ISO rolled fondant recipe + related info

[LotusCakeStudio]

Well, I got sick and tired and searching every Kosher aisle in the grocery store for vegetarian gelatin and coming up with nothing. It annoys me that everyone else I talk to can find either Kojel or Emes in their local grocery stores and those products are not in mine, especially since I live in an area which caters to a lot of Kosher foods! Anyhow, I found out that a 7th Day Adventist store carries it and I'm ordering some tomorrow (too bad it came down to this where I will probably pay more to ship it to me than the price of the gelatin!)

Sooooo.... now I can finally make my own rolled fondant and I'm looking for a recipe. A while back, a friend of mine said she used Colette's recipe and it came out great using Kojel. If anyone has any of her books with the recipe in it, I would be appreciative if you could post it for me. Or any other rolled fondant recipes that you like.

I think it was over a year ago that I saw a recipe in PAD calling for a little candy clay (white chocolate + corn syrup) to make it taste better. My friend tried it and said it tasted great, but didn't come out like normal fondant and she couldn't use it (weird texture, hard to explain). Has anyone made white chocolate fondant and ended up with good results? What other flavorings can I add to make fondant taste better? Any other tips you'd like to share would be great too, in the technique dept. or otherwise, as I haven't worked with fondant much since I can't stand the taste- it's just getting to the point where I can no longer deny all the decorating possibilities.

Cake friends of mine first ice the cakes in buttercream then cover the cake in fondant and I was also taught this in school. Only once have I seen it where the cake was coated with apricot jam then in fondant (on the back of the box of Wilton's fondant). I've never tried the latter. How do all of you do it? Actually, the buttercream method never made much sense to me since the fondant is supposed to be the icing. If all that's needed is a little "glue" the jam makes more sense, or I would use something neutral like apple jelly.

Lastly, when and where was fondant invented and when did it makes its way to the US; once it got here, how long did it take until it really caught on? One of the decorator's at work said it was invented only 10 years ago and I know he's wrong, as I've seen books using fondant that were printed way before 10 years ago.

[momoreg]

I don't know exactly when fondant was invented, but it was MUCH more than 10 yrs. ago. I think that person was pulling your leg, or is just misinformed.

I'm so surprised that you can't find Kojel in Philly. It's not like you're in the middle of nowhere! Well, I'm glad you finally did locate some, and that it works well for you.

Fondant can be flavored with just about any clear extract or oil (if used sparingly). Go for natural flavors.

Buttercream is the best choice to ice with under the fondant, because you can really make your lines perfect, and those lines DO affect the final look of the cake, even if they are covered with fondant. Kinda like if you had cellulite all over your legs and put a pair of stockings over them; you'd still see the bumps (sorry for that analogy, but it works).

White chocolate plastic, aka modeling chocolate is that "clay" that you're referring to. You will never get it to behave like fondant, because it is high in fat, and overworking it will cause the oils to separate out. However, it CAN be used for the same purpose (i.e. rolled out for covering a cake). Just know that it doesn't act the same way. (I have mixed fondant with modeling chocolate before with good results).

I have the book with the recipe, and will post it later today, if someone here doesn't post it before me.

[Anna W.]

I agree with Memoreg on the buttercream under the fondant. I always put on a thick crumbcoat first. When it is smooth, then your fondant will be smooth. Jam, jelly, or piping gel all will get it to adhere to the cake.

I don't make my own fondant but I have friends who do. They recommend Rose Levy Beranbaums recipe (do you have the cake bible?). And they add the chocolate clay to it. When you add choc clay you will not get a matte look, it will be slightly shiny.

Not sure how long fondant has been being used but I'd be willing to bet that in some attic in England there is 100 year old fruitcake still being preserved with fondant !

