Using Fondant On Your Baked Goods

When you’re working in the baking and pastry arts, you need to be prepared to make cakes, pies and cookies that taste fantastic and look spectacular. To achieve consistently amazing creations, you’ll come to rely on a number of go-to elements that contribute the right look and flavor. Every baker needs to know how to make fondant, an edible icing that’s used to shape or decorate pastries and cakes.

There are different types of fondant with varied uses. By familiarizing yourself with recipes and applications for the most common kinds of fondant, you’ll be ready to take on a wide range of baking and decorating challenges. Applying the right icing can make all the difference in crafting a dessert that’s as gorgeous as it is delicious.

Preparing a poured fondant

“Poured fondant is a creamy, paste-like confection.”

Poured fondant is a creamy, paste-like confection. It can be used as a filling or coating for cakes and pastries such as petits fours, eclairs or cupcakes. Poured fondant is often very simple – made from a combination of sugar, shortening, and water – but some variations call for additional ingredients to achieve tastier results or the ideal color.

Add a Pinch offered an easy recipe to get you started. In a saucepan, combine three cups of sifted powdered sugar with a tablespoon of light corn syrup and four tablespoons of water. Set on medium-low heat and keep stirring until you see a reading of 100 degrees Fahrenheit on your candy thermometer.

Set your cookies or pastries on a wire cooling rack set over a bowl. Then, use a large spoon to pour the icing over the top. You can also carefully dip items into the fondant, placing them on a wire rack to cool.

Rolling out the ultimate cake decoration

Rolled fondant is generally used for decorating wedding cakes, substituting for the more traditional royal icing or marzipan. Fondant is often a preferable alternative since it doesn’t require the nut meal that can be bad news for any guests with allergies.

Bigger Bolder Baking provided directions for rolled fondant, starting with adding a package of unflavored gelatin to a quarter cup of cold water. Once the mixture thickens, transfer it to the top of a double boiler, heating until it dissolves.

Add a half cup of glucose syrup and a tablespoon of glycerin, mixing thoroughly. Then, stir in shortening. Just before the mixture completely melts, take it off of the heat and add a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

While the gelatin mixture cools, pour four cups of powdered sugar into a bowl. Form a well in the center, and then use a wooden spoon to stir in the the gelatin mixture. Mix with the sugar until it’s no longer sticky. Then gradually add another four cups of sugar, kneading as you go.

Roll out the fondant with a rolling pin on a surface covered with more powdered sugar. Use paste food coloring to give the icing your preferred tint.

Cake covered in fondantFondant can make beautiful cake decorations.

Filling candy with fun

Cream fondant will come in handy if you are trying your hand at candy-making. The Spruce suggested a recipe that will allow you to make the base of a cream candy or form unique decorations.

Start by sifting together 3.5 cups of powdered sugar and a half teaspoon of cream of tartar. Stir in three tablespoons of heavy whipped cream and one lightly whisked egg white. Using a rolling pin and work surface that are both dusted with powdered sugar, roll out the fondant to about a half-inch thickness. Use a knife to cut off pieces.

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