Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A
Fondant – Make it or buy it? What do you do? What are your thoughts.
Hello!
I am trying out various recipes for fondant – some are good and some not so good.
What do you do? Do you make your own and if so what recipes do you like best?
Buying fondant ranges massively in price. What do you think is more cost effective – buying or making it and what ones are really worth the cost of buying premade and why?
Thanks
For consistency and cost effectivness buy it, especially the coloured pastes. I used to make my own, the faff was just too much, the cleaning up was hellish and the kitchen floor felt sticky even after two or three washes. Perhaps it was just me.
There are so many now, the best thing is to try a few. Some companies have reasonably priced samples, email them and ask what they can provide. Try Cake Craft, The Craft Company and Cake Stuff for the samples and possibly Renshaw’s. I’ve never seen the high end sugarpastes like Carmas Massa as samples.
There are some comments here http://www.cakeflix.com/questions/renshaw-sugarpaste which you might find useful, also type ‘sugarpaste’ in the search box and you’ll come across other related comments.
Some members are quite happy using supermarket brands. It’s personal taste, it depends how you feel about the taste and texture of the icing.
I use Satin ice ivory and love it, although recently I used the white and hated it for texture and taste.
Thanks madeitwithlove.
Ahhh so down the rabbit hole I go on that subject!
All good points. I obviously have done fairly well then to not feel too put out with the subsequent clean up.
It isn’t something I can mix from scratch by hand too hard for my muscles so start off with the Kenwood then switch to hand otherwise risk it burning out the motor. Not very cost effective if that goes! I like to have a back up recipe on hand as you never know when it could be useful.
I will shop around for a few samples and see what I can come up with.
Would be interested to hear from anyone who has used the Carma Massa Ticino. Some times you just need to know what the $5 milkshake tastes like!!! 😉
Member Jackie Harris might be letting us know what it’s like, she has recently ordered the massa from Windsor Cake Craft. They have it on offer at the moment see my recent post here:
It’s very expensive but I read nothing but excellent feed back on this product. Windsor has it at a really reasonable price + free delivery, can’t be bad!
Hi
The carma sugarpaste is lovely to work with and great taste. I ordered a small tub last week and all the family love it.
Yesterday I order two 7kg tubs each £47.99 and received it today. Great speedy delivery from Windsor.
The price does seem a lot, but it’s for 7kg so it works out at £6.85 per kg. Most other brands I.e. Squires from squireskitchen including postage works out about £5.00 per kg. It’s not that much more and you don’t have to go out to buy it. The other positive is no elephant skin, it can also be rolled thinner therefore you can cut down on the quantity used.
I have also used fondant from sugarpaste direct it’s lovely but noticed the last time I used it it was a bit chewy.
I hope you manage to get a sugarpaste that you like not only for taste, but one that is easy to work with.
Jackie
Hi Jackie
I was so sure I posted my thank you to you earlier on today, hmmm something went wrong!
Anyway thank you! it’s great to have first hand feed back which many members will find helpful
I’ll probably get some for my Christmas cakes although I have quite a lot of white satin ice to use up, not happy.
I love the CMT! As someone stated earlier, it is expensive, but I don’t need nearly as much (like with other brands) because it rolls so thin. For me it is worth the price for the consistency & just how easy it handles!
I’ve tried all sorts of brands, I’ve made hybrids with modeling chocolate, etc. There is a new brand out that I’m curious to try called Sugar Silk Pro (it is sold under the website of the same name).
I do still work with other brands, depending what I’m doing. For cake covering I use CMT or LMF (it’s a mixture by Liz Marek that uses Wilton as a base, you mix it with basically MF-you can google ‘LMF’ or ‘Liz Marek’s Fondant to get the recipe she also has a how to video on YouTube). I strongly dislike Satin Ice, but I know many people use it. I love working with modeling chocolate for figures and things like that as well as FondX or FondX Elite for colored pastes.
Basically, I’d sample different brands and see what works best for you. I think your location will be a determining factor in what you’ll enjoy working with.
