Making your own fondant - a step-by-step tutorial

Fondant covered cakes are very popular and make for a beautiful finished cake.  There are a variety of ready-to-use fondants on the market, that range from really delicious to much less so!  Of course, the really delicious ones are not available to me locally.  I live near, but not in Toronto, and any trip into the "city" takes a couple of hours out of my day.  Sometimes that is more time than I am willing to spend for really good tasting fondant!

Since I have always had a make-your-own approach to food, I felt no different when I first started using fondant.  I sourced an awesome recipe in The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum and have been using it ever since.  When I first tried the recipe I found it intimidating, but quickly realized it took about 20 minutes to put together, it has great elasticity and taste and it saves me a lot of time and money!  A single batch of this recipe costs me less than $5 to make, the equivalent amount of store-bought fondant costs 2 - 3 times that much! 

So today I created a tutorial on how I make fondant, I hope you enjoy!

Here are the ingredients - corn syrup, shortening, unflavoured gelatin, water, glycerine and confectioners' (powdered) sugar.  My trusty scale is also shown, a very important part of the process!  Note - today I made a triple batch, I usually do a double.

First I sprinkle 1 tablespoons of gelatin over 3 tablespoons of water and let it soften for about 5 minutes.  While that is happening I measure out the rest of the ingredients, 1/2 cup corn syrup and 1 tablespoon of glycerin, as well as 2 tablespoons of shortening.  I get a pot of water on the stove and bring it to a simmer.  Next I measure out 920 grams of confectioners' sugar.  Please note - if your confectioners' sugar is not fresh (clumpy), please sift it at this stage.  My sugar is fresh, I use so much of it, that I don't usually need to sift it.

The next step I do before I move to the stove is to prepare the kneading area.  I cover the area in shortening to prevent sticking.

I place the gelatin in a heatproof bowl over the simmering water.  (I usually put it in the heatproof bowl right away, but today my thinking cap was off and I started it in a non-heatproof and had to transfer it - oops!)  I stir the gelatin mixture as the water simmers underneath until the gelatin and water mixture has turned liquid.

Then I add the corn syrup and glycerin.

Then I add the shortening in pieces (the smaller the pieces, the shorter amount of time it takes to melt).

The hot mixture is poured into the sugar and using your hands, mix it until it comes together.  Some advice for this step - grease your hands with shortening.  And I mean it - rub that stuff all over like it is the coldest, windiest winter day and you've not seen handcream in a month.  I used to just grease my palms and fingers, but I've learned my lesson - now everything attached to my wrist is greasy!

  

Once the mixture comes together (no photograph of that, sorry!) dump the mixture out onto the greased counter and start kneading.

  

Keep kneading until it is smooth and elastic and looks like this:

  

Package it in a zippered storage bag and rest for a few hours before using.  It can be coloured to your heart's content!  It is a wonderful recipe that produces a really terrific product.  It has been a lifesaver more than once and I will continue to make it!  I hope I took out some of the intimidation factor for you and hope you give it a try.

Here are a few of my cakes that I used my own fondant on - enjoy.

Cake & Cookie Decorating Parties

Over the years I have thrown my daughters some incredible birthday parties (tooting my own horn, just a little!)  No matter what the theme, I would always make one of the activities involve icing in a piping bag!  Whether they were decorating cookies or cupcakes, the kids always had a blast!

When my youngest turned 5, each child got to decorate their own mini Barbie cake!

So in response to all the joy I have witnessed when kids wield an icing-bag and after numerous inquiries in regards to parties and cake decorating instruction, I set about organising a couple of cake decorating party test runs with children of various ages and they were very successful.  I couldn't believe how much fun everyone had! 

And so today, I officially announce that Sweet Handmade is offering decorating parties.

A Sweet Handmade birthday party is an easy party for you!  Thoughtfully planned out, all you need to do is provide each party-goer with a work area and I will take care of the rest; I set up each work station, lead the group with 1 1/2 to 2 hours of decorating fun and I clean up at the end.  There is no need to purchase a party cake because the demonstration cake becomes the party cake - and this delicious cake is one you will want to eat!  There is also no need to purchase a loot bag or take-home gifts, as each child will bring home their cake and cookies, boxed for ease!  Starting at $180 for up to six children, $30 for each additional child to a maximum of 15 children.

