I Made Fondant

From Scratch.

A lot of sources says that it’s really hard, but one of my mom’s childhood friends said that it’s really easy and she did it all the time as a kid. My attempt turned out fine and we thought we had made a number of mistakes.

The recipe is down below. I got it from The Joy Of Cooking (Except for the part in bold)

Bring to a boil in a large heavy saucepan: 1 Cup Water

Remove from the heat and stir until dissolved: 3 Cups Sugar (We struggled to do this and ended up dissolving the sugar over a flame)

Return to heat and have ready: 1/16 Teaspoon Cream Of Tartar (We dropped some of this)

Just as the sirup come up to a boil, add the Cream Of Tartar to the mixture by tapping it from the spoon on the edge of the pan. Be ready to stir, as it will tend to make the sirup boil over (We didn’t put it in right as it boiled)

Cover until the steam can wash down the sides of the pan

Cook this mixtures uncovered without stirring, until it reaches 238-240 F. Remove pan gently from heat. Pour sirup onto a wet marble slab or platter (It makes quite a lot, have around two square feet or more ready to receive it)

Do not scrape pan

Let the sirup cool thoroughly (Or just until it’s a bit cool. We did both, they both turned out fine)

Work it with a candy scraper or a wooden spoon by lifting and folding always from edges to center. When the sirup loses its translucency and begins to become opaque and creamy, knead it well with the hands. Dust them with confectioners sugar if necessary (Don’t bother with that last sentence, just keep working it until it hardens, it will look like the pictures)

After kneading fondant, put it in a tightly covered container. Allow it to remain in a cool place for 24 hours to a week or more (We skipped this step)

To prepare fondant for shaping, put it in a double boiler over-not in-hot water. Heat it slowly, with the water at 170 to 180, until you can shape it then put it on a slab (We also skipped this one)

My thermometer might not have been super  accurate.