| Pastries and Baking General General discussion forum for all pastry and baking topics. |  | | 
02-23-2007, 12:53 PM
| | Banned Culinary Experience: Can't Boil Water | | Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 53
| | To me, using fondant is the equivalent to painting a canvas one color. It doesn't matter how pretty that color is, it's still not fine art.
In context with food, using fondant alone or as the major part of the decoration means you skipped a few steps in your presentation and culinary skills. Quality food should be visually appealing and excel in taste. That means that you don't overdo any one element even the base or foundation of the dish. | 
02-23-2007, 04:31 PM
| | Registered User Culinary Experience: Professional Baker | | Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 4
| | Thank goodness I am not the only one! I do not find rolled fondant that great in taste either. Erik, I totally agree that Wilton tends to push it because anyone can roll it out, pop on some cut outs and you have a cake. I have made cakes with fondant but I frost them with buttercream first. The finish it gives a cake is nice though. I have not tried Satin Ice or Pettinice yet. | 
02-23-2007, 05:53 PM
| | Registered User Culinary Experience: I Just Like Food | | Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 35
| | Fondant can be amazing if done with 72% cocoa chocolate. But yes you are right, even myself that love it when well cooked, there were times, I hated it. So, would you say a chocolate fondant is the same as a souffle? Or it depends on the recipe? | 
02-25-2007, 09:54 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 55
| | Quote:
Originally Posted by CarlAird I'M SO SAD!
By the way MISS BIGBUNS YOU BETTER WORK!! | What does that mean?
__________________ ***
Inside me is a skinny woman trying to get out.....I usually shut the witch up with chocolate! | 
02-26-2007, 10:28 AM
| | Registered User Culinary Experience: Professional Chef | | Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Oregon
Posts: 39
| | Marshmellow Fondant isn't too bad and if you mix it 50/50 with white modeling chocolate it is actually quite good and very easy to work with! | 
02-26-2007, 11:07 AM
|  | Registered User Culinary Experience: Cook At Home | | Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Jasper,GA.
Posts: 9
| | Where do I get modeling chocolate ?
sweetnessx3 | 
02-26-2007, 03:58 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Birmingham, AL
Posts: 172
| | To answer your question: No, I do not care for the taste of fondant. I dont hate it. But I usually peal it off and eat the cake and buttercream. No harm, no foul.
There is commercially available fondant that tastes much better than wilton. We use massa gruschuna (completely spelled wrong) that we get from albert uster. It's not so bad. But I stil tend to peal it off. It performs better than wilton too. It's not gummy or stretchy like wilton.
I have met people who tell me "I LOVE the taste of fondant" so they are out there.
I think most people peal it off. Esp. down here in the south.
Personally, you wont see me making the stuff. It's far too much trouble for something that most people are going to peal off anyway. Esp. when there is fairly good fondant available commercially.
For a long time I refused to use the stuff. But now I hate to do a cake without it. There is just so much you can do with it.
And lets face it, fondant cakes are almost always prettier.
We still have people who come in asking: "do you do wedding cake without fondant? I've heard fondant tastes bad."
We tell them: Our wedding cakes are iced in buttercream and covered with a thin layer of fondant.
eeyore
Last edited by Eeyore; 02-26-2007 at 04:01 PM.
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03-05-2007, 02:03 PM
| | Registered User Culinary Experience: Cook At Home | | Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 15
| | don't like it | 
03-06-2007, 12:32 PM
|  | Registered User Culinary Experience: Cook At Home | | Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: North Texas
Posts: 36
| | I'm not a fan of fondant. I think it tastes yuckky. I don't make cakes with fondant. I've had lots of people come to me and ask me to do a fondant cake. I tell them that I can, but it won't taste like my cakes they've had before. My cakes sell because of the way they taste. I'm a good decorator (not fantastic, just good), but everyone loves the taste.
Personally, I'll pass on the fondant. It does make lovely looking cakes.
I'll never forget the first fondant cake I ever tasted. I was at a wedding reception, and I put a big bite in my mouth. Then, I was in a quandry as what to do with it.........and it had the consistency of an old tire. I've tasted some fondant cakes since then that weren't as objectionable, but I'll always remember that wedding cake. It was lovely, but most of it was thrown in the trash.
__________________ Cheers,
texasflute | 
03-06-2007, 02:48 PM
|  | Registered User Culinary Experience: At home cook | | Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 38
| | I can't stand fondant, even the good stuff. I made it myself and couldn't stand that either. And don't get me started on marzipan.
Until the past few years fondant use was a cultural thing: cakes in Austrailian and British cookbooks were all fondant, while American cookbooks were 100% buttercream. 20 years ago the only cookbooks we had with fondant info were French, British and Austrailian. Same with almonds and hazelnuts and their pastes: here they are not used as commonly as in Europe.
I think fondant is appearing in the US more lately because of ease of use and the novelty factor: after a lifetime of only seeing buttercream cakes it is fascinating to see a perfectly smooth cake.
And unfortunately, enough people prefer a cute cake to the real thing. Just try tasting one of those nasty photo cakes! And compare an all-butter buttercream to a shortening frosting: butter will never be as pure white or hold razor-sharp edges like shortening, so most of the uninitiated will choose the shortening version.
Last edited by TapTapper; 03-06-2007 at 02:50 PM.
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03-07-2007, 10:51 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Birmingham, AL
Posts: 172
| | You can have your cake and eat it too! Most people peel off the fondant. and there's plenty of yummy real butter-buttercream underneath. So what is the drawback?
eeyore | 
03-08-2007, 07:06 AM
| | ChefTalk Supporter Culinary Experience: Professional Pastry Chef | | Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: norwalk, CT USA
Posts: 3,761
| | If I order a burger, and it comes with a pickle (which I don't like), does that mean I can't eat the burger?
My point is, some people like pickles (fondant), so why are we assuming that it's simply there for show, just because some people don't like it?
And besides, consider a savory garnish-- a sprig of rosemary--which is completely inedible: Do we hear people complaining that they have to eat around it? Fondant IS edible, and enjoyed by lots of my clients. Those who don't like it can eat the cake inside. | 
03-08-2007, 07:07 AM
| | ChefTalk Supporter Culinary Experience: Professional Pastry Chef | | Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: norwalk, CT USA
Posts: 3,761
| | If I order a burger, and it comes with a pickle (which I don't like), does that mean I can't eat the burger?
My point is, some people like pickles/fondant, so why are we assuming that it's simply there for show, just because some people don't like it?
And besides, consider a savory garnish-- a sprig of rosemary--which is completely inedible: Do we hear people complaining that they have to eat around it? Fondant IS edible, and enjoyed by lots of my clients. Those who don't like it can eat the cake inside. | 
03-10-2007, 06:58 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Birmingham, AL
Posts: 172
| | Well said, momo
eeyore | 
03-10-2007, 07:09 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 9
| | Quote:
Originally Posted by sweetnessx3 Where do I get modeling chocolate ?
sweetnessx3 | You can make modeling chocolate by mixing equal parts of glucose and chocolate.
personally, I odn't mind fondant too much. I think fondant only belongs on wedding cakes. And the one time that I did eat fondant on cake it wasn't too bad. It was way too sweet. Could have been rolled thinner.
Also Wilton's fondant is absolutely disgusting, it cannot be considered edible at all. |  | |
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