In Cake Decorating part 1 we talked a little bit about how to use frosting. Today we’re going to get into decorating with fondant, which is my favorite.
First of all, what is fondant? Fondant is a sugary gelatin compound that more or less resembles play dough. People use it to decorate cakes. Basically, it’s that really sugary frosting that was on the last piece of wedding cake that you ate. It’s nice, because it is easy to work with. Like I said, the consistency is similar to play dough, which makes it really easy to roll and cut out shapes. It gives the cake a very professional, smooth sort of look.
The problems? Fondant can be a little expensive for the college budget. Also, it’s kinda gross. Which is why I found this recipe for making fondant. It tastes a little more like actual frosting, and you don’t have to run around town trying to track down glycerine.
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup shortening
1/2 tsp salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 lbs confectioners sugar.
I’ve usually found that for a single cake I only need about half the recipe. Also, since this is a college cooking blog, I’ll throw this out there. If you don’t have corn syrup, you can substitute 1 cup sugar with 1/4 cup water. I’ve had better luck with real corn syrup, though that may be partially due to the fact that I think the only time I used the substitute was like my first time making it.
mix the first four ingredients then gradually add and knead in the confectioners sugar until to you have a consistency that’s stiff, but not so stiff that it cracks. You’re then free to roll out the fondant and use it as you will. I do recommend a very thin layer of butter cream frosting over the cake so the fondant will stick. I’ve kind of had a trial and error experience learning how to do this. Let’s look at my cake decorating journey.
The first fondant cake:
To be exact, this isn’t the first cake I made with fondant, but it is the first with my homemade fondant. I got a little too much powdered sugar in there, which caused it to crack, as you can see. All the same, the cake turned out pretty well I think. I knew that it was cracking, so i just incorporated that into the design. That’s why there aren’t any very large portions of any particular color. The little cabing is made out of pretzels. The snow on the trees is butter cream frosting. And the snow falling from the sky is powdered sugar. So not an ideal sort of fondant cake, but kind of fun all the same.
Cake number two was made from the same batch of fondant, which meant similar issues with it cracking. But I was prepared and instead just made sure I did small patches. I had noticed while I was kneading food coloring in, that if you don’t fully mix the colors in you got a cool marble effect. So I played with that. Side note: I made this cake for my art major roommates birthday, thus the artsy theme.
The marbling effect also makes the cracks less noticeable. On the side I just had fun mixing different colors I had never tried before. The brush hairs i made using a butter knife to make little knicks in the fondant. And the little pool of green paint is just food coloring. Overall, this ended up being one of my favorite cakes I’ve ever made.
Cake Three:
This one is from a year later, for the same roommate. As you can see, there’s still some cracking issues, though not as bad. I also have worked on my splatter art technique, and I think I could do it better if I were to try again. I am kinda proud of the pencil. The lead is a single chocolate sprinkle. Looks pretty legit, though. This one’s not my favorite cake. Nor is the next one.
This one was for my uncle, an avid Psych fan. I didn’t have enough fondant, which is why the sides aren’t done. I did like how I made the shape of the cake. I only have a 9×13 pan, which is why all the other cakes are rectangles. But this one I cut the corners off to make an oval. And then stood the corners on their side to make the leafs. Anyway, this is probably my least favorite cake. So let’s move on.
Cake Five:
This was for my grandma who loves to sew. I still wasn’t confident enough to use the fondant as a spread over the full cake. So I again incorporated that into my design and made a quilt cake. I was getting to the point where I could make larger sheets of fondant without them breaking, though. And this one has a pretty smooth look other than the one part on the far left. Not too shabby.
Cake Six:
This one’s for my sister who was having a sort of dress up murder mystery party. So she wanted a fancy looking sort of cake. On this one I managed to get a full sheet across the top. And then long strips around the side. If you look closely, though you’ll notice the little gap between the top and the side. Also the fondant was incredibly thick. Also also I didn’t put in enough powdered sugar so it was a little too soft. And that’s also why it’s kinda greasy looking. Or shiny. Let’s go with shiny. The flowers I cut out using a small cookie cutter. I then kinda scrunched in the middle to give it some depth and added a little ball of yellow. The roses are a sort of banner shape that I just rolled together. The leaves I just cut out and used a butter knife to add the lines in. And the vines were just two coils twisted around each other.
Cake Seven:
Once again I’m tasked with making a super hero cake for my brother’s birthday. This year it was Thor’s hammer. i decided to try something new and make a rice krispy cake. It was easier for molding the shape of the hammer. I just wish I had cut of the top of the hammer to make it more smooth. It’s really bumpy looking. Although some people like that. And I thought the pipe cleaner lightning was pretty cool too.
Cake Eight:
This is the most recent one I’ve done, also for my grandma. I’ve finally mastered the fondant to where I can get it spread evenly over the whole cake without too much tearing. And any minor imperfections i just covered with flowers.You can’t really see, but on the side i have a couple places where I used a bigger flower cookie cutter and then put a smaller one of a different color inside. Other than that the flowers are pretty much the same as my other floral cake. I also cut off some of the flowers, so that where it hit the bottom of the cake I just cut it off. And if anybody was wondering, yes the lettering is fondant too.
So that’s it for my cakes for now. Be patient with the fondant, because it can take some working. And it can be a little hard to get to where it’s the right consistency. But it’s also a lot of fun when you master it.
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