[W.DeBord]

Not only does the frosting underneath perfect the smooth look... but honestly the more dominate reason I frost underneath it is for taste. It seems most people now prefer the look of fondant they still prefer the taste of butter cream. If you ever observe the dirty plates that come back from meals, they tell you alot. The fondant is not eaten and it's comes back on MOST plates. Not that it tastes so bad (it just doesn't do much), most people just don't know what it is...but then many female don't eat any of the frosting (watching calories) anyway.

The preserves technique I think is for fruit cakes and there's a big difference between how Americans like their cake and how the rest of the world does. Think about it, in the European cake decorating books they use fruit cakes, pound cakes the cover with marizpan and royal icing. The Australians replaced the marzipan and royal icing with the rolled fondant. (Hope I got that right).

[W.DeBord]

I think you really have to do some experimenting to know what you like and what you like handling (taste doesn't always equal easy handling). I spent sometime playing with several factors, different recipes and purchased stuff. In the end everyones personal likes vary and your opinions given your vegan factor is going to be WAY different (I think) then many of us.

I haven't made plain white rolling fondant. I'm happy with a purchased brand....along the way I've tasted several other purchased brands I didn't like at all. I have maded the chocolate rolled fondant from Ms. B.. It tasted fine and seemed to be nice, but when I stored it for a couple days it got so hard I couldn't reuse it and threw it out.

There's also flavored fondants you can purchase. I didn't like their flavor at all. Anna does (and so do most people, I've talked to). Chocopan is it's name. It comes in 4 flavors.

I love the chocolate clays, homemade tastes far better then bought choc. modeling pastes (and real chocolate clay can't be talked about in comparision to chocolate clays using candy melts)! When you vary the amount of corn syrup to chocolate you can get some interesting results (some of which I'm not willing to give my results out online to anyone, ie. great results).

I never mixed choc. clays with fondant for enrobing. Seems to me that would result in a less pliable fondant and better for modeling then enrobing.

I do like how rolled buttercream mixes with fondant. Over all, I did like the rolled buttercream and think it has alot of potential.

You can mix rolled fondant in varing percentages with gum paste for modeling, with good results.

[LotusCakeStudio]

Momoreg,
The whole thing at work started when I was talking about painting on fondant cakes and how I wanted to try it. The head baker has some problems, like he is insecure or feels threatened by me (not sure) and always has to try to “smash” me. (Like how he angrily insists that there is no such thing as an eggless donut, never mind that I eat them several times a week and our own donuts don't have eggs). So when he heard about me wanting to paint on fondant, he sneared, “Hmph! I was doing that before you were even born!” (Which I am almost 27). I mentioned it to another old-time at work and he is the one who tried to tell me that it was impossible since fondant has only been around for about 10 years. I think just b/c he never saw it until 10 years ago, he truly believes that’s when it was invented. Nothing against people 60 years old and up, but I simply can’t handle it when they get in their “I’m older than you and therefore I know everything” fits.

Yes, I live in PHIALDELPHIA (not Nowheresville, Anytown USA). A mere 3 miles away from a town which is predominantly Jewish with a healthy amount of synagogues in my very section of the city. And I cannot find Kojel or Emes. What is wrong with this city?

Your cellulite analogy works, but it was also very disturbing.

Anna,
I don’t have the Cake Bible. Is it worth buying? I’ve skimmed through it at a baking supply store and there was some good info (just wasn’t into the layout). I guess I got turned off by it b/c when I first heard about it several years ago, it had a bad review. Saying that Rose mentals out way too much whether to add 1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon and how her recipes are overly complicated when they don’t need to be. It really made her look like some elitist nutcase so I didn’t want to bother with her book.

Wendy,
I noticed for my wedding cake which was fondant covered, that the plates were half and half. Some people peeled off the fondant and some ate it. To my surprise, one of my friends said, “Whatever that white stuff was, it was the best thing I’ve ever had!” (Then again, he actually loves the taste of BURNT carob cake. *gag*)

What you said about icing the cake with BC first and it being mostly for taste is why I want to make a tasty fondant (yeah, I’m a dreamer); maybe if I can get the cake nice and smooth, I won’t have to ice in BC first and just use jam. I am mostly thinking of this for hot weather. With one of my fondant covered cakes, it was in a very humid room and it melted the BC and the fat seeped into the fondant. It all held together, but it looked like slick shiny plastic (which some actually thought looked really cool, go figure). It just got me thinking that if I had done the jam thing, that wouldn’t have happened. Normally, I don’t have temperatures like that, but if it ever came up again, it would be nice if I could avoid that plastic look.


