TIP OF THE DAY: Decorate With Fondant
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If you’ve been to enough weddings, you’ve probably had fondant. It’s used to cover cake, as an alternative to icing.
What is fondant? Sometimes referred to as edible Play-Doh, fondant is a sugar and water mixture cooked to the soft-ball stage, then stirred or beaten until it is a creamy, opaque white mass that can be rolled out like dough. Sheets of fondant are used to cover ornate cakes. Fondant both keeps out air so the cake stays moist, and provides a solid “canvas” for decorations. Fondant, which can be tinted with food coloring, can be cut with cookie cutters or other methods to create shapes (leaves, flowers, geometrics). It is also used to decorate cookies, often cut to match the shape of the cookies, and applied as an icing. |
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Working with fondant can be a laborious process, undertaken by skilled cake decorators; but consumer products from Wilton and other companies make decorating with colored fondant a fun experience. Start your fondant decorating on Father’s Day cupcakes. With two colors, you can approximate Dad (or buy only white fondant plus some colored food pastes). Fondant is dense and heavy, so a two-pound tub isn’t a lot. In addition to cupcakes, cakes and cookies, you can use it as a fun dessert activity for kids and adults: Let them decorate their own cupcakes. The Food Network’s Ace of Cakes, Duff Goldman, recently came out with his own fondant line in five colors (chocolate, green, orange, purple and white). The Fondarific brand has even more colors.
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