I have decided I would like to branch out with my cake experimenting and try some fondant frosting. However, I am vegetarian and tend to avoid gelatine where possible, and many of my family (who would be the main consumers of my cakes) are more strict about it than I am, so have decided that my cakes probably shouldnt contain it.
This rules out Marshmallow fondant as the vegetarian marshmallows have a very different consistency when melted to real ones, so I suspect wouldnt work properly in the fondant.

Regular fondant recipes all seem to require gelatine, so I have a couple of questions:
-Has anyone tried making fondant with vegetarian gelatine? Did it work?
-Does anyone have a recipe they would be willing to share for roll-out-able fondant without gelatine (not even sure if this can possibly exist)
-Are there other kinds of gelatine free toppings that can be rolled out (I think in the UK you can buy pre-packaged royal icing to roll out, but all the recipes on here sound more like its a thing that you spread.

Thanks for any help.

I've never made one, but I've heard of rolled buttercream...

I found this listed as a vegetarian fondant

http://www.houstoncakeclub.com/goodfood/nfondant.htm

Debbie Brown's fondant (sugarpaste) recipe is entirely gelatine free:

Makes 1 1/4lbs

1 egg white made up from dried egg albumen (or use a fresh one)
2 tbsp liquid glucose
5 cups powdered sugar
Crisco

Place egg white & glucose in a bowl and blend. Add powdered sugar a little at a time until the mixture thickens. Turn out onto surface dusted with icing sugar and kned until soft, smooth and pliable. If too dry, knead in a bit of Crisco. When ready, rub a thin coat of crisco over the entire ball of fondant and wrap in sarap wrap and then a polythene bag. Store in an airtight container. Colour and flavour as desired.

Hope that helps!

by the way on the link I sent you the lady who submitted it said since hers needed to be all vegan she left out the candy melts that contains milk and used extra powdered sugar and it worked fine. Although she said you can order the vegan candy melts online where you get the marshmallows. I am not sure where that is but hope it helps.

I always make my fondant at home.No gelatin just icing sugar, egg-whites, citric acid and liquid glucose.
Would that combination work for you? PM me if you would like the recipe.
Karen

There are some recipes out there but I can tell you that I have not found one that I like yet. The white chocolate one is OK but sometimes becomes too hard/firm and not everyone likes the taste of white chocolate. I am vegetarian but not so strict as I do eat eggs in baked goods sometimes. However I do a lot of vegetarian and vegan cakes and I usually use rolled buttercream, sometimes the white chocolate recipe and marzipan. The results are pretty good and the taste of rolled buttercream or marzipan is far superior to the white chocolate fondant.
RB is difficult to handle sometimes as it is softer, but it is well worth it.
Am working on a good vegetarian fondant recipe - will let you know if I get one I like. Until then try these suggestions. I have not had a chance to upload a lot of photos yet but if you look at the South Indian Housewarming Cake in the cake gallery, that is 100% vegetarian/vegan cake with rolled buttercream, to give you an idea of what you can do with it.
PS: PLEASE NOTE: Just an FYI for those who do business. Anyone who is a very strict vegetarian, or vegan especially, will not eat anything with egg, even egg whites, so the recipe calling for egg whites above may not work. Also, you ever do a cake for an Indian client who is vegetarian, be sure to let them know of any egg products you use. If they are strict or especially if they are Brahmins or Jains, they will probably NOT eat any egg product as this is not only a lifestyle choice but a religious matter. Will post definitions for everyone of different vegetarians asap so you are aware in case you need to know this for clients. Thanks and happy baking.

Octo-Lacto Vegetarian (The most popular definition, also known as Ovo-Lacto) Vegetarians eat no red meat, poultry, fish, or products that have ingredients which are animal-based such as Gelatine. They do eat Vegetarian cheese, yoghurt, milk, eggs, honey etc. They also don't wear leather or fur.

Lacto Vegetarian
Lactose-Vegetarians do not eat any foods that involve the slaughter of animals. They don't eat eggs, but do eat Vegetarian cheese, yoghurt, and milk.

Vegan
Vegans do not eat the same things as vegetarians but also will not eat any product that is derived from animals. No meat, cheese, butter, milk, eggs or honey.

* One more important note: Some vegans are seriously hardcore and will not eat regular granulated sugar either as apparently they use animal bones to process. You can buy special sugar but is very costly so you may not want to go to this extreme, LOL...

Thanks guys! Cant wait to try out all your suggestions. Egg whites are fine for me--I use vegetarian to mean that I dont eat meat products, so egg, milk etc. is not a problem.
I had heard of rolled buttercream, but it sounded lots more difficult to get really smooth, so I thought that fondant would be a useful thing to add to my list of "stuff I can make."

Ladyofcake: I LOVE white chocolate. Is the recipe for white chocolate fondant available online anywhere? I searched CC but couldnt seem to find it.

Here are the ingredients off my bucket of SatinIce... Can someone please take a look and seen if there is there anything non-vegetarian in there?

sugar, corn syrup, modififed food starch, water, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, artificial flavor, gum tragacanth, glycerine, acetic acid, potassium sorbate, titanium dioxide, cellulose gum.

I have a coworker who is vegetarian and i don't bring her fondant cakes but have always wondered if SatinIce was ok.

Isn't there a fondant recipe using Marshmallow fluff? I know that generally doesn't have gelatin in it.

Yep! Marshmellow fondant has only marshmellows, a bit of water, and powdered sugar. My recipe follows...

1 lb.(1 bag mini marshmellows)
2 T. water
2lbs powdered sugar

You melt the marshmellows in the water, then add powdered sugar until you can knead it (I've heard KA can make it with minimal kneading). Then knead in powdered sugar until its stiff enough to work with... I usually have about 1 1/2 cups of sugar left over. (Use lots of grease on your kneading surface adn hands... I've also heard cornstarch is another option.)

Hope this helps!

I replied to the last post, but didn't read above! I forgot about the marshmellow content....With vegetarian marshmellows, wouldn't they just need more powdered sugar?

Hello all
Sorry to be a pain in the you-know-what, but marchmallows are NOT vegetarian - they also contain gelatin.
The white chocolate fondant recipe is as follows:

12 oz. Vanilla flavor Merckens white summer coating
¼ cup Light Karo syrup
2 lbs. Powdered sugar (can be sifted)
2 tsp. Tylose or CMC
½ cup Shortening (Crisco melted)
½ cup Light Karo syrup (do not substitute)
2 tsp. Glycerin
2 tsp. Flavoring (Lemon Oil, etc.)
2 tsp. Agar-Agar powdered ( found in oriental or health food stores. )
3-4 TBSP Hot water

Melt summer coating as direction on package; add ¼ cup Karo syrup. Stir
until mix together. Set aside to cool. This is basic candy clay recipe.
*** One recipe of candy clay will make 2 batches of this fondant recipe

Place powdered sugar and Tylose in KitchenAid mixing bowl (or any stand
mixer), make a well in center.
Melt Crisco in microwave on high about 45-60 seconds.
Add items number 6, 7, and 8 to melted shortening, stir to combine.
Dissolve Agar-Agar powdered in hot water.

Pour shortening mixture and dissolved Agar-agar in center of mixing bowl. Attach dough hook and mix on low until mixture gets soft. Add half of candy clay to the dough and mix about 30 seconds more.
Place dough on counter top; knead by hands until soft and pliable. Cover and let set over night.

*this has a strong white chocolate flavor but it is pretty good version.