What the heck is fondant?

[Psiguyy]

Fondant is for people who eat with their eyes instead of their mouth.

The "marzipan" on cakes is usually almond paste or apricot kernel paste. It is my experience that a 5 lb can of either can be bought cheaply from wholesale bakery suppliers. With the price of almonds going up, apricot kernel paste is probably much cheaper now and nobody is going to be able to tell the difference.

If you live in the Chicago, IL, USA area, I can give you the name and address of my supplier.

Not true. Your statements indicate how little you know about cake decorating.

Rolled fondant is used, basically, for two reasons. First is appearance. A lot of people just like the appearance of a cake decorated in fondant. While it doesn't taste anything but sweet, the fondant is routinely removed before slicing and the base coating of buttercream frosting gives the sweet rich taste people generally like. The second reason is rolled fondant is used in cases where the cake will have to stay in a warm environment for a significant length of time. Other than non-butter vegetable shortening based buttercream, rolled fondant is the most resistant to the detrimental effects of heat and humidity.

There is also another form of fondant that's routinely flavored with chocolate and used to coat pastries such as eclaires. The plain or flavored and sometimes tinted fondant of this nature is also used to cover Napoleons. There are other pastries that use this soft non-rolled fondant. Eclaires and Napoleons are the two most popular uses. Oh, they often use it on donuts.

Most "cream" centered candies are made using fondant middles. As another poster noted, another use is to cover cherries with fondant, then dip in chocolate. The fondant eventually leaches the moisture from the candied cherry and melts into a syrup. That's how they get the syrup into chocolate covered cherries.

Finally, was your nick at one time Pizza something or other on another board?

 

[htc]

Some people actually remove the fondant before cutting the cake? Man, it seems like a lot of work to do, just to have it taken off...or maybe it's just a lot of work to me since I'm just a home baker...

 

[Psiguyy]

Some people actually remove the fondant before cutting the cake? Man, it seems like a lot of work to do, just to have it taken off...or maybe it's just a lot of work to me since I'm just a home baker...

It's easy. The fondant just lifts right off. You first remove the larger decorations, such as flowers, then lift the fondant, then cut the cake and serve. Mostly done for weddings where the cake slices are thin, so the appearance of the frosting isn't so important. If you've never done it, it's kinda hard to make thin slices of cake through fondant.

 

[Psiguyy]

Fondant is for people who eat with their eyes instead of their mouth.

The "marzipan" on cakes is usually almond paste or apricot kernel paste. It is my experience that a 5 lb can of either can be bought cheaply from wholesale bakery suppliers. With the price of almonds going up, apricot kernel paste is probably much cheaper now and nobody is going to be able to tell the difference.

If you live in the Chicago, IL, USA area, I can give you the name and address of my supplier.

BTW, I forgot to mention or rather question. How do you make pure white marzipan?

 

[debthecook]

The dude is gone Psiguy. Has not posted for a while.

 

[Psiguyy]

The dude is gone Psiguy. Has not posted for a while.

I noticed that. Wondering if he really is you know who? His responses reminded me of you know who.

 

[auzzi]

Rolled Fondant or Sugarpaste

Rolled fondant is sugarpaste: Americans call it "Rolled Fondant"; the British call it "Sugarpaste": Australians call it "Sugarpaste" or "Rolled Fondant". It is uncooked. "Fondant" refers ONLY to Poured Fondant [European Fondant].

European Fondant is made by boiling sugar, water and glucose, cooling it then working the sugar until it is smooth and creamy. It is basically used for the centres of confectionery, and other sweets. Poured Fondant icined is used to cover [pour] over petit fours,

Rolled fondant is normally made gelatine, glycerine and glucose (corn syrup) with lots of sugar. It has a dough-like consistency that "dries" with a semi-hard, perfectly smooth, and satiny surface that is soft underneath.

Ready-to-use Rolled Fondant (Wilton, Satin Ice, Regalice and Pettinice) contains a small amount of gum tragacanth and/or carboxymethylcellulose [CMC]which are the ingredients that are used to dry out and harden gumpaste. Consequently, the product dries quicker and harder than homemade rolled fondant.

The taste of rolled fondant is a bland sugar. The blandness of sugarpaste [rolled fondant] is specifically to balance the richness of fruitcakes for which it was made for originally. Decorators can work for weeks and months on the decoration of such cakes because the cake matures over time and the sugar paste remains edible.

Cakes that rely on the icing to provide flavor or richness, such as a genoise, really require buttercream. Standard American butter, vanilla and chocolate cakes can work well with either icing. The cake must have a dense structure to support the weight.

Rolled Fondant or Sugarpaste is the icing on a firm cake. A thin layer of buttercream or apricot "glues" the icing to the cake. The buttercream is there to stick the fondant to the cake, not to provide an alternative icing. Buttercream will discolour royal icing, and dissolve sugarpaste over time.

It would appear that people prefer the look of fondant but want the taste of buttercream. If the fondant was not meant to be eaten, why cover the cake and expend time and money on the exercise? What a waste! Rolled Fondant or Sugarpaste should be cut and served as part of the cake. It cannot be presumed that the guests does not, or will not, like the taste of the fondant. As part of the cake, it is served - if the recipent tastes and does not like it, they can remove it.

 

[marmalady]

Er - welcome - back? - 'auzzi' :roll:

 

[Psiguyy]

Re: Rolled Fondant or Sugarpaste

It cannot be presumed that the guests does not, or will not, like the taste of the fondant. As part of the cake, it is served - if the recipent tastes and does not like it, they can remove it.

Try cutting a tall slice of an inch thick or less through rolled fondant at room temperature. Try cutting 400 slices. It's a nightmare. So, you lift off the fondant before you cut.