Fondant 101

Wednesday was Cake Day for my hospice volunteer job, and I worked with fondant for the first time - it's a lot of fun! Fondant is a strange substance, a thick and elasticky sugar dough. Kind of reminded me of play dough. I liked that it didn't crumble or crack, or streak. It's much easier to apply an even layer of this stuff compared to butter cream frosting, and comes out looking pretty and smooth, and looks quite elegant. Which is why I suppose it's used so much for wedding cakes and such. I don't think it tastes as good as plain old buttercream, but I guess that's what you sacrifice for appearance. I didn't get to taste this one though, so maybe it would have convinced me otherwise.

Here's how to:

First, fill and cover your cake with buttercream frosting, or whatever you usually use. The fondant just needs a sticky surface to adhere to.

Two: Weigh out your pre-made fondant (this one is by Wilton) - about 18 oz for an 8" cake:

Three: Warm up the fondant by kneading it in your hands, and add flavouring or colour as required, and roll out on a icing sugar-dusted surface. Drape it over the cake:

Four: Using your hands (or special fondant tools if you have them), smooth the fondant over the cake, pressing top to bottom for the sides, and trim the excess.

Five: Decorate with scraps of fondant and buttercream icing as you please.

That's it! You're done. Have a good weekend everyone! We've got lots to do before our little get together tomorrow, and we're going to the Columbus Zoo again tonight for Wildlights and skating!