Never Worked With Fondant Before....
Decorating By peachies420 Updated 23 Sep 2006 , 10:00pm by peachies420
I'm interested in working with fondant for a birthday and anniversary cakes coming up, I've never worked with it before but since I found this site I noticed alot of you guys use it. I'd appreciate any basic info out there, what is fondant usually used for? is it better than regular icing or how is it different, etc? is it edible? can you buy it in all colors or do you have to do that yourself?
thanks in advance guys 
leigh
First, welcome to Cake Central!
Fondant can be a lot of fun to work with, but it does take some practice to get it good and smooth.
Without being there to actually show you how to do it, I guess the advice I'd give you is, knead it thoroughly so it's nice and pliable, roll it out like a pie crust until it's large enough to go over your cake and down both sides, and center it on your buttercream-covered cake. Then smooth the sides by lifting them out away from the cake as you smooth the fondant downwards with your hands.
You can also roll it out and cut it out like cookie dough for accents on a buttercream cake.
Is it better than regular icing? Well... That depends on what you want it for. Most people won't eat it (it's mainly a texture issue in my experience) so use it mostly if the *look* is important to you. You can knead in flavorings to help it taste better, but I think there's no amount of tweaking that will make Wilton fondant taste good. I suggest make your own, or use a good brand like Satin Ice.
Many brands of premade fondant do come pre-colored, but I only buy the pre-colored stuff if it's on sale and I need a lot of it. Otherwise, I Crisco my hands to keep the icing colors from staining my skin and cuticles as badly, and knead in the coloring myself.
I hope that helps some....
Deanna
hi there....try this recipe and see if it works for you.... (hopefully i sent the link properly )
http://www.cakecentral.com/article47-How-to-Make-and-Decorate-with-Marshmallow-Fondant-MMF.html
I will recomend for your first time with fondant to go to your bakery store and buy some already made.....not wilton brand (It doesnt taste any good), but you can buy satin ice brand.This way you will know how it feels and you wont have any technical problems using it.
Check this webpages and see the technique to cover a cake with fondant:
http://www.atecousa.net/learn/satin_ice_1.shtml
http://www.wilton.com/recipes/recipesandprojects/icing/rolledfondant.cfm
You can do a lot of things with fondant... cover a cake, make borders, make accents for your cake, flowers and much more.
Then if you like it, you can try to make it yourself. You can make it with marshmallows:
http://whatscookingamerica.net/PegW/Fondant.htm
Or completely from scratch, this is the recipe I use:
Rolled Fondant
* 1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin
* 1/4 cup cold water
* 1/2 cup Glucose
* 2 tablespoons solid vegetable shortening
* 1 tablespoon Glycerin
* 8 cups sifted confectioner's sugar (about 2 lbs.)
* 1/2 teaspoon of each flavor : vanilla, butter and almond.
Combine gelatin and cold water; let stand until thick. Place gelatin mixture in top of double boiler and heat until dissolved. Add glucose, mix well. Stir in shortening and just before completely melted, remove from heat. Add glycerin, flavoring and color. Cool until lukewarm. Next, place 4 cups confectioner's sugar in a bowl and make a well. Pour the lukewarm gelatin mixture into the well and stir with a wooden spoon, mixing in sugar and adding more, a little at a time, until stickiness disappears. Knead in remaining sugar. Knead until the fondant is smooth, pliable and does not stick to your hands. If fondant is too soft, add more sugar; if too stiff, add water (a drop at a time). Use fondant immediately or store in airtight container in a cool, dry place.
This recipe makes approx. 36 oz., enough to cover a 10 x 4 in. high cake.
thanks so much guys! 
I've gotten alot of great ideas from the picture galleries, alot of very creative pieces, I could spend hours on this site lol. I'm more of a recipe kind of girl, but I think I'll buy the fondant for the first.
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