Hello,

I had been reading so much about rolled fondant, and have never attempted it.  My son’s First Communion was coming up, so I asked him what kid of cake he’d like.  We decided on yellow cake with strawberry something.

This is the yellow buttercake with Strawberry Fruit Cloud Cream filling.  I skim coated with strawberry Mousseline Buttercream, then coated with rolled fondant.  I rolled it pretty thin and didn’t get all the wrinkles out.  I didn’t want a thick layer of fondant.  I need some more practice.

I think next time I will ice the top of the cake before placing it on the Fruit Cloud Cream.  I layered on the cream and then chilled it for a little while (maybe 30 minutes) to allow it to firm up before I put the second layer on top of it.  It did well, but the pressure of icing the top of the cake caused a little bulging.

I chilled everything thoroughly before coating it with the fondant.  It sat uncovered overnight in the fridge.  I brought it to room temp, added the detail with more buttercream, tinted blue. 

It tasted wonderful.  Everyone loved the fondant.  They thought it was a nice change from tons of gooey frosting.  Oddly enough, despite the fact that it’s basically powdered sugar dough, the comments were that it wasn’t too sweet.  I guess the rich buttercream, with not much sweetness, really tempered it well.

The cake was nice and light, and the cloud cream held its own and was delightfully airy.  Definitely worth the work.  This petite 6” cake was more than enough for 7 people. 

All the best,

JennyBee

(sorry about the blurry photo)

Great first attempt - it looks better than my first fondant covered cake did!

It looks great and I bet it tasted wonderful, too!

As a total “cake-decorating-klutz,“ I am in awe of all the folks here who produce such wonderfully fancy cakes. “Home-style” is more my line…

Very nice JennyBee. It looks delicious. Thanks for sharing!  I look forward to trying fondant some day soon.

Excellent Job! The cakes sounds wonderful.

excellent cake JennyBee, looks beautiful and looks tasty.  I love the height.

Time for me to start with fondant?  After reading Ron Ben Israel’s take on fondant, he said the key is to have a nice buttercream coat on the cake and an ultra thin 1/8-inch fondant layer on top!  Fondant is delicious when paper thin.

Then again, other cake designers say you need very little buttercream and a thicker layer of fondant… I’ve tried both and think I lean a bit toward the ticker fondant for good coverage, especially if covering a chocolate cake.  I need to play around with it more though.

That cake looks better than my first fondant try too.  I have a hard time with the bottom of the cake, the fondant always turns out “wavy”.

I am going to try Hector’s suggestion, as I like a good thick coat of buttercream underneath.  Sometimes when the fondant is thick, the cake is hard to cut.  We like to stick the piece of cake in the microwave for a second to soften up the fondant before eating.  Most people are not so shocked by the difference in textures this way.  I definitely consider it more of a decorating tool than a taste treat.

thick fondant is easy to maneuver!

Yep, but I agree with what you said earlier… thin fondant with a thicker BC base tastes better .

hectorwong - 03 June 2008 01:26 PM

thick fondant is easy to maneuver!

You can buy these large mats (24 x 36 or so) that you roll the fondant on and then use the same mat to lift and apply the fondant to the cake - sounds very helpful with large tiers.

Thank you, all.

I saw Patrincia’s link in the “any recommended cake decorating stands” thread, to the TheCakeWheel.com and went to the site.  She has a demo where she uses those big sheets to roll her fondant, and one of the things about her set is that it has a small wheel so you can have the fondant drop down past the bottom of the cake.  I set mine on top of the cake pan, which was close enough.  I don’t have a decorating stand.  Yet. 

I think with a thicker layer of buttercream, you can chill it, and then soften the edge of the buttercream more smoothly than you could the cake itself.  Unless you were going for the very rounded “european” look.

She did mention the thin layer of fondant melding nicely with the buttercream.  I didn’t do more than a good skim coat of buttercream on the sides, the top was probably just shy of 1/4”.  The fondant was maybe 1/8”.  It did tear in some places, and I rolled it out a few times before I got a piece big enough, and thin enough.  A few seconds in the microwave to soften it seems crucial.  Right now in Maine, the kitchen hovers between 65-70 degrees.  Great for making buttercream.  A little cool for malleable fondant.

