Fondant Anyone?

[IrregularPulse]

Just curious as to people's opinions of this Modern cake designing "stuff"

I'd always heard that it's disgusting and the one time I'd previously tried it it definitely was. I just racked it up being strictly for decoration. Which i thought what a waste. Take a perfectly good cake and make it taste bad for decoration, or the other hand you can make some pretty awesome cakes.

Well a guy from work was showing us some cakes his wife does for a side business. I'd mentioned my opinion of Fondant. So today he brought me in a peice of a cake she made last night with fondant so I could taste it.

It's not bad. The flavor is actualyl pretty good. The texture is a little weird and off from cake icing, but the flavor is actually very good. Just basically like a normal cake icing.

Anyways, Just curious as to anyone else's opinions on this and also thought maybe I could persuade someone into giving it another try if they had the same initial experiences with it that I did.

 

[dataz722]

Depends on how much sugar is it in really. I have had some that just tasted like dough and other that actually tasted pretty good. I think it looks nice but I will take a buttercream frosting over it anyday.

 

[Melana]

I have heard of people putting fondant over a buttercream base...

 

[ohiobrewtus]

I have no idea what you're even talking about - and I like it that way.

 

[dataz722]

I have heard of people putting fondant over a buttercream base...

I've had that too and they usually use the low sugar doughy tasting fondant so it inst over extremly sweet with the frosting.

 

[slimer]

My mom runs a baking school and I have no problems with using fondant. You just need to have a "base" of regular frosting underneath it.

My favorite is a layer of pudding, a layer of strawberries, a layer of whipped cream and fondant on top.

 

[spitfire]

Does anybody have a recipe for fondant that they use? My wife was watching Ace of Cakes on day and I said I can make a cake like that...lol she said yeah right.....It would cool to make one someday when she was out of the house and surprise her when she got home.

 

[slimer]

There's mix at the store. My mom works for Wilton and theirs is decent. You can get it at Michaels, Walmart, etc.

 

[Laurel]

Fondant is fine providing you want a seamless looking cake. It's something that you can't easily achieve any other way, so why not take advantage of it. You can always remove the fondant if you don't like it.

 

[spitfire]

There's mix at the store. My mom works for Wilton and theirs is decent. You can get it at Michaels, Walmart, etc.

Thanks for the info.

 

[the_bird]

I have no idea what you're even talking about - and I like it that way.

Dude, you're so repressed.

Admit it - you DVR "Ace of Cakes," don't you?

 

[yermej]

Does anybody have a recipe for fondant that they use? My wife was watching Ace of Cakes on day and I said I can make a cake like that...lol she said yeah right.....It would cool to make one someday when she was out of the house and surprise her when she got home.

I would go for one of the premade fondants or at least a mix. Making real fondant is kind of tricky as it involves heating and cooling sugar in a somewhat precise way, similar to making fudge. If you don't get it quite right, it'll end up grainy (at best) in addition to not tasting like much. Many (most?) pro bakeries (including Charm City from Ace of Cakes) do not make their own fondant due to the labor involved. Also, I'm not sure that fondant made from scratch would offer noticeable improvement over store bought, unlike cakes, buttercreams, etc. It really is more about appearance than flavor.

That said, you might want to check out marshmallow fondant. It's much easier to make and supposedly tastes pretty good, though I haven't made it.

If anybody really wants a real fondant recipe, let me know and I'll post the one I have when I get home this evening.

 

[IrregularPulse]

I have heard of people putting fondant over a buttercream base...

This is what I discovered to be true on this cake. it wasn't the fondant tasting good (or bad, really quite tastelss) it was the thin layer of butter cream underneath.

 

[ohiobrewtus]

Dude, you're so repressed.

Admit it - you DVR "Ace of Cakes," don't you?

Ya, you caught me.

 

[spitfire]

I would go for one of the premade fondants or at least a mix. Making real fondant is kind of tricky as it involves heating and cooling sugar in a somewhat precise way, similar to making fudge. If you don't get it quite right, it'll end up grainy (at best) in addition to not tasting like much. Many (most?) pro bakeries (including Charm City from Ace of Cakes) do not make their own fondant due to the labor involved. Also, I'm not sure that fondant made from scratch would offer noticeable improvement over store bought, unlike cakes, buttercreams, etc. It really is more about appearance than flavor.

That said, you might want to check out marshmallow fondant. It's much easier to make and supposedly tastes pretty good, though I haven't made it.

If anybody really wants a real fondant recipe, let me know and I'll post the one I have when I get home this evening.

I would much rather purchase the Fondant premade is this something that can be purchased at a grocery store or would I have to go to a specialty store?

 

[slimer]

Premade is where it's at.

 

[yermej]

I would much rather purchase the Fondant premade is this something that can be purchased at a grocery store or would I have to go to a specialty store?

Probably won't be in the grocery store. If you have a Hobby Lobby or similar store that sells Wilton products, they'll probably have Wilton's fondant which you can get in colored multi-packs or just a big block of white that you color yourself.

If you have to order it online, there are probably cheaper places than direct from Wilton. Make sure to look for rolled fondant. If you see a mix, that's probably for poured fondant which is more like a glaze.

There are also plenty of online tutorials on working with fondant. Wilton's site has some stuff.

 

[spitfire]

Thanks for the info, I think I am going to try the MM version and see what happens.

 

[slimer]

Use the rolled stuff. Wilton isn't the only brand either.

It rolls out easily like clay and you just drape it over the top. Unless you manipulate it a lot, you won't see it tear.

 

[yermej]

Wilton isn't the only brand either.

Yeah, sorry. I didn't mean to sound like a Wilton whore as I'm not actually a huge fan of their stuff (prices in particular), but it's the most widely available and definitely easiest to find for somebody starting out. For me, living in a city of 35,000, Wilton is my only option unless I do mail order.

 

[slimer]

Yeah, I also didn't mean to plug them even though my mother works for them.

 

[Tsuyako]

I'm going to throw my two cense at home made fondant. It's actually not as hard as one may think and taste a WHOLE lot better than any mix. (no offense to mix people just my opinion) I'd say give both a try and see which you like better and make sure you get a good buttercream recipe, bad buttercream = bad cake.