About Rolled Fondant and Its Uses For Decorating a Cake.
Rolled fondant icing is one of the most popular icing mediums being used these days. Its beautiful, smooth surface can almost be achieved in butter cream, but not quite! It is called Rolled Fondant to distinguish it from Poured Fondant Icing (as in Petit Fours) or Candy Fondant. You begin with the sugary dough-which you roll out to cover your cakes after kneading it to its proper texture.
There are many nice recipes available for making your own... but I NEVER do... It’s too much work!! You have to knead all the successful recipes I’ve found by hand and the bigger the cake, the more to knead. I’d rather have strength left in my arms when I get to the fun part!
There are quite a few “RTR” (ready to roll) fondants available. At Cake Art, we carry a number of them. I’m going to describe the different types and will list the brands we sell with them.
Standard rolled fondant (Bakels, Satin Ice and Wilton). The primary ingredients in this icing are confectioner’s sugar, gelatin, glucose and flavorings. Different decorators have difference preferences among these three brands. You might want to try all of them to form your own opinion, keeping taste and ease of use in mind. The Bakels and Satin Ice are available in Vanilla and Chocolate flavors. Wilton and Satin Ice are available in a variety of colors, in addition to White. Satin Ice alone now offers a “butter cream” flavored fondant. These fondants are available in different quantities.
Americans are crazy about the beautiful look of fondant, but many are not a fan of the taste or texture of this icing once it is applied to the cake. Although satiny smooth as we cover the cakes, the texture becomes more “chewy” as it sets up and dries. Putting a regular thickness of butter cream icing on the cake before applying the fondant will help to keep the fondant soft from the inside. Also, whenever possible, cover your cakes with the fondant as close as feasible to the time it will be eaten. A very intricately decorated cake might make it necessary to cover the cakes earlier – whenever possible, you can make your decorations in advance and have them ready to put on your freshly covered cakes.
FondX is another brand and type of fondant that we carry. It has a marshmallow-like flavor and texture. It is more expensive than the “standard” fondants, but some designers feel it is well worth it. This fondant is available in White and Ivory in 10 lb. containers.
Choco-Pan, is actually a specially formulated fondant with the combined tastes and characteristics of candy clay and fondant. It has a creamier white chocolate or chocolate flavor. It is available in Wedding White, Bright White, Blanc (Ivory) and Noire (Chocolate). Choco-Pan’s higher per-ounce price is offset by the fact that you will actually need less of it. Because its different make-up, it can be rolled thinner.
General tips for Rolled Fondant:
- Fondant can be tinted by kneading colored fondant into white fondant to achieve the desired shade or by using the various decorating colors to get the color you’re looking for. When doing a project, be sure to color as much fondant as you will need for your project. You don’t want to have to worry about matching shades halfway through your masterpiece!
- You can add flavored oils to your fondant before kneading to heighten the flavor. LorAnn Oils are perfect for this purpose. Several drops of oil will not change the consistency of your icing. Keep in mind that the colors of the oils will change the color of your fondant
- When calculating how much fondant to purchase keep in mind that you will need more fondant than will actually be used on the cake. When doing multiple tiers, if you will cover the cakes from largest to smallest, you can take the fondant trimmings from each tier and knead those into the fondant for the next tier. Just be sure it is free of crumbs. Any butter cream that may be on the fondant can just be kneaded right in.
- Be sure you have sufficient butter cream icing on your cake so that the layer separation won’t show through the fondant.
- Allow the butter cream icing to set up by refrigerating it or allowing it to crust at room temperature. You will need to “attach” the fondant to the cake. So, if you butter cream has crusted you may spray a fine mist of water on it or spread a very thin coat of apricot glaze or piping gel.
- Ideal thickness of the standard fondant on your cake is somewhere between 1/8 and ¼ inch thick. Too thin and any flaws in your cake will show. Too thick and the fondant can be too heavy, causing tearing during application. Too thick a coat of fondant can also weigh heavily on your cake, causing your edges to round, ect.