Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 2 (216 page)

FONDANT

[Sugar Icing or Frosting for Cakes,
Petits Fours
, Napoleons, Candied Fruits, and Candies]

White fondant, and how to make and use it, is well worth your attention. It is ready in an instant to be warmed briefly over hot water, flavored with a dash of vanilla, liqueur, or chocolate, and to be poured over a cake. It makes a beautifully smooth covering that hardens just enough to form a protective layer, but remains just the right texture for eating. Commercial pastry chefs can buy it ready-made in a can or jar, and so may French householders. It is easy to make yourself, however, and really one of nature’s wonders, because it consists only of sugar syrup boiled to the soft-ball stage, cooled to tepid, then kneaded for several minutes until it miraculously turns from clear and limpid to snowy white. It keeps for months, even years, and is always ready to become an immediate icing.

Although we have only called
for fondant a few times in the book, it is so useful to have on hand, and really so easy and such fun to make, that we felt it should be in your repertoire.

For about 2 cups

1)
The sugar syrup

A marble surface 18 by 24 inches, or a jelly-roll pan or large metal tray

3 Tb white corn syrup or ¼ tsp cream of tartar (or 3 Tb French glucose)

1 cup water

A heavy-bottomed 2-quart saucepan

3 cups sugar (pure cane sugar, or, if you are in Europe, 1¼ lbs.—550–600 grams—crushed sugar lumps)

A cover for the pan

Optional: a candy thermometer

A quart measure with 2 cups cold water and 2 ice cubes

A metal spoon (not for stirring, only for testing sugar)

Syrup is to be poured onto marble, or into a pan or tray, which should be ready before you begin. Dissolve the corn syrup or cream of tartar (or glucose) with a bit of the water in the saucepan; pour in the rest of the water, and the sugar. Set over moderately high heat. Swirl pan slowly by its handle, but do not stir sugar with a spoon while liquid is coming to the boil. Continue swirling for a moment when liquid boils and changes from cloudy to perfectly clear. Cover pan, raise heat to high, and boil for several minutes until bubbles have thickened slightly. Uncover, insert candy thermometer if you are using one, and continue boiling for a few minutes to the soft-ball stage, 238 degrees: drops of syrup hold their shape softly when formed into a ball in the cold water.

NOTE
: If you do not boil the syrup to the soft-ball stage, your fondant will be too soft; if you boil to the hard-ball stage, your fondant will be hard to knead and difficult to melt when you want to use it.

2)
Cooling the syrup—about 10 minutes

Immediately pour the syrup onto the marble or into the pan or tray. Let cool about 10 minutes, until barely tepid but not quite cold to the touch; when you press it lightly you can see the surface wrinkle.

3)
Kneading the syrup into fondant—5 to 10 minutes

A pastry scraper, a painter’s spatula, or a short, stout metal pancake turner

Useful but not essential: ¼ cup ready-made fondant

As soon as fondant is ready, start kneading it vigorously with scraper, spatula, or turner: push it up into a mass, spread it out again, and repeat the movement for 5 minutes or more. After several minutes of kneading, the syrup will begin to whiten (if you happen to have some ready-made fondant, add it at this point, and the syrup will quickly turn to fondant); as you continue to knead, it will gradually turn into a crumbly snow-white mass, and finally stiffen so that you can no longer knead it. It is now, officially and actually, fondant. Do not be discouraged, however, if it takes longer than 5 to 8 minutes, or even 10 minutes, to turn to fondant; go off and leave it for 5 minutes; come back and knead it again—it will eventually turn (you might have started to knead it before it was quite ready for you).

4)
Curing and storing fondant

A 3-cup screw-topped jar or a metal bowl with cover

Several thicknesses of well-washed cheesecloth about 6 inches square

Although you may use the fondant immediately, it will have better texture and sheen—or bloom, as the professionals say—if you let it rest at least 12 hours. Pack it into the jar or bowl, top with the dampened cheesecloth, cover airtight, and refrigerate. As long as the top is damp, fondant will keep for months and months.

5)
How to use fondant

2 cups fondant in a 2-quart pan

1 to 2 Tb kirsch, rum, orange liqueur, or strong coffee; or 1 tsp vanilla and a Tb or so of water

A larger pan of simmering water

A wooden spoon

Combine the fondant and liqueur, coffee, or vanilla and water in the saucepan and set in larger pan of
simmering water. Stir thoroughly, reaching all over pan, as fondant slowly softens and turns into a perfectly smooth, glossy cream that coats the spoon fairly heavily.

Use immediately, either pouring it directly over a cake set on a rack over a tray, spreading it rapidly over whatever surface you are icing, or dipping
petits fours
or candies into it. It sets rapidly, and you must work quickly to obtain a smooth surface.

Colored fondant

Use strong coffee for Mocha or tan fondant, stirring it in by droplets to get the shade you wish; stir ½ to 1 cup melted chocolate into the melted fondant for brown or chocolate fondant; use drops of food coloring for pastel shades.

Storing melted fondant

Store like fresh fondant. Unless you are turning it into chocolate fondant, it will have more sheen and bloom if you mix it with fresh fondant before using again.