Fondant Recipe and Decorating Tips

This easy rolled fondant recipe is great for creating a beautiful, smooth covering for any cake.

The benefit of making your own fondant is that it is less costly than purchasing prerolled fondant; however, purchasing fondant can save you plenty of preparation time.

Poured fondant has a completely different look and texture. It is shiny and translucent. Poured fondant is commonly used to cover petit-fours.

You can color or marbelize this fondant recipe by adding paste food coloring with a toothpick. Paste coloring is best, because it is made with glycerin and will not affect the consistency of the fondant. 

To marbelize this fondant recipe: Add a small amount of color and knead in a bit, but not to the point of making the fondant uniformly colored. When rolled out, it will appear marbelized.

Another way to marbelize is to combine different colors of fondant. Twist them around one another and knead them just until you achieve the marbelizing effect you like.

When coloring the fondant, add a little paste at a time. You can always add more to darken the shade, but you can't lighten it unless you have more white fondant available to knead in.

The cake will look best if the fondant color is lighter than the rest of the decorations. If you are trying to achieve an intense color, be more generous with the food color, as it will take quite a bit to get a dark shade.

Due to the glycerin in the food color paste, the fondant recipe may become a bit sticky. Just add additional confectioner's sugar as necessary to return the fondant to its original texture.

Professional decorators use fondant quite frequently, due to its versatility and pristine finish. Fondant can be decorated by airbrushing the color on or by painting it with a powdered food coloring and lemon extract mixture.
Painting a cake is great fun and gives you endless design possibilities. It's also easier and less time consuming than tinting fondant different colors.

If you decide to paint a cake, first test your colors on a piece of white fondant. Once you begin brushing color directly on the cake, you won't be able to remove it. 

A lot of people don't care for the taste of fondant. Marshmallow fondant is a great alternative fondant recipe and it's inexpensive to make.

Easy Rolled Fondant Recipe

Yields 2 lbs. - enough to cover an 8 - 9" cake

In the top of a double boiler, place gelatin and water. Allow the gelatin to soak for 5 minutes.

Set this mixture over bottom of double boiler, filled with hot water. Allow to dissolve, but not boil.

Add glycerine and glucose. Stir until melted.

Place 5 cups of the confectioner's sugar into a bowl and make a well in it.
Pour gelatin mixture into the center of the confectioner's sugar.

Knead until soft. Wrap in plastic.

Let fondant recipe sit for at least 6 hours before using. 

When you are ready to use the fondant, knead additional confectioner's sugar into it.  You may want to place the fondant into the microwave for 15 - 20 seconds to make it easier to knead. Only add as much confectioner's sugar as it takes to make it a firm dough. You don't want it to be sticky, but too much will make it crack. Your climate will effect the fondant, so the right amount varies.

Most sources tell you not to refrigerate a cake covered in fondant. I have refrigerated it without a problem. It could possibly become sticky. That will vary according to the weather and your refrigerator. I would suggest you test it out with a practice cake.

If you do experience stickiness, then only use fondant with cakes filled with fillings that don't require refrigeration.

Covering the Cake 

The edge of the cake should be beveled to prevent the fondant from cracking. Trim evenly around the top layer of the cake.

Rolled fondant needs something to stick to in order to adhere to the cake. You can ice it first with buttercream or place it on top of marzipan.

When using marzipan, brush the surface with hot water first to make it sticky.

When covering a cake with rolled fondant, determine the size to create by adding the size of the pan to twice the height of the cake. For example: For a round 9" cake that is 3" high - 9" + 3" + 3" = 15". This means you would roll out the fondant to a circle that is a minimum of 15" at 1/4" thickness.

This same sum of 15 also tells you how many ounces of fondant you will need to cover your cake. So, for any cake, double the height and add it to the diameter to figure out how many ounces of fondant you'll need.

Roll fondant with a rolling pin on a surface dusted with cornstarch to prevent sticking.The rolling pin should be lightly dusted, as well.

Fold the rolled fondant over the rolling pin and place on cake so that the center of the fondant sets down in the center of the cake.

Start smoothing the fondant with your hands from the top and work your way down the sides. Trim any excess away at the base of the cake.

If embossing the fondant, do so immediately. If you wish to paint the fondant, wait until it is dry first. 

Intricate fondant molds offer endless possiblilies for creating breathtaking cakes with dramatic designs.  These applications can be attached any where on the cake by wetting the back of the fondant with water. The molds can also be used for marzipan, modeled chocolate and gum paste.

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