Source: Mastering the Art of French Cooking Vol. 2 by Julia Child
Makes 1 serving.
Preparation time: 1 hour
Tips: Have a batch in the refrigerator ready to use.
Fondant
Sugar Icing for Cake, Petits Fours, Napoleons
Ingredients
Preparation
3 tablespoons white corn syrup, see note (1)
1 cup water
3 cups sugar
1 candy thermometer
1 heavy bottomed 2- quarts saucepan with lid
1 marble surface or large metal tray
1 pastry scraper or painter's spatula
1 piece cheese cloth or small towel to cover
1. Have ready handy the marble surface or metal tray to pour the syrup when ready.
2. Dissolve the corn syrup (or cream of tartar, see note (1) with a bit of the water in the saucepan. Pour in the rest of the water and the sugar. Set over medium high heat. Swirl pan slowly by its handle, but do not stir the 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.
3. Uncover, insert candy thermometer if you are using one,and continue boiling for a few minutes to the softball stage (238 F 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 softball stage, your fondant will be too soft; if you boil to the hard stage, your fondant will be hard to knead and difficult to melt when you want to use it.
4. Immediately pour the syrup onto the marble or into the 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.
5. As soon as the 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 m,ore. 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 take longer than 5 to 8 minutes, or even 10 minutes, to turn into fondant; go off and leave it for 5 minutes; come back and knead it again, it will eventually turn (you may have started to knead it before it was quite ready for you.)
6. 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 a jar or bowl, top with a dampened cheesecloth, cover airtight, and refrigerate. As long as the top is damp, fondant will keep for months and months.
HOW TO USE FONDANT:
2 cups fondant
1 to 2 Tbsp liqueur or strong coffee; or 1 tsp vanilla
1 Tb water approximately
Combine fondant flavoring and water in a saucepan and set saucepan in large 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 1/2 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.
NOTE: 1) You may use 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar instead of the syrup.
