Cooking TipsFondant Cake Decorating Tips--Why Does Your Fondant Taste Terrible?
After you spend countless hours getting your cake to look perfect it can be a little disheartening when people seem to be afraid to eat your cake. Chances are, if you"re like most cake decorators, you want your cakes to look good and attract lots of attention. However, at the same time you also want them to taste good too!
Sometimes this can be a challenge when working with fondant but it doesn"t have to be impossible! With a little extra effort you can decorate a cake that both looks and tastes delicious.
The main benefit of fondant is that, unlike buttercream frosting, in a fairly short amount of time you can have a silky, perfect-looking cake.
In just a matter of minutes you can roll out your fondant, cover your cake, and smooth. You can also use fondant to create interesting shapes and figures for your cake that you wouldn"t be able to do with plain frosting.
Accomplishing the same thing with buttercream frosting can be nearly impossible, even for the most dedicated cake decorator. However, fondant doesn"t always taste as good as buttercream.
A general fondant cake decorating rule of thumb is not to buy store bought fondant. Especially if you want people to eat it! Unfortunately, most professional cake decorators agree that ready-made fondant doesn"t taste very good, especially the Wilton brand.
Store bought fondant is also fairly expensive, unlike homemade fondant which uses simple and inexpensive ingredients. However, the trade off will be your time. Homemade fondant may taste a lot better but will require some extra work in the kitchen.
If you"re in a hurry and still need to use store bought fondant, be sure to cover your cake with no more than 1/4 inch of fondant. You"ll also need a thin layer of frosting under the layer of fondant if you want it to stick to your cake. Make sure this additional layer of frosting tastes good and will be appealing to those who choose not to eat the top layer of fondant by peeling it off.
The best thing to do is make the fondant yourself at home. This will almost always taste better than what you can buy at the store. There are lots of recipes to try, although some may be better than others.
Many blogs on the Internet list simple fondant cake decorating recipes you can try at home. Marshmallow fondant seems to be very popular among cake decorating enthusiasts.
Remember that no matter what you do, some people may still refuse to eat your fondant. Try not to take it too personally. Most people don"t understand what fondant is or think that it"s inedible (like gumpaste).
Feel free to explain to them exactly how fondant is made and what it contains. If for some reason they still don"t like the fondant after tasting it, they can still enjoy your layer of buttercream frosting underneath.
You might need to experiment with a few different fondant cake decorating recipes until you find one that both you and your guests enjoy eating.