Fondant Icing

Dreaming of fondant icing on a baby shower cake? This confectionery icing is rolled out like pastry dough. The dough is laid upon the cake and molded to literally wrap, like skin, producing a very smooth finish. This smooth finish is the choice for many cake lovers these days – it looks clean, smooth and perfect. However, many detest the taste or even the texture (the way it feels in your mouth), its kind of weird and icky to some people. It reminds me of the skin on the outside of mochi, a Japanese ice-cream confection. It's just not the typical soft and yummy frosting most of us are used to. It can be flavored though, ask your baker about these options and aim to taste them too.

A fondant baby shower cake is usually lightly covered with glaze or buttercream icing or marzipan before fondant icing is applied to seal in freshness and moisture. It keeps for up to 2 months in an airtight container, and can actually help preserve any dessert – it can be stored at room temperature for 3 to 4 days. It should not be refrigerated or frozen before your event.

Typical ingredients for a batch (enough to cover a 10x4” high cake) look like this:

8 cups of sifted confectioner’s sugar
1 tbsp glycerin
1 tbsp + 2 tsp unflavored gelatin
¼ c cold water
½ c glucose
2 tbsp solid vegetable shortening

Naturally pure white, it can be easily colored or flavored by kneading the icing or extract in until well blended. A variety of different kinds of chocolate can also be added for a chocolate version. Our local baking supply shop sells chocolate specifically for blending – which sort of has the consistency of Nutella chocolate. We’ve made the chocolate version a few times and adding in some brown or black icing coloring helped give it the dark chocolate appearance we were looking for.

When kneading fondant, we always have a problem with our hands becoming hot and sweaty - a huge no-no for this type of icing. Now we make sure the kitchen is a lower temperature, and I always keep a small fan running close by so I can dry up those sweaty palms!

Some bakers prefer to purchase this bakers playdough rather than making it themselves. It can be purchased in up to 20 lb. tubs. Stored well, the it keeps for months. However, store bought does not taste anywhere near as good as homemade. Homemade can be flavored easily, or you can vary your ingredients to improve the taste to your liking. If you're particular about fondant, ask your baker if they make their own. Ideally they'd let you taste a bit of both.

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