I ordered a sample of the Chocopan a few months ago and it’s still sitting in my kitchen. Never got around to even tasting it. But I’ll go give it a try now...... Just went to look for it and it’s gone. Guess I had it so long that I threw it out. Oh well. (Or maybe if I do some excavating in that big box in the corner, I’ll find it).

When I was in school, my friend had to use chocolate clay for a project and while she said it tasted great, it wasn’t very stable at all. Our chef just ordered a bucket of it from Albert Uster’s which worked better, but the taste was not there. Speaking of chocolate, for those of you who read about my horrible allergies, I think I am in the clear now! I made a few things and was able to taste it and spit it out with no hives. I’m not bold enough to actually eat it (still seems too risky), but being that I haven’t had the stuff in 7 years, I don’t really care about it anymore.

You can mix rolled fondant in varying percentages with gum paste for modeling, with good results.

My friend Maria does 50/50, but I never knew the point of it. What is the advantage? I know using all GP can be a downer b/c it dries too fast so couldn’t you just use fondant? Or does the added GP to the fondant help stiffen it up? Personally, I use fondant for molds, marzipan to model and GP for flowers so I’ve never tried to model with fondant or GP.

As for rolled buttercream, can you literally use butter? I have only seen a recipe calling for Crisco and butter flavoring and it just seemed the exact same thing as Crisco icing, but sweeter. (Yuk!)

-Vedika

[Anna W.]

I love the cake bible! Yes, she is serious and scientific but that is a plus when everything you've learned has been from books (meaning me). So maybe her exactness would bother the average home baker or the schooled pastry chef but it is very helpful to me. I haven't tasted a bad recipe in there yet.

I use 50/50 gumpaste/fondant when the ornament I am making needs to match my fondant. I use choco-pan and it is not pure white, gumpaste is, so if I want a matching bow, I use the 50/50. Some people can work wonders with chocolate clay. I am not one of them. I have thermonuclear hands and it disintegrates within seconds. If I could use chocolate clay, I would because it is way tastier than any fondant.

Rolled buttercream is a decorator buttercream (shortening and 10X) with enough 10X to make it stiff. Again, this is not easy to work with if you have hot hands but a lot of people like it.

[LotusCakeStudio]

Anna,
Hmmm... the next time I'm at the cake supply store, I'm going to park my butt in the corner and read through The Cake Bible more. The cheapest I've ever seen it for is $35. Have you (or anyone else) seen it cheaper than that? *thinks I should check eBay*

Does rolled buttercream taste like Crisco icing? How's the taste vs. fondant? Once it's on the cake, how well does it hold up?

Also, when adding oils to fondant or rolled buttercream, what type of flavors aside from citrus and mint oils? As those are the only natural ones I've seen- orange, lemon, lime, peppermint, and spearmint, and I don't see those working for too many cake flavors.

[marmalady]

Lotus - Check Jessica's Biscuit for The Cake Bible. As a total wedding cake novice, I found it really helpful last summer when I did my two wedding cakes for friends. I had no idea how to upsize a recipe, and her explanation was easy for me to follow. I've had so-so results with some of her recipes - some were fantastic, some were total bombs!!!

[Anna W.]

LCS-

Do you have a Borders Outlet near you? I got my Cake Bible for $7.00. You could try a Half Price Books, also, if you don't mind a used one. Otherwise, I'd go with Jessica's Biscuit (www.ecookbooks.com) like Marmalady said. Great prices, great service.

