More "Fun" With Fondant

I made another fondant cake for a block party we had last week. I had hoped that it would go a little more smoothly, since I now had some idea of what to expect, but it didn't really work out that way. Making fondant is really something like making bread. It has a dough-like consistency that you roll out and place on the cake as opposed to regular frosting which you spread with a spatula. The hardest part about fondant is that you have to knead it for hours to get all of the powdered sugar worked in as well as get it to the right consistency. Last time, I didn't knead in all of the sugar it called for in the recipe, I just worked it until it seemed like the right consistency, and then I used the remaining sugar to dust the counter and the rolling pin to prevent sticking (which, incidentally, it didn't do. I really need a roll and cut mat for fondant--oh, well, my birthday is coming up!)Anyway, this time, I was using a slightly different recipe (chocolate fondant) and I decided to knead in all of the sugar. In addition to literally taking over an hour to do, it also resulted in some very dry fondant--it wouldn't even say in a ball, it just crumbled into bits. So, I gradually added water, but I was terrified to add to much because I was getting pretty sick of the whole business and I didn't want to have to add sugar back in. Finally, out of sheer laziness, I decided to just use it the way it was. I rolled it out, but, of course, it cracked because it was so dry. I figured I would just cover the cracks with cut outs, but still, it was like frosting a cake with tootsie-rolls.

Finally, I got the cake covered, and that part at least went more smoothly the second time. Imagine taking a sheet of flat paper and trying to smoothly cover a round cake. Getting it on there without folds or ripples is pretty hard. My last cake didn't go very well at all, and that picture was taken from the worst side, so you can really see the mistakes.

Now that the cake was covered, I had to make yet another batch of fondant for the cut outs. I decided to try using the electric mixer with the dough hooks so that I wouldn't have to knead it all by hand. It didn't work at all. Back to kneading by hand. I wanted the cut outs to have very vibrant colors, so I ended up dying my hands with all of the food coloring I had to use. The cutouts themselves went pretty well, the only problem being that I had to place them to cover up cracks, rather than putting them where I wanted them.

In the end, I was pretty disgusted with the end result. I had a vision in my head of what I wanted it to look like, and it just didn't turn out. I also hate to take something that is less than perfect to a party. I guess they liked it though. I got several complements.

My mantra. Learning experience. Learning experience. Learning experience.