Enjoy these pictures of young budding cake designers as they try their hand at cakes, fondant, cookies, frosting, cutters, piping and fun!

After set-up, this young party-goer has her sugar cookies and frosted cake ready to decorate.  After a quick and easy demonstration, she will be ready to go.

A little help is sometimes needed!

After I demonstrate some super sugar cookie decorating techniques like outlining, flooding and marbling, the kids try out what they learned and come up with their own designs.

An occasional lick is part of the fun and so yummy!

The party is surprisingly quiet as the amateur decorators work on their craft.

I then lead the group to channel their inner-cake-designers, first by demonstrating how to colour and roll fondant, then how to cover their cakes and how to finish the design with fondant cutouts and piped icing.  Each child then works on their own cake.

Using cookie cutters and fondant balls, this party-goer made her cake beautiful.

This cake was decorated in beautiful bright colours - stars, teddy bears and hand prints.  Super cute!

Always different, always special, always delicious and always super fun!

Contact me today to book your next party - suitable for ages 5 and up.  What a wonderful time!

Valentine Mini Cakes

I am completely enamored by beautiful chocolates.  It has to be the best part of Valentine's Day!  They speak to me, so luxuriously packaged and so deliciously decadent.  Not being a chocolatier, I decided to create these beautiful Valentine's desserts out of cake.  These luxurious mini chocolate cakes are decorated to look like decadent boxed chocolates.  A special thank you to Rosie at Sweetapolita, whose talent inspired me to create these.

Each mini cake starts with a 2" or 3" base of my Devil's Food Cake and is topped with a lavish filling and frosting before they get covered in handmade modelling chocolate or fondant. 

Rum (dome with sprinkles):  A base of Devil's Food Cake is covered with a dome of rum flavoured Swiss meringue buttercream frosting.  I wrapped this boozy treat in milk modelling chocolate and topped it with chocolate sprinkles.

Mocha (square with red squiggle):  I brushed two small tiers of Devil's Food cake with Kahlúa syrup and filled the tiers with coffee Swiss meringue buttercream before wrapping them in delicious dark modelling chocolate and topping the whole mini cake with a squiggle of red royal icing.

Classic (gold dome):  A dome of my classic Swiss meringue buttercream sits on top of a circle of Devil's Food Cake and is then wrapped in fondant, which I coloured with a gold lustre dust.

Almond & Apricot (square with dark squiggle):  A square of Devil's food cake is brushed with an apricot compote and topped with an Almond Dacquoise (it is an almond meringue) and the entire mini cake is frosted in Swiss meringue buttercream before being coated in dark modelling chocolate.  Yum!

Raspberry (pink heart):  A heart shaped cake is brushed with a raspberry compote and topped with raspberry Swiss meringue buttercream.  I then covered the cake with pink fondant, which I painted with an edible pink lustre dust - so pretty!

Salted Caramel (round with salt):  Two tiers of Devil's Food Cake are filled with handmade caramel and frosted in chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream.  Covered in milk modelling chocolate and topped with fleur de sel to make this decadent flavour extra delicious.

Chocolate Mint (round with dark swirl):  Two tiers of the cake are filled with a mint chocolate ganache and frosting in a mint Swiss meringue buttercream.  Covered in a dark modelling chocolate.  So good!

Double Chocolate (square with pink heart):  Two tiers of Devil's Food Cake, filled with chocolate ganache and frosted in chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream.  Covered in milk modelling chocolate and topped with a fondant heart.

These special Valentine chocolate cakes come complete in a pink or red box and a matching ribbon, ready to give your special someone, or to share with a number of your special someones!  Box of 9 mini cakes: $45.  Place your order early!  Pickup days are Saturday, February 11th until Tuesday, February 14th.

Valentine Mini Cookies

In a play on a box of decadent chocolates, this box is actually filled with cookies!  Make your Valentine extra happy with this box of most delicious all-butter sugar cookies disguised with royal icing to look like the best quality chocolates!  A special thank you to Maryann, the Cookie Artisan for the inspiration.

These special Valentine cookies come complete in a box with a lovely ribbon finish, ready to give your special someone!  Box of 16 1" cookies: $20.  Place your order early!  Pickup days are Saturday, February 11th until Tuesday, February 14th.

