Alright, this picture was taken about 5 months ago. I’ve been meaning to share this recipe with you guys, but just didn’t get around to it. A friend of mine is asking for this Easy Homemade Fondant recipe now, so I decided to dig through my archives and finally share this with you.
This was my first cake working with this fondant. I had only made one cake using marshmallow fondant, and it wasn’t a favorite of any of us. This recipe though, it rolled out so beautifully, draped nicely, and was a lot of fun to work with. I had a great time using the fondant, and look forward to using it again. We need more the birthday’s in our family spread out a bit more, so I could play with it year-round, instead of all from September to November.
The fondant was easy to colour using gel colours, and it was as simple as playing with play dough. If it intimidates you, don’t let it! Give it a try! 🙂 By the way…the Lightening McQueen was made doing a frozen buttercream transfer.
Fondant from Scratch
The fondant was easy to colour using gel colours, and it was as simple as playing with play dough. If it intimidates you, don’t let it! Give it a try!
Ingredients
- 2 lbs (908 gr) of sifted confectioner's sugar
- 1 packet of gelatin (1 tablespoon)
- 1/2 cup of white corn syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon flavouring (clear butter flavouring is what I used)
- 1 tablespoon glycerin
- 1/4 cup cold water
Instructions
Sift your confectioner's sugar. If you don't do this, you will have little gravel-like lumps of hard sugar bits in your fondant.
In a heat-safe small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the 1/4 cup of cool water to soften; let it set for 2 minutes. While that is getting all plump, put a small pot of about a half-inch of water to simmer. Place small bowl over your simmering pot of water (double boiler style), let the gelatin melt. Turn off the heat and add your other liquid ingredients (corn syrup, flavouring, glycerin and cold water). Stir until well blended.
With half of your sifted confectioner's sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer outfitted with a dough hook (or have a good, heavy wooden spoon in hand), pour the warm gelatin mixture into the sugar. Add the rest of the sugar, half of a cup at a time. Keep stopping and scraping down the sides of the bowl. After a few minutes of mixing, you will notice that the mixture is quite stiff, and it will be only slightly sticky, but no longer wet.
Sprinkle a fine dusting of confectioner's sugar on the counter. Using some shortening, grease your hands. Place fondant on counter, and start kneading the fondant by hand. Sprinkle with more confectioner's sugar as needed. You want to create a nice, ball of fondant that is not sticky, but is still easy to form. It should be somewhat soft, but not sticky.
Double wrap the fondant with plastic wrap and place in a resealable plastic bag. Place on the counter and let it sit overnight. This just assures that all the confectioner's sugar is moist. You can use it right away, if you wish. You can also store it in the fridge, but will need to reheat it slightly to work with it.
Notes
From here, you can cut off chunks, and using gel colours, knead the colour into the fondant. Be sure to wear plastic gloves to do this. I did find that if the fondant cracked a bit while I was rolling it, microwaving it for a few seconds helped make it more pliable again. Remember, only a few seconds (literally) or you'll have a big mess on your hands. When rolling the fondant, you want the fondant to be about 1/4" thick when you place it on your cake. Keep that in mind, you don't want it to be too thick. Source: CakesCanada.com
betty r says
Ahh Jeanine you caught the perfect look..I love that photo of your son with his cake..precious!
Sophie says
What a cutie, and cute cake! So adorable, instant smile :D.
The Not So Perfect Housewife says
What a great job!! It looks amazing and your son is adorable!
tallmisto says
Wow, fondant making. That is impressive. You make it sound so very easy. That cake is adorable! I have never eaten fondant. Perhaps I should give it a whirl. Is that vegetable glycerin?
GF Gidget says
Wow… I am very impressed!
rahraht says
The colors of the cake are beautiful! Do you have any idea of a good substitute for the corn syrup? Unfortunately, I am also alergic to corn products.
Thanks!
shimmering says
You can use glucose instead of corn syrup. It looks, feels and tastes just like it. And can be substituted for corn syrup. I use half of both.
Jeanine Friesen says
Thanks for the tip, Shimmering!
Eliana says
What an awesome looking cake. You are incredibly talented.
Rachel says
Im in the middle of making this recipe, just added liquid to the icing sugar and mixing it and its way too runny. I added all the icing sugar and mixed it and its still way too runny, looks like runny icing. I added another cup of icing sugar and it thickened a bit more. Do I keep on adding icing sugar till its thick??? HELP! I added 2 lbs anitionally, dont know where I messed up.
Jeanine Friesen says
Rachel, are you using a stand mixer? Let it mix for a while, it thickens up as it mixes. That amount of sugar should work, together with the syrup and gelatin mixture. I’d keep adding it slowly, with the mixer doing the work, until you have a more play dough like consistency.
Andrea says
I’m going to try this recipe tomorrow, it looks manageable. What size of cake will this recipe cover? Did you have lots left over after making that Lightning cake? I need to make a cake that’s bigger than that and I’m wondering if I need to double the recipe. Thanks
Katja says
How long will the fondant stay good for in the fridge once its mixed up?