Rationale
There are so many things I should be doing other than icing practice for a wedding cake that we won't be eating until next August (writing the review article that I need to submit this month or the presentation I am giving next week would be obvious alternatives). However, it seems that browsing through wedding cake recipes has become my method of choice for procrastination. I am shocked at how commercialized the art of cake decorating is. One could spend the same amount on the various cake-making gadgets at Michael's as on a professionally-decorated cake!
Never having decorated a cake with fondant, I thought I'd start to develop a recipe.
The basic recipe (Adapted from an online illustrated version by Paul of CakesCanada.com)
Sift 450 g of icing sugar.
Add 1/2 tbsp gelatin to 1/4 cup water. Let sit for 5 min, then melt over boiling water.
Add 1/4 cup light corn syrup, 1/2 tbsp glycerine, and desired flavouring (tonight, in my case, this included vanilla, Grand Marnier, lemon curd, orange rind, and orange extract). Stir until the mixture is homogeneous, still over boiling water (or recently boiled water from a kettle if you use your stove as a storage surface and can't be bothered to turn it on!)
Add the liquid mixture to one half the volume of sugar. Mix by hand, then add an additional 1/2 cup of sugar. Continue adding sugar, 1/4 cup at a time. If you have a stand mixer with a dough hook, this is a great use for it. If not, use a solid spoon.
Once the mixture loses its stickiness or you can no longer get the sugar incorporated by hand, turn it out onto a well-sugared surface and continue to incorporate the sugar while kneading. The final consistency should be relatively dry and not sticky, but still very pliable and easily rolled out into a sheet.
Thoughts on fondant
It was easier than I thought to obtain an ideal consistency for rolling and shaping, so long as everything that came in contact with the fondant was coated in icing sugar (alternatively, according to many online sources that offer advice on the subject, shortening also works well).
I grabbed a frozen cupcake from my freezer and covered that with a sheet of the basic fondant, then added some colouring to make some flowers and leaves.
I still need to work on the flavour - perhaps more lemon curd would make it richer and more buttery. Of course I suppose the idea with a fondant is to avoid butter, but I don't see how a little bit could hurt! In fact, I think I'd like to try this recipe next:
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/michele-fosters-delicious-fondant/
Not sure if I'll eat the cupcake yet!
There are so many things I should be doing other than icing practice for a wedding cake that we won't be eating until next August (writing the review article that I need to submit this month or the presentation I am giving next week would be obvious alternatives). However, it seems that browsing through wedding cake recipes has become my method of choice for procrastination. I am shocked at how commercialized the art of cake decorating is. One could spend the same amount on the various cake-making gadgets at Michael's as on a professionally-decorated cake!
Never having decorated a cake with fondant, I thought I'd start to develop a recipe.
The basic recipe (Adapted from an online illustrated version by Paul of CakesCanada.com)
Sift 450 g of icing sugar.
Add 1/2 tbsp gelatin to 1/4 cup water. Let sit for 5 min, then melt over boiling water.
Add 1/4 cup light corn syrup, 1/2 tbsp glycerine, and desired flavouring (tonight, in my case, this included vanilla, Grand Marnier, lemon curd, orange rind, and orange extract). Stir until the mixture is homogeneous, still over boiling water (or recently boiled water from a kettle if you use your stove as a storage surface and can't be bothered to turn it on!)
Add the liquid mixture to one half the volume of sugar. Mix by hand, then add an additional 1/2 cup of sugar. Continue adding sugar, 1/4 cup at a time. If you have a stand mixer with a dough hook, this is a great use for it. If not, use a solid spoon.
Once the mixture loses its stickiness or you can no longer get the sugar incorporated by hand, turn it out onto a well-sugared surface and continue to incorporate the sugar while kneading. The final consistency should be relatively dry and not sticky, but still very pliable and easily rolled out into a sheet.
Thoughts on fondant
It was easier than I thought to obtain an ideal consistency for rolling and shaping, so long as everything that came in contact with the fondant was coated in icing sugar (alternatively, according to many online sources that offer advice on the subject, shortening also works well).
I grabbed a frozen cupcake from my freezer and covered that with a sheet of the basic fondant, then added some colouring to make some flowers and leaves.
I still need to work on the flavour - perhaps more lemon curd would make it richer and more buttery. Of course I suppose the idea with a fondant is to avoid butter, but I don't see how a little bit could hurt! In fact, I think I'd like to try this recipe next:
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/michele-fosters-delicious-fondant/
Not sure if I'll eat the cupcake yet!