Sweet Valentine - handmade candies and chocolates

Just in time for Valentine's Day, I am offering "Sweet Valentine", a box filled with handmade candies and chocolates. Each and every treat in this box is made by hand.  This beautiful 8"x8" box, containing almost a pound of sweets, comes wrapped with a raffia ribbon, is completely ready for gift giving.

The box contains 6 varieties of chocolates and candies.

I start the "Rum Balls" by baking a beautiful pan of brownies. After cooling, I crumble them and mix the crumbs with the best rum and then I roll them in red sanding sugar. Really yummy!

"Heart-Shaped Marshmallows" are made by mixing sugar and gelatin together, cooking it and then whipping it. Using a small heart-shaped cutter, I cut the delicate shapes and dust them with confectioners' sugar. They just melt in your mouth.

To make the "Chocolate-Covered Almonds", I toast the almonds. Then I candy them. And then I dredge the almonds in melted semi-sweet chocolate, before finally tossing them in cocoa.

"Almond Croquant" is made by cooking sugar to the soft-ball stage and mixing it with crushed almonds. The result is a crunchy/chewy candy that is so sweet and delicious!

"Bourbon Pecan Chews" are made by mixing sugars and pecans with Bourbon - they will remind you of pecan pie.

Finally, "Chocolate-Covered Caramels" are made by cooking sugar, cream and butter until it reaches 245 degrees, making caramel. After cooling, I cut the round shapes, temper top quality bittersweet chocolate and then the caramel shapes are dredged through the chocolate. Topped with dragees, these beauties will delight!

Boxed and wrapped with a lovely Valentine ribbon, ready for gift-giving - $30.  Place your order early!  Pickup days are Saturday, February 11th until Tuesday, February 14th.

Valentine Heart-Shaped Cookies

These delicious all-butter sugar cookies make the perfect treats for your child's class on Valentine's Day, a wonderful treat for your office or just a nice treat with a cup of tea!

These special Valentine cookies come individually packaged, ready for gift-giving.  The 1 1/2" cookies (minimum order of 20) are $1.25 each and the 3 1/2" cookies (minimum order of 10) are $2.50 each.  Place your order early!  Pickup days are Saturday, February 11th until Tuesday, February 14th.

Valentine Milk Chocolate Mousse Cake

Sure to leave your sweetheart smitten!  This cake starts with three layers of Chocolate Génoise Cake.  I cover the layers with Bittersweet Ganache and top each layer with thick Milk Chocolate Mousse into which I mix bits of buttery cashew brittle.  The entire cake is topped with Whipped Bittersweet Ganache and decorated with cashew brittle hearts!  Everything about this cake is just spectacular!

This cake serves 12 and costs $90.  Place your order early!  Pickup days are Saturday, February 11th until Tuesday, February 14th.

Gingerbread Ornaments

I love a Christmas tree filled with edible treats!  Candy canes, shiny foil wrapped chocolate balls, strings of popcorn and delicious gingerbread cookies.  Here are my offerings for the most delicious Christmas tree.



These 5" gingerbread snowflakes are so fragrant and yummy, made with butter, dark brown sugar, molasses and spices including cinnamon, ginger, cloves and pepper.  Decorated with royal icing and a shiny red ribbon, they add something special to your tree and are a delight to sneak off and eat!  $3 each, minimum order of 4.

These 3" gingerbread ornaments are decorated with royal icing and edible silver dragees.  They will be a focal point on your tree, as well as add a delicious gingerbread smell to your home.  These cookies come in a box of 9 for $22 and make a wonderful hostess gift.  Send me an email at sweethandmade@rocketmail.com to place your order.

Festive Snowflake Cookies

These delectable 6-inch Snowflake Cookies are available in chocolate or gingerbread, and are decorated with royal icing, sanding sugar and sometimes silver dragees. 

They come individually wrapped in a simple celophane bag and tied closed with a red ribbon.

These cookies, made with the finest butters, spices and/or chocolate, make a great teacher's gift, gift for neighbour or grandparent, as well as a terrific stocking stuffer. Each cookie is unique and tastes terrific! Special shout-out to my hand model, Josie, for helping out by holding the cookie! $4 for each 5 inch cookie.  Place your orders quickly, space is limited!

