Fondant Icing Tips
Whether you are new to baking or have been honing your craft for years, making beautiful and professional looking custom cakes with fondant can still be a difficult skill to master. Here are some helpful fondant icing tips to ensure your custom creation is a sweet success.
Be a Neat Freak
Fondant picks up lint like black sweaters pick up cat hair, so be sure to wipe down your work space with a microfiber cloth before getting started. For best results, work with fondant on a silicone baking mat. Just to make sure you get every speck of lint, take a tiny ball of fondant and roll it across the surface of your mat before you begin.
Grease Some Palms
To keep your fondant pliable, you will have to knead it by hand. Before you do this though, be sure to coat your fingers and palms with vegetable shortening or liquid vegetable oil. This ensures the icing sticks to your silicon mat instead of your skin.
A little goes a long way
Fondant tends to dry out quickly. Once the fondant has turned dry and brittle, it’s basically worthless, so be sure to only take out as much fondant as you need for the moment and store the rest in an airtight container.
Thin is In
There is nothing worse than cutting into a beautiful cake only to discover that it’s mostly icing. This is even worse when the icing is fondant, because your cake can end up looking bulky and tasting chalky. Be sure to roll your fondant out to one eighth of an inch thickness– maximum. If you roll your fondant too thin, it will tear, so be sure to be as precise as possible with your measurements.
Make a Clean Break
To keep your custom cakes looking as professional as those found in a Raleigh cake shop, be sure your cutouts have crisp, clean lines. The easiest way to do this is to use a metal cookie cutter. Press straight down on the cookie cutter to create the shape, then gently the peel the excess fondant away from the edges. Use a sharp paring or pastry knife to trim away any ragged edges that remain.
With time, patience, and a little practice, anyone can make professional looking cakes at home. So before you run out to a Raleigh cake shop for your next special event, let us help you try your hand at cake design with fondant icing.