By the way?  When making rolled fondant, should you try to incorporate all of the confectioner’s sugar, or just what gets worked in the original mass in the bowl, prior to kneading?  I worked to get almost all of it incorporated, but wondered if that made it too stiff?

I think the biggest problem in the world today is too much frosting.  I think if the cake is good, the frosting and decoration should be a nice complement, but by no means dominant.  After all, they are “Cakes”.

I actually got a bakery cake from a local bakery that was really good.  It was slathered in genuine buttercream.  But there was way too much of it. 

I have the rest of my fondant in the freezer for the next time I’m feeling adventurous.  I think I need a break from the buttercream/batter diet.  (Hey, quality control is VERY important.)

All the best (tasting stuff),

JennyBee

Hi JennyBEe - The blue mats that the cake wheel lady sells were exactly the ones I was thinking of.  Her price is pretty reasonable for them too.  I wonder if thick plastic that they sell at the fabric store would work (it’s used for slip covers or tablecloth covers). 

When I’ve made Rose’s fondant recipe, I have always used all the sugar called for.  Is that the recipe you used? 

Re the cake wheel - I don’t know if I’d want to apply fondant under the cake cardboard the way she suggests… I would think that might make the bottom edges “buckle” when placed onto another cake, but I have never done it that way, so I don’t know for sure…. that would be a nice practice cake for the family.

Patrincia,

I did use Rose’s Recipe.  I apparently dodged a huge bullet by being fortunate enough to have Crisco of a certain age.  I did mention on that blog thread that my store brand (Hannaford for those who know of it) all-vegetable shortening still has trans-fats in it.  I don’t know if it’s not being phased out, or it just doesn’t sell as quickly.  But I have my 3 lb can.

I didn’t get the impression that she was turning the fondant under the cardboard.  I just assumed that the advantage was being able smooth past the cake bottom and to trim cleanly without worrying about bunching.  It was very easy to fit the fondant with the cake on the cake pan, and I got a nice neat edge.  Maybe she’s just sealing it to the board?  I would have to watch her again.

I am new to using cake boards, as well as anything resembling a cake decorating stand.  I have always just decorated the cake on the plate, but it is always difficult to get a good bottom treatment, and still keep the plate neat, strips of waxed paper or not.

I have never had the luxury of picking up a cake to decorate it, or after it is decorated.  Now, with the cardboard bases, I can put them on a lazy susan on a small round of waxed paper, just about an inch larger than the cake.  After decorating, I pop it in the fridge to chill.  When cold, I peeled off the waxed paper and put it on the serving plate.  No smudges, no fingerprints, no smeared decorations.

I am enjoying absorbing the collective wisdom of this forum.

All the best,

JennyBee

Oh, the blue mats are probably a silicone coated product.  Not like silpat, but those thin liners you can buy.  That is my guess, without going to the site and checking it out closely.  For smaller cakes you could probably use one of those non-stick oven liners.  I’m pretty sture they are the same as the baking sheet liners, just bigger.

I would worry about anything like a vinyl or PVC having a smell to it.  I just know what plastic tablecloths smell like when they are new.  I also think you need something that is really flexible, which would rule out acetate sheets. 

I rolled my fondant around the rolling pin to move it.  It was relatively successful.  But it was a small cake.

JennyBee

JennyBee - 03 June 2008 10:06 PM

I would worry about anything like a vinyl or PVC having a smell to it.  I just know what plastic tablecloths smell like when they are new.  I rolled my fondant around the rolling pin to move it.  It was relatively successful.  But it was a small cake.

JennyBee

Good point about the smell of vinyl - I always air my new replacement shower curtain liners outside for a day or two to get rid of that horrible smell.

I have only covered 8 and 9-inch cakes with fondant, so I haven’t needed to use a mat, but it looks like it would be handy for larger tiers.  The rolling pin trick works very nicely too.