More than half of the cakes I do for clients are covered with fondant. It is gorgeous, sleek and can be simple or ornate. Over the years I’ve tried just about every product out there and have loved some and loathed others. Some are easy to use but have no taste feel like chewing gum in your mouth. Others are melt in your mouth and have a pleasant flavor, but are nearly impossible to work with unless the conditions are just right. Not to mention the cost. For those of you who have worked with it you know it is very spendy, as we say here in MN. So make your own and get the flavor, the texture and the price you like. It is very easy, albeit a tad messy, but most of all fun!
A few years ago I fell in love with Margaret Braun’s book Cakewalk
Sugar Paste (Rolled Fondant) recipe from Cakewalk: Adventures In Sugar With Margaret Braun
2 pounds confectioner’s sugar
1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin
3 tablespoons cold water
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 1/2 tablespoons Glycerin
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract(If you want a PURE white fondant than use the clear vanilla, I used pure vanilla and you can see that my fondant is very white.) You can add other flavors as well but I would stick to those with an alcohol base and not an oil extract. You don’t want to add any fat to the recipe.
Sift 1 1/2 pounds of the confectioner’s sugar into a large standing mixer bowl, set aside.
In a small bowl, stir the water into the gelatin.
Dissolve over a double boiler with simmering water until clear.
Remove from the heat and stir in the corn syrup, Glycerin, and vanilla.
With the standing mixer turning on low speed, slowly pour the gelatin mixture into the bowl of confectioner’s sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
Continue beating on medium speed until well combined and very sticky.
Scrape the sticky fondant onto a clean silicon Pastry Mat
Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 pound of sugar on the dough a little at a time.
Knead the sugar into the dough with the palm of your hand, then fold it over and continue adding sugar. I wished I’d had a pair of Gloves for this, but of course I’d run out!
Use your plastic Bowl Scraper to help you fold the dough over while adding more sugar.
Keep repeating these steps until all of the sugar is added and you have a nice smooth and uniform ball of dough.
Wrap the ball in plastic twice and let rest for at least 12 hours. DO NOT REFRIGERATE!!!! It will get tacky and impossible to work with if it is refrigerated. WRAP IT WELL! Store it for up to 2 weeks in a dry cool spot.
When ready to work with the dough unwrap it and knead it to make it smooth and pliable. Add your color and decorate as I did for Claudia’s birthday cake. I will be using it for my blog-iversary cake next week. I’ll also be giving away a T-shirt that my husband/webmaster/designer made for me!
Thanks to all of you on Twitter who keep me inspired and sane!
Another fondant cake I made for a client with a mini!
Ahh I tried this recipe three times last night and each time it was a disaster I have to go and buy Wilton fondant now, I don’t know how I messed this up your directions are so clear!
I only could find golden corn syrup would that have done it? My glycerin and gelatin mixture once mixed with it was just a stretchy, kinda solid goo that worked its way up my mixer and got tangled, it wouldn’t mix with the sugar at all. 🙁
Hi Amandalynn,
I’m sorry you are having such troubles. The only thing I can think is that you might be adding the corn syrup, glycerin and vanilla to the gelatin when it is too cold, so it is getting stringy? Is that a possibility? You want to add the corn syrup when the gelatin is just melted, but still quite warm.
I hope that helps! Zoe
Hi Zoe. I tried your recipe with a glucose syrup substitute for the corn syrup. I’d made the glucose syrup at home cause I couldn’t find any in the market right now. But the dough wasn’t really elastic. Sometimes, I’d knead hard and parts would crumble. Other parts would be sort of elastic enough to hold it together. And then I ran out of glucose syrup so I used honey! (I know, it’s pretty crazy the amount of substitution going on here) and that sort of helped, but not entirely.
Also, I followed your instructions with the gelatin, but I never felt like it was really transparent per se. I’m puzzled about that bit.
I know I’m doing something really wrong here. Could you help identify what it might be? This is my THIRD batch in two days and I’m going crazy!
Thanks.
Hello Zoe,
I have just tried to make a Silver Spoon Fondant mix and I thought it was going wrong so I threw it away. Problem is I didnt knead it, wrap it in cling film or let it rest for 12 hours. Is this where I went wrong. Need your help so bad !!!
Hi Emma,
I’ve never tried the product and am not sure what the directions are. You might want to contact the company and explain what went wrong. I’m sure they have a place on their website to ask questions???
Great luck to you, once you get the fondant to the right consistency you will have a blast with it!
Zoë
Hello Zoe,
Thanks for this recipe. I have a question about food safety. If I layer with buttercream or ganache and then leave out after applying fondant, won’t it spoil? They both have dairy in them? I don’t get how people are getting sick from wedding cakes. Thanks. Catherine
Hi Zoe,
Do you know if there is a good tasting/easy to work with fondant that is vegetarian (i.e. no gelatin)? Thanks, your cakes look gorgeous!
Hi Allie,
The thing that comes to mind is replacing the gelatin with agar-agar, but I’ve never tried it and don’t know how much to recommend. If you do it start with a small batch and do some experimenting.
The other idea is to go with marzipan if you like the flavor of almonds, but it won’t be pure white.
Good luck! I’ll keep looking and let you know if I come up with something further.
