So, how do you pronounce it? I've heard people say it both ways. Honestly, I think the pronunciation "fAHndAHnt" sounds a little weird....like you're trying to make it sound European or something. I say "fondant" (sounds more like fondent). How about you all?

And just to save space with the postings: Is anyone else getting tired of butter cream? It's just sooooo sweet. I love butter cream dream....but after cakes yesterday and today....ugh...to sweet! I guess I can always add salt, but I wish there was an icing that was a little more mild.

Ok....so....Fondant or FAHndAHnt???

I say fondant. And YES I'm sick of bc!!

every one that I know says fon-dent. I dont normaly eat any of the frosting I make or even cake in general because I make so many. But I make the butter cream dream frosting and made it chocolate butter cream dream by adding 3/4 cup cocoa and 3 oz of unsweetened chocolate and it is much milder and creamy.

Here is a link I found. Click on the mini speaker. I say it that way!

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/fondant

cool website. I say it the same.

that's cool. I think this link needs to be sent to those people who say "fAHndAHnt!"

Fondant. Yeah, fahndahnt sounds like when newscasters try to say foreign names with the little accent or something...just use the American version of it. You're in America

Yes, I'm tired of BC too. I didn't really realise it until recently but I've been into the whipped frosting so much lately (I posted the recipe on CC) that I got used to it being not-so-sweet. Then, I made a cake with BC and I couldn't even finish it. It was too sweet for me. Maybe it'll keep me from over-eating extras though

Which one is Susan Stockton?

oops double

there is a mom at school that says fahndahnt. I though I was just being country by saying fondant.

Good thing we just call it sugarpaste here - not much room for doubt

So glad to hear the general consensus! To me pronouncing it fon-dahnt - just seems like people who are trying to be experts in a secret club of icing snobs .
But I have to differ on the BC issue. I love it. I hate eating cake now - hmm.. wonder why... but I love to nibble a bit of BC - I use salted butter when I make mine, and it's not quite as sweet, and I'm like Paula Deen, love everything with a little/lot of butta . I get a lot of comments from people that it reminds them of frosting their mom used to make (love those nostalgic memories).

I've always said Fon-DAN (silent t) - my mother is French Canadian and that is the French pronounciation - that's all I ever knew when I started working with it years ago - before it was a big deal on Food Network. So in my mind all those who pronounce it the other way sound funny to me, not snobby or bad, just a little funny - took me awhile to get used to it.

No one is right or wrong or snobby when they pronounce it a certain way, many people pronounce it both ways. I actually don't think it's very nice to call somone a snob because they pronounce something a certain way. It is correct both ways. It's a dialect issue, not a snob issue. I'm sure people would not like to be called a redneck (or something similar) because they pronouce something differently than others.

Just like when I say "I have to Paahk my Caah" instead of PaRk my CaR- I'm not wrong - just Bostonian!


Gefion - I'm with you, I'm just switching to Sugarpaste!

Oh I just LOVE accents! All kinds....english, southern, boston (have a grandma from there I frequently ask to spell what she says! .

I think accents are cool because they show how individual we are and how much we have to offer each other in way of unusual experiences! I would just love to have an unuasual accent....I just get southern when I am tired or had one too many glasses of wine.

tomato tomAto...whatever....let's just have fun!!

Cheers, Julia

Julia - you little ray of sunshine you!

Give me a cowboy calling me DaRlin' (we say daahlin here, not quite the same LOL!), or a guy with a neat Irish, English, Austrailan accent - whoo hoo! LOVE THAT!

Good point!!

I was just thinking about asking that question. After watching the cake challenge on Food Network last nite, I noticed the experts called it fondant, not FAHNdANT.

Susan

I took the fondant & gumpaste wilton course recently. I sat beside this woman that kept saying fahndahnt constantly and it drove me crazy. The rest of us in the class along with the instructor kept saying fondent.

I live lin Louisiana, and FAHndAHnt was the only way I've heard it pronounced, so I did not even realize I was pronouncing it incorrectly. So please do not make fun of us . Some of us never knew it was wrong.

I pronounce it Phone dahn as that's pretty close to the true pronunciation. Americans call it fon dant because we are oblivious to foreign words in our language and are snobs... NOWHERE but the Americas are we sooooo bad about pronouncing and recognizing foreign words - it's French!!! The French would DIE if they heard it the way Americans pronounce it... So, to me, calling it fon dant sounds very uneducated or arrogant - it looks like fon dant, so we say fon dant.... so does that mean we should pronounce colonel as it looks too? (that might be a bad choice of words as it's WAY mangled).

