Thinking about decorating a cake in fondant (that white, fancy icing, kinda like marzipan or paste, that gets rolled out)?

Fondant is called lots of different things. Plastic icing, rolled royal icing, RTR icing or wedding cake icing.

If you are wanting to start decorating with fondant, but not sure where to start…

What brand of icing to use?
What is the cheapest fondant to buy?
How long will it keep for?
How to color fondant?

Today’s video tutorial is all about the sweet icing, that makes cakes look fancy!

What is Fondant? Tutorial

Watch the video and learn what fondant is, where to buy it from, how much it costs, what is the best brand to use and how to work with it. Fondant is also known as traditional icing, wedding cake icing, RTR icing, Plastic icing or ‘that fancy stuff’. It seems hard but is much easier than you think. The full video tutorial is a free bonus for people who enroll in Cake Business School.

Working With Fondant: What Equipment & Ingredients Do I Need?

Fondant

Fondant is called many things – wedding cake icing, rolled icing, plastic icing, white icing, Ready To Roll icing (RTR) icing, etc. It is an icing, which is rolled out using a rolling pin & gives a fantastic finish to a decorated cupcakes.

Fondant can be made from scratch or pre-made. Both types have their advantages & disadvantages.

Fondant made from scratch, has a fantastic flavor and is more gourmet, but is time consuming to make (about 20 minutes for 1 kg.) The pre-made fondant doesn’t taste quite as nice as making it yourself, but is an excellent option.

In the pre-made Fondants, there are several brands names from not-so-good to really good. The good quality fondants include – Satin Ice, Wilton & Bakels.

Fondant is available from eBay or Amazon.

Bakels is what I use and love. It is a good quality, comes in bulk, 7kg buckets for approx $60. Although it only comes in white, you can color the fondant, yourself.

Buying pre-colored fondants are recommended when you require a very intense color, such as black, red or hot pink. Pre-colored are more expensive, but worth it, as it is near impossible to get the intense colors yourself.

Marshmallow Fondant

If you want to make your own gourmet Marshmallow Fondant, here is a recipe.

Rolling Pin

Fondant is a firm consistency, which needs to be rolled out thin to cut out. A silicone (plastic) rolling pin, both large and small is required with working with Fondant.

The large one costs approximately $25 and the small approximately $20, both from cake decorating shops. It is recommended not using a wooden rolling pin, because it leaves ‘grain’ marks in the fondant.

I found a link for a rolling pin on Amazon and eBay for you.

Fondant Smoother & Cutter

As Fondant is rolled out & you are looking for a smooth finish, a fondant smoother is required. This is ultimately, a flat piece of plastic with a handle, which costs between $10-15 online or from your local cake decorating shop.

The cutter is a pizza cutter, to cut straight lines (or at the edges of cakes). This can be found at the supermarket for $6.

Here you can get a cheap fondant smoother on eBay or Amazon.

Here you can get a fondant cutter on eBay or Amazon.

Tylose

What is Tylose? It is a ‘magic’ white powder, which must be used in conjunction with fondant, to make it easier to handle, decorate with & finish smoother.

In the Video Tutorial ‘What is Fondant?,’ Tylose is explained further and shown how to use with fondant.

Note – in the video tutorial ‘What Is Fondant’ , I explain Tylose further and show how to use with fondant. (The Video Tutorial Library for enrolled students in Cake Business School.)

Tylose costs $12 for a bag or container of the powder. Get tylose from local cake decorating stores or online from eBay or Amazon.

Concentrated Food Gels

Coloring fondant is also trickier than imagined. As fondant doesn’t like water (or liquids), adding liquid food colors reacts, in a less than positive manner.

Wilton Concentrated Food Gels are manufactured specifically for coloring Fondants. As they are so highly concentrated, only a small amount is required, which makes the fondant easier to work with.

The gels are available from local cake decorating shops or online at eBay or Amazon.

The Wilton Gels are more expensive than the supermarket food colors. The Gels costs approximately $6 per color or packs of 8 for $30. As they are so concentrated, only small amounts are required, so they will last a rather long time.

Paint Brush

What? That’s weird …. To decorate with fondant, you will need a cheap paint brush, used to ‘glue’ together fondant decorations.

Fondant and water, when together, act as a ‘glue’, so by using a small craft paintbrush (that is used for cake decorating only), and some water, your decorated pieces stick together beautifully.

Note – Fondant and water can be worst enemies. Water is like acid on fondant, and will eat away at it. When using water as ‘glue’, only add extremely small amounts and be careful not to add droplets to your fondant work.