Sugar Cubes Recipes

Steps:

• Stir sugar, espresso, water, and espresso powder together in a bowl with a fork until all the liquid is incorporated and the mixture has the consistency of wet sand. Pour mixture onto a baking sheet.
• Press sugar mixture by hand into a firmly-packed rectangle. Straighten the sides of the rectangle with a dough cutter or metal spatula. Cut mixture into small cubes and spread cubes slightly apart on the baking sheet. Dry cubes at room temperature until set, about 24 hours.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F.
• Cut the 4 vanilla beans into 1/2-inch pieces and grind to a coarse powder in a coffee grinder.
• In a large bowl, mix the sugar, vanilla bean powder and extract until thoroughly combined (when the extract is completely incorporated the mixture will look a bit like dough). Pour the sugar mixture into an 8 by 8-inch pan and spread out evenly to a 1/2-inch thickness. Next, use a knife to score out 1/2-inch by 1/2-inch cubes by running the knife the length of the pan every 1/2-inch and the width of the pan every 1/2-inch. Bake for 1 1/2 hours. Remove the pan from oven and let cool. Once cooled, carefully flip the pan over onto a large cookie sheet to remove the sugar. Allow to cool completely, and then gently break into cubes along the scored lines.
• To "round" the edges of the cubes gently pour them into a big pot with a cover and lightly shake. Check and repeat if necessary. Pour the cubes from the pot into a small holed colander or sifter and sift off any sugar particles that can be reserved as granulated vanilla bean sugar!

Steps:

• Arrange cubes in a single layer in a 15x10x1-in. baking pan. Push cubes to one side; pack into pan with rolled-up foil to stabilize cubes for decorating., In a small bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar, water, meringue powder and cream of tartar; beat on low speed just until combined. Beat on high for 4-5 minutes or until stiff peaks form. Keep unused icing covered at all times with a damp cloth., For decorating, remove 2/3 cup icing to a small bowl; add 2 teaspoons water. Add a very small amount of yellow food coloring to tint icing pale ivory so it will show on white cubes. (Leave icing white if using brown cubes.) , Cut a very small hole in the corner of a resealable plastic bag or insert tip #2 into a pastry bag. Fill bag with icing; pipe each sugar cube with a candy cane shape., Let dry at room temperature for at least 2 hours or overnight before painting stripes on canes. (For faster drying, heat oven to 150°, turn oven off and place tray of cubes in oven for 1 hour.), For stripes, add 1/8 teaspoon water to 1 teaspoon icing. Add enough red food coloring to make a dark red. With paintbrush, add stripes to canes. Let stand until dry.