Hi all. Please help me.
I just made cooked fondant because 1kg of powdered sugar is ridiculously expensive and I have a lot of normal sugar here already. I used my Kenwood Cooking Chef, which is fantastic by the way, and it worked really well for even heating etc. I also used it to knead the icing and everything went very well up until after the firming up of the icing. It suddenly turned stiff and crumbly just as it should but now I can't really remove the crumbliness. I kneaded it by hand as instructed and while it helped a lot the icing is still easily broken up and will not stand up to rolling and covering a cake.
I actually got frustrated and just added glucose, shortening and finally glycerin, all in an effort to fix the problem. They may have helped a bit but not enough for sure.
So any suggestions? I've wrapped it tightly to rest and will try kneading a bit more in the morning but then I need to use it!
*sigh*
Hi GPS Jane.
Sounds as if what you made is what is called continental fondant and it really takes some hard work to make it into smooth rolling fondant. The stage you have reached -where it is crumbly is quite OK. The next stage is to gather all the crumbly bits together and knead it by hand for 15 to 20 minutes until it is smooth. This stage can be done with a mixer fitted with a dough hook.
If you cannot do anything with the fondant you have made then use it as dipping or pouring fondant by adding stock syrup to thin it down.
You can also make smooth rolling fondant into pouring fondant by adding stock syrup.
Stock Syrup
You will need to use a sugar thermometer ( it is always important to use a sugar thermometer when working with sugar)
Put 1lb sugar and 1/2 pint water into a double boiler (a bowl over a pan of water) -stir while bringing to the boil - brushing down the sides of the pan with a brush dipped in cold water to get rid of the sugar crystals.
Once the sugar has melted stop stirring and make sure no water gets into the syrup at this stage.
Boil the syrup gently until it reaches the thread toffee stage 200F/ 105C.
As soon as it reaches the correct temperature remove from heat and plunge bottom of pan in cold water making sure no water gets into the syrup.
To make dipping fondant
Put the fondant into a double boiler over a low heat to break it down and then add the stock syrup a bit at a time, whilst stirring, until it is smooth and has thinned down enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Hi joyce
Yes it is european fondant so continental sounds like another name for it. I have used the dough hook for 20 minutes and kneaded for 15 minutes. Now my husband has sat and kneaded for 10 minutes but it still breaks apart too easily and is not flexible at all.
I will keep trying but why would it do that?
I can only think that your Cooking Kenwood Chef did not heat the sugar to the right temperature at the beginning of the process. It needed to be 240C/160F. The only other thing I can think of is that your sugar may have been processed from sugar beet not sugar cane.
I know how frustrating it can be when things don't turn out as you expect them to. All I can say is next time make it in a double boiler and use a sugar thermometer.
Perhaps there is someone on this forum who can give you a more scientific explanation of what went wrong.
Oh yes by the way for anyone reading this the Chef does not give the temperature of the contents of your bowl but of the base plate and the contents are significantly colder than the plate due to evaporation. I did use a sugar thermometer though and cooked the sugar to soft ball stage (120°C or 240F). We definitely only have cane sugar here.
I am worried that it might have to do with not cooling it enough before mixing it. I had to take the thermometer out before 40°C because it was getting very stiff but I waited another 20 minutes with it in a water bath.
It is weird, if we knead it it definitely softens and looks better but as soon as it cools it become crumbly. Also the softened version is not all the way there.
Well that was such a stuff up! I made pourable fondant, and the first lot just solidified on the cake in ugly shapes before flowing nicely. I had to redo the buttercream under coat with the last little bit of buttercream. I managed to make it very thin with all the syrup and by heating it quite a bit but I have to do this for each cake because it cools so quickly. Then half way through my cakes I realised that the heating is making it crystalise and lose it's whiteness and firmness! I'm basically just getting sugar syrup again.
I want to cry. Also all the cakes I did cover are pretty ugly but I can't undo them. Why did I do this?!
I'm hoping someone knowledgeable will come along and answer this, because I always thought of cooked fondant as being only used for candy fillings, and uncooked fondant used for rolled fondant cake covering. Hmmm...inquiring minds want to know! :)
I really think that cooked fondant is the original way of making fondant but because its difficult and we now have better products we can make it differently. I'm an idiot for doing it this way I must say.
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