at craft stores.  I can’t guarantee it, but it might be worth trying a test batch out and then see if it survives in humid environment.

As beautiful as the spun sugar is, you may not be able to have it on the day of because of summer humidity.

You might want to experiment with making some pulled sugar shapes (petals, tendrils, flowers even) and use those for adornment. You can use the isomalt sticks or pearls.  That will hold up really well in an airtight box with the silica gel Sherrie mentions.

You could make shapes from the pate a choux - for a crocq wedding cake we did last October, my assistant made the most adorably perfect hearts (she made a few actually) and used those for the top garnish.  You might want to make a few of those and use them instead of the spun sugar.  If you’re really looking for the golden sheen; then use some edible gold pearl spray and lightly spray the baked shapes.  Not too much, otherwise it looks really bad (trust the voice of experience here!)

It is amazing how some brides ask for something they have no clue if it works or not..  Its like “this is what I want and it is your problem how to come up with it”...

I hope you will find what you are looking for.  But I think Jeanne made a good suggestion.  I myself like edible gold and I use them often.  They are very elegant and will stand to any weather.

How about making the croquembouche as it is then just add like strands of thread like fondant around it then paint those pieces of fondant in edible gold.  As long as the weather is not over a 100 degrees,  fondant will be fine as long as it is dry and not freshly cut.

good luck