This fondant recipe makes a fondant that stretches well without the need of using marshmallows in the ingredients. It’s a great recipe for making fondants to be layered on cakes and cupcakes, and also to use for forming fondant flowers, leaves and other decorations that have been made from using fondant molds.
It’s a basic recipe that can be flavored however you wish, and can be colored however you desire.
When you are making this recipe, you should be sure to mix it carefully by not allowing any of the liquid mixture to touch the bottom or the sides of your bowl as you form the liquid into a sturdy ball of fondant that can be kneaded atop your table.
You want to make the hole in the center of your sugar mound to reach about midway, and as you mix the liquid, you will want to use your mixing spoon to gently lift a bit of sugar from the sides so that it can flow on top of the liquid.
Then you should stir that bit of sugar into the liquid, then lift some more until a nice ball has formed. This may take practice, but once you have mastered mixing fondant like this, you will find that it’s a pure pleasure to create fondants of many different flavors and colors for your cakes, cupcakes and cookies.
Why I Recommend Homemade Fondant
There are not many brands of store bought fondant that I would consider of good quality. They are either rather bland in the flavor, leave a chalky residue on the tongue or worse, the fondant will not stretch well enough to place on elegant cakes as such as those that are intended for weddings and other fine dining events.
When you make your own fondant, then you are in complete control of the flavor, you save money by making it yourself (which is always a great benefit) and you can easily mold it in many different ways because we all know that “freshly made” is always better than bland and somewhat dry.
If you have ever purchased fondant in a container, then you have most likely discovered at some time or another, a product that was too dry for you to use. You may have had to claw it out of the container, and knead it like crazy just to get a pliable fondant that you could use.
This alone should be enough to convince you to making your own fondant yourself. The time saved when you make it yourself over the time you wasted when trying to get a pre-made mixture pliable is probably astronomical.
The reason I love making my own homemade fondant is simple, to save time, to save money, and to improve the flavor.
Adding Color To Your Fondant
You should never use typical food color in homemade fondant because it’s a liquid. Adding too much liquid to a fondant will cause it to become too soft and unmanageable. The best colorants to use are edible gel food colorants such as the ones found in the AmeriColor Student Kit or Wilton Icing Colors.
Before kneading the color into your fondant, you will want to either wear gloves or put shortening on your hands to help prevent dye stains, as these colors are highly concentrated with dye.
To add the color, you’ll want to apply a very small amount and knead it into the fondant thoroughly before adding more, so that you can determine the proper shade more accurately. a little bit of color, will go a long way, and if you add too much at the beginning then you will discover that your fondant will end up being a darker shade than what you were aiming for.
Fondant Tips
Because fondant is mainly sugar, it has a very long shelf life but it’s always best to use any that is made, within a few months. Some people suggest keeping fondant in the freezer to extent it’s life, but I have found that this makes the fondant very dry and not pleasant to work with once it has thawed. I have discovered, based on past experiences, that the time spent trying to make a frozen fondant usable, is time better spent on making another batch of fresh.
If your fondant is cracking when you roll it, then you’ve added too much powdered sugar. To fix this, you can rub some more butter or shortening on your hands, and knead a bit of moisture into it. It may not be as stretchy as you like, due to the amount of sugar, so icing a large cake may prove to be difficult. Yet you can still use it to make decorations, or to place icing on smaller foods like cupcakes and cookies.
When rolling your fondant, you should roll it 1/8″ to 1/4″. Anything under 1/8″ will result in tears, as the fondant will be too thin to stretch properly. Anything over 1/4″ will cause the fondant to break as you apply it on your cake. I find it a difficult task to get a uniform thickness throughout when I am rolling my fondant, so I use a special adjustable rolling pin that has thickness rings to ensure that my fondant is of the proper thickness when I roll it.
Homemade Fondant
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1/4 Cup Whipping Cream
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons Gelatin Unflavored
- 1/2 Teaspoon Meringue Powder
- 1/3 Cup Corn Syrup Light
- 3 Tablespoons Butter Unsalted
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons Glycerin
- 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
- 2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract Or other suitable flavoring
- 8 Cups Confectioners Sugar Withhold 200 grams for kneading
6 Cups of sugar is needed for the base recipe, 2 Cups is needed for kneading
Instructions
Mixing The Fondant
- Mix 6 cups of powdered sugar with the salt and meringue powder. Sift this well to fully incorporate the ingredients together.
- Form the mixture into a hill in the middle of your mixing bowl.
- In a microwave safe bowl, combine the cream and gelatin. Stir gently then let it rest for 2 minutes.
- Microwave the cream and gelatin mixer in 20 second intervals until the gelatin has fully dissolved into the cream.
- Gently stir in the corn syrup and microwave for an additional 5 seconds if needed. You want to keep the mixture in a liquid state.
- Add the glycerin and flavoring, and microwave another 10 seconds if needed.
- If you are adding colorant to your fondant, then you can add it at this stage.
- Form a hole in the center of your sugar, and slowly pour in the liquid mixture.
- Using your spoon, slowly mix the liquid into the sugar by mixing from the center outwards, until it forms a thin dough.
- Add the butter (or shortening) to the mix, and knead it into the mixture thoroughly.
Kneading The Fondant
- Once you have formed a ball of fondant, transfer it to a dry flat surface and begin kneading it by hand.
- If it appears to be too dry, you can rub a small amount of butter on your hands to moisten it a bit.
- Once the dough has formed into a nice fondant that stretches well, you will want to divide the ball in half and place each half in a separate zip-lock bag.
- Place the bags in your refrigerator and let it remain for at least 12 hours to give it time to rest.