Rolled buttercream appeals to those that like decorator frosting. I am not one of them but there are a lot of americans who think that that is what buttercream is supposed to taste like and so it does have a good following with a lot of people. I tried to make it one time but didn't get anywhere with it (because of my hands) I have no idea what its strengths and weaknesses are.

Country Kitchen carries Lorann Oils. You might want to check it out to see what type they carry.

[LotusCakeStudio]

Ok, Marmalady makes vote 2 for The Cake Bible! I checked eBay last night and it was going for around $2.50 brand new. So I'm watching a couple of the auctions that close tomorrow.

A note on Jessica's Biscuit... I was just looking through my recent catalog and also on their website. I noticed on some titles, Amazon was cheaper along with providing cheaper shipping. Saving anywhere between $1 - $3 for one book.

I'm going to toy around with some rolled buttercream. I can't see myself going gaga over it, but I have some customers who have no idea what butter even tastes like b/c of dietary restrictions, so they're not going to be critical. Hehe.

LorAnn Oils are the ones I was referring to. When I first saw them in a cake supply store, I didn't know what I could do with them (I'm not the lollipop making type), so I just bought one of each of all the natural flavors they had. (They're still sitting in one of my tool boxes five years later). Actually, I bought a raspberry one b/c I was trying to recreate an icing a friend of mine had had somewhere else and based on how he explained it, it just sounded like raspberry flavor was added. Even though it was artificial, it didn't taste bad, but aside from doing a friend a favor, I wouldn't make it to sell, keeping with the "all natural" theme.

[W.DeBord]

I've also had some hits and misses with the cake bible. Once upon atime I had only misses and then I asked everyone here about it and they told me which ones were good. The recipes they told me about were VERY good.

I don't think rolled fondant tastes much different then crisco frosting...it not like its' rich and and has butter in it. It more like the crisco frosting that's stiffened further with xxxsugar (although hopefully you have 50% or more butter in your crisco frosting). And it's VERY sweet, so people who like really sweet like it. The texture is very different for most people, how often have you eaten "firm" frosting?
I mix the rolled fondant (which is fairly firm) with rolled butter cream (which is almost too soft to handle) and then add my own flavoring (usually either clear vanilla, almond or lemon emulsion). I like how much easier the fork goes thru this combo, taste....again there isn't butter in it, so...

I use the dark chocolate plastic from Uster but ONLY for decorations not meant to be eaten. But that all so was before I ever made my own, now I probably wouldn't buy it again. Homemade is wonderful, taste like straight chocolate. I have cold hands and can really work with this stuff. I LOVE IT!!!! It's amazing and it has great taste. Plus' and minuses-It's harder to cut when cold then fondant, but you can roll it much thinner.

I use white chocolate plastic in place of gum paste for flowers and ribbons, when possible. They set up imediately and hold great shapes (great for last minute orders). But I buy the white plastic because home made isn't as firm (you have to use candy melts, cause white choc. is too yellow).

Adding gum paste to fondant isn't for enrobing for me....do you do that Anna? Not sure I followed>>>? I don't add alot of fondant just enough to make the gum paste more to a texture of my liking when handling.

P.S. I wonder if your chef meant pastilage (sorry can't spell) that's been painted on since way back when...?

[Anna W.]

W-
I don't add any gumpaste to the fondant for enrobing. Only if I need a decoration on the cake to match the fondant, like an all white cake that needs a bow.

[LotusCakeStudio]

I FINALLY got some Kojel! The Acme Market in Bala Cynwyd (the town 3 miles down the road from me) has a lot of Kosher foods and I could have sworn I had checked there before. But something made me call today and double check and sure enough, they have it. Fifty cents a box! So I am ready to make fondant! Momoreg, when you get a chance to type up Colette's recipe, I will be a fondant making fool.

[alexia]

The Cake Bible is listed at New Books Cheap for $14. In my experience, they are the cheapest regular source for hardback cookbooks if they have them on their list.

http://www.newbookscheap.com/