Rolled Buttercream Or Fondan?
Decorating By Jennycakes8317 Updated 18 Aug 2007 , 1:53pm by Jennycakes8317
I have never used either one and I need to make a cake in two weeks. I'm going to do a practice cake today and wanted to know which was better rolled buttercream or fondant. I may have to do a few cakes to get it right. I'm planing to make the rolled BC and or the Fondant myself. Any help with this would be awsome.
How much of either would it take to cover a cakes that is 2- 8x2 inches layers and 2- 6x2 inche layers stacked?
Yes, I'm a newbie and I trying to learn all I can. Everyone here has so much great info.
Thank you for your help I will use the fondant , I live in Texas and it is very humid and hot here. I have tried the wilton ready to use fondant and it is not very good. Can you add flavoring to it? Which Fondant recipe would you use?
Definitely go with the marshmallow fondant. It's fast, easy, and almost failsafe. Plus, you don't have to buy a bunch of weird ingredients to make it. It's cheap and it tastes great. I can't sing its praises enough!
I had actually heard that a lot of people mix RBC with fondant, to get the fondant's texture with more of the RBC's taste. I've been thinking about trying it with MMF. Has anyone ever done that before? Were the results disastrous?
The only time I've ever used RBC to cover a cake was the dragon cake in my gallery and that's because I was cutting out individual scales to cover it in, so I didn't have to worry about draping it thinly and having the whole thing stretch and break.
Here's a recipe for rolled buttercream. It uses shortening, corn syrup and powdered sugar plus flavorings.
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-1603-0-Rolled-Buttercream-Icing-Recipe.html
it has a greasier texture than fondant and is harder to drape over large cakes because it stretches more easily than fondant. You can also make it by taking some left over buttercream, adding corn syrup and enough powdered sugar to get a rolling consistency. The flavor is better in many people's opinions. Many people use it to cover cookies.
O.K. So I just made some MMF and it is really sticky. I have added powdered sugar and more powdered sugar and then just when I think I have added enough powdered sugar I have add more. I thought it was going to be an easy recipe (
) and I guess in the land of everyone who doesn't live in Texas it would have been just fine 
. So my question is could the humidity have somthing to do with it still being sticky? If so is there a recipe for fondant that does well in hot and humid weather?
thank you guys for all of your help
Jennifer
I tried making rolled buttercream for my final cake for the fondant gumpaste class. I don't know if I did something wrong, but it was hard covering the cake. It cracked in class and looked horrible. Once I got home I tried to re-cover and I had more success taking 4 pieces and covering it in sections. I then made hearts and tried to cover the seams. The cake is in my photos. It was interesting to say the least. It did work better with shortening on the surface and the rbc than powder sugar. I find the same working with wilton fondant. It definitely tasted better than Wilton fondant, but it still had that "chewy" texture. I just tasted it after I made it. I didn't have any of the cake. I think with practice I could probably do better, but I don't know when I'll have a chance to do so. One day I'll try the mmf. My teacher had never had any success with the rbc and said I had gotten further than her. She loves the mmf.
While I'm FAR from an expert...Did you check the bag of marshmallows to make sure you got the right size? I've noticed that different stores have vastly different sized bags of mini marshmallows, and I usually use a 14 oz bag for every 2lbs of powdered sugar. Also- how much Crisco are you using? I use about the size of a golf ball melted into the marshmallows.
I'm in Texas, too(Houston), and I haven't had a problem with it being too sticky but maybe I've just been lucky. When I do it, I usually just add a whole 2 lb bag to the melted marshmallows and crisco and then turn on my KA. For some reason that seems to work better. Also, after I finish incorporating the PS into the marshmallow, I switch from the paddle to the dough hook and let the dough hook knead the mmf for at least 5 minutes. That seems to change the texture a lot. I usually don't even let it sit and ripen, I just put it right on the cake. Hope this helps!
I started out using mmf, but I found the results were not always the same. One day it was dry the next very wet. One day no cracks, then next I has so many I would just toss it. When it was good, it was good, but I never knew when the good day was going to be. I ended up having to purchase several gallons of fondant for projects. Satin Ice is my favorite, but very expensive.
So I spent the month of June making different fondants to find the perfect one. I went to the recipe section on searched for fondant. I started at the top and went down the list. When I got to Michele Foster's Delicious Fondant I looked no further. I think it is very similar to the Satin Ice. I get constant results. I was initially scared because it has milk in it. But I will never go back to mmf.
If you have time, give it a try, you may fall in love..
hamie
While I'm FAR from an expert...Did you check the bag of marshmallows to make sure you got the right size? I've noticed that different stores have vastly different sized bags of mini marshmallows, and I usually use a 14 oz bag for every 2lbs of powdered sugar. Also- how much Crisco are you using? I use about the size of a golf ball melted into the marshmallows.
I'm in Texas, too(Houston), and I haven't had a problem with it being too sticky but maybe I've just been lucky. When I do it, I usually just add a whole 2 lb bag to the melted marshmallows and crisco and then turn on my KA. For some reason that seems to work better. Also, after I finish incorporating the PS into the marshmallow, I switch from the paddle to the dough hook and let the dough hook knead the mmf for at least 5 minutes. That seems to change the texture a lot. I usually don't even let it sit and ripen, I just put it right on the cake. Hope this helps!
I've never made my own fondant. I'm taking a 3 course fondant class starting next week so I'm thinking of making my own this time to see if I like it any better than the satin ice. It's better than the yucky Wilton but I still don't like it.
Kitty- Thanks for the good advice. I live in North Texas so this caught my eye.
I hope you're not getting blown away from the hurricane.
KittyPTerror i'm in Crosby not far from Houston. Thank you for your advice and I think I'm going to try another MMF recipe and Michele Foster's fondant recipe also 
. It looks like I will be making alot of fondant this week. Thanks for all the help 
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