Do you like the taste of fondant?

M

mariadnoca

Moderator
Because so many cakes are made with it these days. Of course they look wonderful (ok, some look like playdough), but I was never really fond of the taste. If you like it, do you have a great tasting recipe - maybe it was why I never thought it was much of a wow?

 
No. I like old fashioned fondant--the white glaze you pour onto Napoleons, and I like Marzipan,

which is what they used to use for a molded coating over cakes, but I really don't like that newfangled corn-syrupy stuff they use nowadays. I agree a cake should taste as good as it looks.

Am I old and cranky?

 
I've made from scratch/scratch, from marshmallow and bought it.

Scratch/scratch: a bit of work and you have to have glucose. Nice taste. Sugar, shortening plus flavoring.

Marshmallow: super-quick and if you like the taste of marshmallows this is right up your alley.

Bought:
Wilton: The worst tasting. Avoid this if possible.
Pettinice: Okay tasting, rolls nicely. I like this for deep colors, like black, green and red because I don't like adding so much food dye. Plus the color is consistent.

Ingredients: White: Icing sugar, glucose, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, water, artifical flavor, gum tragacanth, glycerine, cellulose gum, modified starch, potassium sorbate, acetic acid, titanium dioxide, vanilla flavour.

Satin: Good taste, rolls nicely. From our local cake supply store, this is the favorite for wedding cakes. Not sure why, but it comes in white and ivory, so that make be a key reason (to match the bridal dress).

Truly, you should try the marshmallow version just to experience it. I've done a "lunch & learn" using the bought to cover little 4" cakes and at another one I showed how to actually make the marshmallow fondant.

Most people say they peel off the fondant at the wedding. I think that's because caterers use 1/4" thickness, which can hide a multitude of sins. I've made cakes with 1/8" thickness and it adds a nice texture. There is buttercream below to hold it on.

http://video.about.com/candy/How-to-Make-Fondant.htm

 
I liked my grandmother's from-scratch fondant that she melted to glaze petit-fours.

I remember pinching off pieces of the leftover that she stored in a jar in the fridge.

 
Hate it all. Yuck. It DOES look nice and you can sure get creative with it, but I peel and toss.

I've made the marshmallow kind and dislike it too.

 
I have been wanting to try some on birthday cakes but the kids (and adults) so love the buttercream

frostings that I hesitate to try since the ingredients look so unappealing to me.

 
Here is Julia Child's, though it is adapted into a strage article about bees. It's pretty simple:

sugar boiled to the soft ball stage with a little cream of tartar, then cooled and kneaded until white and snowy. The original recipe in Mastering...Vol. II has several flavoring suggestions.

I made this once and didn't knead it quite enough. I kneaded till my spatula broke, but it was plastic spatula not up to the task. Since then I've seen Julia do it in reruns and it has to become a thick, snowy, crumbly mass. You need a proper metal bench scraper for that.

Good Luck!

 
I'm seeing it on cupcakes now too. Pretty, but sigh...I'm a buttercream kinda girl I guess.

I may try some of these other options just to see though - thanks.

I've never made it, only bought it or tasted it on bakery cakes. My semi niece (friend's kid) took a few classes and has all kinds of cutters. She's made some really beautiful cakes, but taste is #1 for me and I love a good buttercream or even a seven minute. Fondant, not so much. The marshmallow sounds interesting though.

 
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