easypeasy grandma: Making Fondant

Monday, July 8, 2013

Making Fondant

Today I am going to show you how I make rolled fondant. My daughter and I made her wedding cake and I have made my other daughters as well and this is the recipe I have used for all of their cakes.

Rolled Fondant Recipe

1Tbsp. unflavored gelatin

1/4 cup cold water1/2 cup Glucose

1 Tbsp. Glycerin

2 Tbs. solid vegetable shortening

2 lbs. confectioners sugar

2-3 drops food coloring

and flavoring as desired

Combine gelatin and cold water; let stand until thick. Place gelatin mixture in top of double boiler and heat until dissolved. Add glucose and glycerin:mix well. These can be found at specialty cooking stores, I get mine at Kitchen Kneads. Stir in shortening and just before completely melted, remove from heat. Mixture should cool until lukewarm.

Next, place 1 lb. confectioner sugar in a bowl and make a well. Pour the lukewarm gelatin mixture into the well and stir with a wooden spoon,

mixing in sugar and adding more, a little at a time, until stickiness disappears.

Knead in remaining sugar, icing color and flavoring.

Knead until the fondant is smooth, pliable and does not stick to your hands. If fondant is too soft, add more sugar; if too stiff, add water a drop at a time.

You can add any flavoring, lemon, almond, vanilla,(use clear vanilla and flavorings or it will color the fondant.)

Use fondant immediately or store in an airtight container in refrigerator. When ready to use, bring to room temperature and knead again until soft. This recipe yields enough to cover a 10 x 3 inch high cake. So you may have to make 2 batches for a bigger cake.

To roll fondant

Spray work area and rolling pin with vegetable oil spray and dust with a mixture of confectioners sugar and cornstarch. I usually use plenty of confectioners sugar on the counter and just use my hand to roll it, unless I have a very large piece and then I will use the rolling pin.

there are 2 ways to prepare cake for fondant. Coat with piping gel or apricot glaze. I usually use butter cream icing and ice the cake with the frosting and let dry and then cover with the rolled fondant.

Roll out the fondant into a circle twice the diameter of the cake you are covering. As you roll, lift and move the fondant to prevent it from sticking to the surface. Gently lift fondant over rolling pin and place over cake. ( I didn't get a picture of this because it helps to have 2 people, especially if the cake is large.)

smooth and shape fondant on cake, using palm of hand, make sure you have a coating of confectioners sugar on your hand. If large air bubbles are trapped under fondant, prick with a pin and continue until smooth. Trim excess from base. A fondant covered cake may be kept up to 2 months, when tightly wrapped in clear plastic wrap and frozen. ( I always have made the cake ahead of time and just put it together the day of the wedding.)

Marzipan recipe

1 cup almond paste

2 unbeaten egg whites

3 cups confectioners sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla or rum flavoring

Ina a bowl knead almond paste. Add egg white, mis well. Continue kneading as you add flavoring and sugar, 1 cup at a time , until marzipan feels like heavy pie dough.

We cut out the circles with different sized small cookie cutters.

We had help with this because we had lots of polka dots!

I made the ribbon by cutting long strips of fondant and shaping bow, I used rolled up plastic wrap in the middle of each loop to help keep the bow shape until it dried.

We used styrofoam forms for the large bottom layer, because I have made all cake before and you will be eating cake forever, it's a lot of cake! We served the one layer and saved the top for their one year anniversary.

On the day of the wedding I put the cake together. I piped the small border around the bottom of the cake after putting it together. I used wooden skewers in the middle of the cake to keep the layers in place, so they won't slide.