Homemade Sugar "Cubes"

I decided to attempt some sugar cubes.  I have a bag of sugar, but when you only want a spoonful or so to put in a cup of tea, it's much easier to grab a cube.  After I found this link, my experiment began.

The idea is simple, really.  You mix some sugar and water in a bowl, and then you bake them and cut them into cubes.

The execution was not so simple.

First, I made the mixture, but then realized I'd have to wait until the next day to bake it, so I threw it in the fridge.  When I took it out again (on the left), the crystals weren't maliable at all, and so I added some extra water (on the right).

This turned out horribly.  Everything dissolved immediately.  I lined the casserole dish with a double layer of parchment paper and kept adding sugar the the bowl until it had some what of a chunky consistency.  It was still too liquidy to score, so I decided to just bake it as is (left).

When it came out, it was still bubbling (left).  This was a bad sign.  Then, I discovered that it was stuck.  The mixture had oozed out of the sides of one piece of parchment and then around behind the other piece of parchment, coated the bottom of the dish, and was now locking everything together.  Great.  Deciding that removing the concoction at all was better than dumping it all down the sink, I opted to try double boiling (right).

The results?  Well, you can see for yourself.  It all came out in a glop with parchment paper stuck all throughout the insides. I pulled at it, essentially removing shards of the sticky substance to use as very non-cubical sugar cubes.  Effective, essentially, but a mess and not at all worth it.  I advice going to the store!




Has anyone else done this?  Have you been successful?  What am I missing?