And since fondant is such a NEW word to most people's vocabularly, I can't buy that it's the "american way"... it will become that (and probably is becoming that way already) but right now it's a mispronunciation of a French word like we do with almost ALL french words.

Sorry for being a word Nazi but if Americans just REALIZED how poorly we are looked down upon by the rest of the world by our arrogance and disregard for other cultures, you might understand more where I'm coming from... other parts of the world TRY to take the time to learn the correct way to pronounce things in the original language context to show respect.

Throwing tomatoes now anyone? LOL
Melissa

it's fon-dent at my house. i've heard sanrda lee say it on her show and it makes me want to pull my ears off. or stick fon-dent in them!

with regard to accents, put me in a room with an irish person anyday! i'll just sit and listen to them talk for hours!!!

yes, the word has French origins. Makes me wonder why friends I have who live in France (granted it is near the Germany border by the Black Forest) pronounce it Fondent.

I don't think we need to be saying that people are snobs or arrogant by pronouncing it either way. It's just how it is.
As for Americans ruining European words, well, Europeans, Asians, Hispanics, Africans, Australians, etc...mispronounce many words which originate from the English language. Doesn't mean they're arrogant for not pronouncing it the way we do. Just means they're European, Asian, Hispanic, African, or Australian, etc..
What gives me a chuckle is when a woman (or man) with a heavy southern accent pronounces fondant in the French way when every other word out of their mouth is heavily laden with that rich, southern accent. Very cute.

Here's a link with the French pronunciation (from a site with french culinary words/meanings/pronunciations).

Funny.....this pronunciation STILL is nothing like how many people try to say it (fAHndAHt).


http://library.sullivan.edu/CPI/Audio/fondant.wav

yay! that's how I say it!

And I'm sorry I said people were being snobby.. that' snot like me... I was just getting irritated at people dishing saying it differently....

I will keep saying Phone-dahn and make my DH happy as he is a TRUE language purist (and a European).

Melissa

awww that's ok berrybloneboys - we know you didn't really mean it!

It IS, however, okay to be a Cake Snob! LOL!

Who here said Tomato - Tomahto? Perfect!

I'm a snob - big fat snob..... and am going with the French pronunciation.

But talk about bad pronunciations.......how about liebarry instead of library. Then there is Realtor. That one really bugs me. It is not Real-A-tor. It is real-tor like real coffee real tea. Realtor.

Then my mom says piddow for pillow. Eckkkkkkkkkkk

berry blonde.... I think we all know that you (and others) here mean no harm with any statements made.

but...you might want to edit your last comment since you typed (that' snot like me instead of that's not like me!)

You don't want everyone thinking you're a snot, now, do ya?

This will make it a tangent discussion - but talking about food snobbery, my MIL cracks me up.

First, let me say, she really doesn't like to cook. She likes to make sweets, but otherwise, cooking is just for getting by. Since she's from Europe, eating out is practically a sin in her book (middle Europe).

She will SAY that food is nothing to her - just food... HOWEVER... she is the PICKIEST eater I've ever met!

She was over for Easter dinner. I had made a Smithsfield Hickory smoked ham in a madeira sauce. It was DELICIOUS, but because it had a hint of sweetness to it (from the madeira), she didn't like it much. For dessert I had made the day before a traditional Croatian cream dessert and she took a bite, made a face and said she couldn't eat it.. OMG!!! I've made that dessert a dozen times and she's had it about half the times I made it. However, she was just in Croatia and had eaten that dessert several times. She was talking and said that only one bakery made it right and everywhere else was like mine, "so-so"...

Now SHE is a cake snob! I'm telling you - I've NEVER, EVER met someone as snobby with food as she is - especially sweets. While most people DROOL over my desserts (and love my cooking overall), she turns up her nose at about 50% of it! LOL Especially the sweets! LOL

Melissa

Thanks for correcting me on the pronounciation...I never kew the "t" was silent. Now I can say it the way it is meant to be said.

I actually prononced it both ways before.

Fon-dent'

That's how I learned to say it and that's how I'm gonna keep saying it! Or I'll just say sugarpaste.

sugarpaste makes a lot more sense and it's description. Maybe I'll just switch to saying sugarpaste... not that I make it at all! LOL

Melissa