Make your own fondant for cakes – recipe and helpful tips

If you have read our article on “Making your own fondant cake”, you have already learned that a fondant cake is not an easy task. Above all, a lot of time and very good time management are required. You have to plan 3 days for this. Of course, you don’t spend 3 full days in the kitchen, but it is definitely very time-consuming. In the following we present how you can make the fondant for cakes yourself.

Make your own fondant cake – create a schedule

1 day:

– Bake the cake base

– Prepare the coating

– Make decorative elements for decoration

2 day:

– Prepare the cake cream or filling

– Insert the cake and spread it on

– Make fondant

3rd day:

– Cover the cake with fondant

– decorating

What actually is fondant for cakes?

The fondant is a sugar paste that is used to decorate and cover pies and cakes. There are of course other types of sugar pastes that can be used to decorate cakes, for example with marzipan. Sugar pastes consist almost entirely of sugar, can be kneaded and shaped into playful shapes. The basic color of the fondant is white and can also be colored with food coloring. In the following we present a basic recipe for fondant and what you have to pay attention to if you want to color it. Here is a little guide to help you determine how much fondant is needed depending on the size of the cake:

ø 12 cm – 550 g

ø 15 cm – 650 g

ø 20 cm – 950 g

ø 24 cm – 1100 g

ø 30 cm – 1750 g

20 x 20 cm – 1000 g

12 cupcakes 600 g

Fondant for cakes recipe with gelatine – lactose-free, gluten-free

Ingredients (make 1200 g fondant):

• 1000 g powdered sugar (attention – not everyone works well)
• 9 g of ground gelatin
• 60 ml of water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon citric acid
• 1 teaspoon glycerin
• 120 ml glucose syrup or caramel syrup
• optional: food coloring and coconut oil (palmin) for greasing the hands and kneading gently

How to make fondant for cakes yourself – instructions

1. Sifting powdered sugar: Put 3 packs in a larger container and one pack in another container.
2. Soak gelatin in water, heat on medium heat or in the microwave and dissolve. Add salt, citric acid and glycerine.
3. If you want the fondant to be colored, you now have to enter the color and dissolve it in the liquid. When the color has already spread, add the syrup.
4. Make a well in the large container with powdered sugar and pour in the gelatin mixture. Mix everything well with a wooden spoon as far as possible. Gradually add the rest of the powdered sugar and knead very vigorously.
5. Wrap the fondant in cling film and then again in a freezer bag. So let the fondant rest for a day at room temperature.
6. The next day before processing, grease the hands and the worktop with coconut oil. Now knead the fondant thoroughly. The small lumps should disappear and the mass should become pliable.
7. If the fondant still needs to be colored, add some color and then knead very well until the color is distributed.

* Tip: Kneading large quantities can be very hard, so you can divide the fondant into smaller portions and knead them separately to make them smooth. Warm hands are an advantage when kneading fondant.

How much fondant for a cake?

You need a kilogram of fondant for a cake. If you want to add other decorations to the cake, then you need to plan a small amount for them. If you want to color the fondant yourself, calculate a little over the planned amount in case the coloring doesn’t work.

Color fondant for cakes

You color the fondant for cakes with food coloring, of course, but in the form of paste or gel. They are specially developed food colors that are perfect for working with dough, buttercream and fondant. Well-known brands are Sugarflair, Squires Kitchen, Wilton and others and cost between 3 and 5 euros a pack. You take very little color from it with a toothpick because they are very concentrated. You can get beautiful pastel shades with 2-3 toothpick tips per 1 kilogram. For more intense nuances you need to take significantly more. High-quality dyes like the ones listed can even be mixed together. The cheap food colors from the supermarket, which are available in the form of powder or liquid, either cannot completely dissolve in the modeling clay or it becomes mushy. You have to be particularly careful with very intense tones and especially with black and red, because not every fondant can withstand such a strong color charge and will eventually become brittle.

If you make the fondant for cakes yourself, it is advisable to color it during production. You knead in the color in portions until the desired shade is created. Unfortunately, you cannot assess the intensity and the exact color exactly and it takes a long time to achieve the right color.

Gum paste for filigree flowers

For elaborate and delicate decorations such as flowers and blossoms there is a special paste – gum paste, which is more elastic than fondant, but also hardens faster. Thanks to additional binders – CMC (carboxymethyl celluloses), which are obtained from softwood and hardwood, the sugar mass can be rolled out thinner and thus artistic, filigree details and figures. You can make this yourself by adding a tablespoon of CMC to 500 g of fondant and kneading it in. CMC is also available in its purest form as an adhesive powder in pharmacies or drugstores. You have to make sure that it does not contain any other substances. A good one is this one from Kukident.

Modeling fondant for figures

Modeling fondant is particularly suitable for figures and is an intermediate form made from gum paste and fondant. For this you have to mix the two in a ratio of 1: 1 or 1: 2 (fondant: gum paste) and knead them very well.

Is the fondant eaten for pies?

You can definitely eat the fondant. Since it consists of over 90% sugar, it tastes poignantly sweet and how could it be otherwise. Everyone decides for himself whether it is actually healthy to eat so much sugar. The fondant is mainly used to decorate pies and cakes.

Buy fondant for cakes or rather make it yourself?

You can of course buy the fondant, but it costs considerably more than the self-made one. Just for comparison, 1 kg costs between 5 and 10 euros and when you make your own you get around 2.7 euros per kilogram. If the fondant is still to be colored, then you have to include the food coloring. Since the ingredients for the fondant are relatively inexpensive, you quickly get the idea of ​​making it yourself. However, the humidity and the quality or condition of the powdered sugar are of essential importance. Most of the time, the homemade fondant will not be as elastic as the bought one. Then one or more teaspoons of CMC can help. In addition, the fondant must have a body temperature in order to remain pliable. If it cools down, it quickly becomes brittle. You also have to expect a lot of muscle strength when kneading and rolling out.