There are several options for decorating cakes, but fondant has been the preferred choice through history.
The earliest use of fondant dates to the renaissance era, where pure sugar was far too expensive. So a paste made from sugar and almonds was used instead, to decorate desserts.
Why fondant?
Fondant that covers most professionally baked cakes, provides a sense of smoothens and elegance, which makes any cake stand out from the crowd.
The primary benefit of using fondant rather than conventional icing is its flexibility. It is easy to shape into almost anything. You can craft figurines – animal, humans, flowers etc. Today bakers usually combine fondant frosting with piped frostings and other decorations, using royal icing to "glue" fondant into the shapes they desire.
Even in fondant there are 2 flavour variations cooked and uncooked.
Cooked fondant is sweet enough to be relished as an icing. Yet many cake decorators prefer to utilise uncooked fondant that is made mostly of confectioner's sugar as it has almost no taste.
Although there are several recipes for fondants commercial ones are best to use.
They tend to be more stable, consistency is far better, lasts longer and have more flexibility when it comes to spreading. The good part is they are available both with regular and vegetarian gelatine.
As a first time user fondant can be very difficult to work with.
At times, in humid climate it gets sticky and secondly if held for too much time the body heat again creates sweating. If you are not swift with working, other problems include getting hard and cracking.
Always remember when working with fondant use small quantities and add as necessary. It is advisable to keep plastic wrap nearby and wrap the remaining fondant, as direct exposure to air will cause it to harden.
Never ever refrigerate your fondant or for that matter any of your sugarcraft decorations, or they will sweat in the fridge. Just securely store them in a cool dry place.
Never cover a cake straight from the fridge. To achieve a professional finish only cover cakes at room temperature.
Never use icing that is too dry or over kneaded. This will make the corners crack very easily.
Uses of different types of fondants
Pourable fondant is rather thin in consistency as it is mixed with sugar syrup for flavor and is used to create the icing on traditional French petits fours.
Rolled fondant is most popularly used, mainly in large cakes such as wedding ones. It has stiffer consistency, due to the presence of gelatine.
Flavoured fondant is used to create centres of candies as well as icing cakes.
The earliest use of fondant dates to the renaissance era, where pure sugar was far too expensive. So a paste made from sugar and almonds was used instead, to decorate desserts.
Why fondant?
Fondant that covers most professionally baked cakes, provides a sense of smoothens and elegance, which makes any cake stand out from the crowd.
The primary benefit of using fondant rather than conventional icing is its flexibility. It is easy to shape into almost anything. You can craft figurines – animal, humans, flowers etc. Today bakers usually combine fondant frosting with piped frostings and other decorations, using royal icing to "glue" fondant into the shapes they desire.
Even in fondant there are 2 flavour variations cooked and uncooked.
Cooked fondant is sweet enough to be relished as an icing. Yet many cake decorators prefer to utilise uncooked fondant that is made mostly of confectioner's sugar as it has almost no taste.
Although there are several recipes for fondants commercial ones are best to use.
They tend to be more stable, consistency is far better, lasts longer and have more flexibility when it comes to spreading. The good part is they are available both with regular and vegetarian gelatine.
As a first time user fondant can be very difficult to work with.
At times, in humid climate it gets sticky and secondly if held for too much time the body heat again creates sweating. If you are not swift with working, other problems include getting hard and cracking.
Always remember when working with fondant use small quantities and add as necessary. It is advisable to keep plastic wrap nearby and wrap the remaining fondant, as direct exposure to air will cause it to harden.
Never ever refrigerate your fondant or for that matter any of your sugarcraft decorations, or they will sweat in the fridge. Just securely store them in a cool dry place.
Never cover a cake straight from the fridge. To achieve a professional finish only cover cakes at room temperature.
Never use icing that is too dry or over kneaded. This will make the corners crack very easily.
Uses of different types of fondants
Pourable fondant is rather thin in consistency as it is mixed with sugar syrup for flavor and is used to create the icing on traditional French petits fours.
Rolled fondant is most popularly used, mainly in large cakes such as wedding ones. It has stiffer consistency, due to the presence of gelatine.
Flavoured fondant is used to create centres of candies as well as icing cakes.
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