Fondant Is Fun Recipe

How to make it

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• Everything you need can be bought at your local craft store or local restaraunt food supply store. The craft stores usually carry Wilton, which I really like. Don't try to make your own fondant until you are used to working with it and are used to what its suposed to feel like. Start with store bought.
• Begin with a smooth iced cake. (This can be done by applying buttercream and allowing it to "crust" for 20 minutes out in the air. After it has "crusted" smooth it out by using parchment paper or a plain white paper towel and smoothing it with your hand. If your icing doesn't "crust" and it is still sitcky, you can use a hot spatula to smooth it out. The better your cake looks with the buttercream, the better it will look with fondant. Fondant will show any bumps and lumps and dents, so get it smooth. This takes some practice. Its worth it though).
• Wear a white shirt. Fondant is a "lint magnet". Enough said. Slather your hands in some shortening. Slather your rolling mat and rolling pin with shortening.
• Begin kneading the fondant. Get the amount of fondant that you will need to cover your cake (the fondant box should tell you or you can look on your rolling mat. Knead it until it is soft and pliable. You can add a little shortening to it (never water) if it seems dry. You can add a little powdered sugar to it if it seems too sticky. It should be a lot like soft salt water taffy.
• Once it is soft, shape it into a ball and set it down on your mat. Make a hole in the top with your thumb. Add a teaspoon of vanilla or almond or both. No more than a teaspoon at a time though. Knead it in until it is thoroughly incorporated.
• Do the same thing to add color. Coat your hands with shortening, unless you want them colored for a few days. Only use gel color (never liquid). Put a dab of color in the hole in the top with a toothpick and knead it in until there are no more white streaks. You kindof knead then pull and knead then pull. Keep adding color until its the color you want. A little color goes a long way. You can buy colored fondant, but its cheaper to buy white and color it yourself. I would suggest you buy black and red, however, as these are very hard to get the right color.
• Once it is colored and soft, form it into a ball. Make sure you have plenty of shortening on your mat and on your roller at all times. Roll it out, using the dowels (one placed on each side of your ball of fondant) as a guide to roll out to 1/8 inch thick. A fondant rolling mat is helpful because it tells you how big to roll it out to cover the size of cake you want. The fondant box will usually tell you how much fondant you need to cover your cake (how many ounces).
• Once your fondant is rolled out, cover it with saran wrap and set it aside. Always keep fondant covered with plastic when you don't need it because it dries out quick. If it dries out, slather it with some shortening.
• Put your cake up on a higher surface, such as a lazy susan or a coffee can. Use grip under your cake board if it slides easily.
• Coat the bottom edge of your cake with something sticky, all the way around your cake. Soft honey would work. My favorite thing to use is piping gel. Use your spatula to put about 1/2 inch of sticky coating all the way around the bottom of the cake. This will act as an adhesive to hold the fondant on.
• Get your fondant and uncover it. Invert the fondant over the top of your cake, making sure the center of your fondant is over the center top of your cake. Carefully peel the fondant from the mat and let it gently fall over the cake.
• Starting from the top, and working your way down, smooth the fondant with the smoother (or your hand). Use cornstarch to lightly dust the fondant to allow the smoother or your hand to easily glide over it. Be gentle! Use a soft rotating motion to get tough lines out. Once you get to the bottom, gently press the fondant into the sticky adhesive around your cake. Try not to wrinkle or crease the fondant. Dont pull on the fondant.
• Once the fondant is pressed into the adhesive, use a sharp knife, or an exacto-knife to cut off the excess.
• If an air bubble appears in the fondant, use the corsage pin to pop a small hole in it and smooth it with your smoother.
• Now your cake is ready to decorate.
• You can add buttercream borders and decorate how you want.
• If you want to stick fondant shapes to it, use a small paint brush and clear vanilla extract. Brush the shape with the vanilla extract and stick it to the fondant.
• If you plan to make figures and shapes out of the fondant, let them dry before you paint or write on them. Be sure to use food writers or fondant writers.
• Gum paste (Gum-tex) should be added to flowers to make them dry quicker and harder.
• You can roll out your fondant 1/4 inch to cover your cake if you want a more flawless finish.