Zoë
Hi there,
I have been testing out a few different recipes for making fondant and I am going to give yours a try. I am making my 2 soon to be 3 year old daughters cake (handy manny face) and wanted to know if you can give me some advice on how to make the bill of his hat stand up right on the cake? I will be using fondant to make it but wanted to know if it was as easy as leaving that piece to harden a bit for a few hours?
Also,I’m assuming you cover the cake in a butter cream frosting first, would you recommend flavoring the fondant with a clear almond extract? or is that to strong of a flavor??
thanks!
Hi Leila,
I just realized that I missed your question, so sorry! If you have not yet made the cake you will need to let that hat sit for several days, not hours. It will need to dry out completely or it will just collapse. You can flavor the fondant as you wish, but don’t add too much or you will change the consistency of the fondant.
Enjoy and have fun! Zoë
i dont know how fondant is made
Hi Marie,
I’m so excited that you tried it and had such a great experience. It really is so much fun to work with!
Enjoy and have fun with the next cake too.
Zoë
I love to bake. Recently I was asked to make a birthday cake and a baby shower cake, both using fondant. I Had never used fondant, but was willing to try! I look every where for a recipe, found a few, but yours seemed to be “true”. SO I made a small test cake to see if I was going to be up to the challenge. I Was! It was perfect! I had never tasted fondant prior to makeing my simple test cake! I just wanted to say thank you Zoe for leaving this recipe up, as there are not many recipes out there for fondant nore to people really share info for free. So thank you! Happy new year!
i used glucose to substitute corn syrup and it turns out good
hi..nice and great recpe..
thanks alot. is sugarcraaft done the same way like the rolled fondant?
hi zoe, tried to make the fondant a few days ago. i rolled it out with cornstarch, because i thought that it may be sticky. when i rolled it out, it was great. however, after a while it started to get hard and rather crumbly. what do you think is the problem? by the way, about the gelatine, i simply heated the water in the microwave and spooned the gelatine in to dissolve it. is that ok?
thanks
Hi Millicente,
I’d try any flavor that suits the cake you are making, but make sure it is not oil based.
Hi Supersara,
You can half the recipe if you are only making a small cake. Just be sure to make enough that you can roll it out and have extra, that will end up getting cut off. If it is not a big enough piece you may end up trying to stretch it too thin to smooth it out.
Enjoy, Zoë
hi zoe, i was just wondering if we can half or quarter the recipe? would it taste as good?
Hi…Love your site. What is a good extract or flavoring for the fondant?New one that would taste great
Hi Aude,
No, I add the corn syrup after I remove the gelatin from the double boiler. I bet the lumps you saw were gelatin that wasn’t entirely dissolved?
Thanks, Zoë
Hello Zoé !
I just see your amazing site ! I love bake as you and I have a question : do you heat your corn syrup before use it ? Because I just finish my fondant and it have little pieces of stiff corn syrup. Sorry for my English (I am french…)
Thanks, Aude
Hi Christine,
If you want to make them ahead and use them, but don’t want them to dry out you need to wrap them well in plastic wrap. Once they dry they will be very brittle, so you need to be able to attach them in exactly the shape they are in and not try to bend them.
So glad you gave it a try! Zoë
Hi Shari,
So sorry for the delay in answering your question. It seems as though your gelatin wasn’t fully “bloomed” before you put it on the double boiler. This is when you pour the water over the gelatin and stir it together. It should absorb all the water and get kind of rubbery, and there should be no dry gelatin left in the bowl. At that point you put it on the double boiler and it should cook for just a few minutes, before melting and turning translucent.
If the gelatin wasn’t behaving properly it will have an effect on the consistency of your fondant. It won’t be as elastic as you want.
Next time you make the fondant, if you think it is starting to get crumbly then stop adding the confectioner’s sugar.
Have fun! Zoë
Hello, I never worked with Fondant before however I have decorated cakes for 20+ years. I used this recipe and it was exactly as you stated..thank you…
ONE QUESTION.. I make my little cut outs, set them aside, covered the cake with fondant, by the time I got to putting my cut outs on they crumbled and broke before getting them on the cake? Should I transfer decorations to the cake while the fondant is still soft? Thank You!
Hi Zoe,
Thank you very much for this recipe! I had a mini cake challenge with my friend for our first Fondant cake! It was great. Your website is awesome!
Zoe,
I just tried the fondant recipe today. I’m making my wedding cake at the end of august and am really nervous! I am taking a fondant class…but the wilton stuff tastes so gross and I just can’t imagine spending so much money for something that no one will eat.
this recipe tastes really good! …but I had a few questions.
My gelatin and water mixture never really became completely clear. It was more milky…with ribbons of clearness, if that makes sense? Timewise, how long do you typically let your gelatin mixture cook on the double boiler?
When I first finished mixing the fondant it was sticky…but seemed to be the right consistancy. As I kneeded the powdered sugar into it though it became more and more crumbly…wouldn’t stick together. I don’t know what I did wrong. I threw it in the mixer again and added a little water. So far, so good…but I guess I’ll find out tomorrow how it turned out.
Why do you think my fondant was so crumbly?
I love your blog…and I’m super excited that I saw you occasionally do some baking classes (I think I saw that anyway)…I’m also from MN and would love to attend one!
Hi Meettu,
That is wonderful. Congratulations!!!
Zoë
Hi Kelly,
I’m not exactly sure what went on, but if your fondant is rock hard like that you can throw it in the microwave for a few seconds and soften it up. Don’t let it go too long or it will just melt.
Zoë