Christmas Cookie Kit

Unlike any cookie kit available in the stores, my "Christmas Cookie Kit" comes freshly made for you with 12 ready-to-decorate chocolate or gingerbread cookies (flour, sugar, butter, eggs, and chocolate or molasses and spices), a piping bag of royal icing (simply sugar and meringue powder), small candies and dragees. This is very different from the store-bought variety which has been sitting around for months! All you need to do is sit back and enjoy the fun the kids are having. If you are lucky, you'll get to sneak a few delicious bites! $20 per kit.

Christmas Sugar Cookies

The Christmas season is just about here, and I am now taking Christmas orders.  Over the next few days I will post the cookie packages available for order now and available for pick-up until December 23rd; cake and cupcake ideas to follow.  Today I am posting the two sugar cookie packages available.  These delicious all butter sugar cookies are flecked with vanilla bean seeds (so yummy!) and are individually iced with a sweet royal icing. 

The large platter (above) includes 20 cookies as shown, comes boxed and costs $44.

The small platter (above) includes 10 cookies as shown, comes boxed and costs $22.



If you are interested in individual cookies, they come packaged in a clear celophane bag and range in price from $2 to $3 each.  They make perfect stocking stuffers!

Contact me to place your order.  Tomorrow - the first of the gingerbread cookie options.

Baby Shower Cake for Twins

About to welcome twins to the family, grandmother Sandy and aunt Ali came to me with a very special cake request for the baby shower.  The father-to-be of the twin boys cannot wait to take his sons fishing.  He told his mom that he expects he will be spending a lot of time untangling fishing lines in the years to come and Sandy wanted this to be the inspiration for the cake!   I sculpted two adorable little babies in diapers with fishing rods in their hands.  Their lines are already tangled!    Since there is a long-standing hockey rivalry between Ali and her brother I created a Leaf mascot teddy bear and a Penquins mascot "stuffie" which I imagined the little boys would drag around everywhere. 

The "water" of the stream is full of fish and rocks and a pair of rubber ducks bob along too.  At the edge of the water sit a couple of turtles, reeds and rushes "grow" under the dock, yellow finches gather, and it appears the boys left their bouncy balls beside one of the evergreen bushes.

I made this cake in brown sugar marble, with brown sugar Swiss meringue buttercream under the homemade fondant and each slice was served with a delicious caramel sauce.  It was a real privilege to make this cake for the growing family and I wish them all much happiness and love in the months and years ahead!

Halloween Cupcake Kit

Blog repost - An activity that is always a big hit at my girls' birthday parties is decorating cupcakes or cookies.  Every child I have ever met loves the messy, sweet fun of smearing on the icing, tasting the sweet goodness and eating the end results!  This Halloween make the celebrating easy for your kids by getting one of my Halloween cupcake kits.  6 delicious cupcakes (chocolate, vanilla or both), 3 bags of Swiss Meringue Buttercream in Halloween colours and a generous selection of eyeballs and creepy, cavity-filled teeth.  Be sure to sneak a decorated cupcake for yourself!!  Contact me by Thursday, October 27th to place your order - $15.

Ghoulish Ghost Cake

Blog repost - Inspired by a Martha Stewart design comes this super-sweet Ghoulish Ghost Cake.  Frosted in Swiss Meringue Buttercream and adorned in marshmallow ghosts, this cake is perfect for a halloween birthday or for your halloween bash!  Choose your favourite flavour of cake and contact me for pricing info.



Thanksgiving cookie place settings

A long-time fan of Martha and all her perfect-ness, I imagine how my Thanksgiving table could look...  a golden-brown, moist turkey, neatly carved and placed "just so" on a platter, all the sides steaming in their perfectly matching bowls, each spot set with the appropriate silverware, stemware and napkins, each family member looking regal in their best Thanksgiving attire,....  Well, a girl can dream, can't she?!  I know one thing that will grace my table this year, a beautiful cookie at each setting.  Here is how I imagine it will look:

If you want this look at your Thanksgiving table, stop by the Bradford farmers' market tomorrow morning where I will have a limited number of these cookies available, as well as my Caramelized Apple Bundt Cake!

Caramelized Apple & Toasted Walnut Bundt Cake with an Apple Cider Glaze

When I was a young girl living in Holland, there was no real need for my mother to be a baker, what with a pastry store at nearly every street corner in Amsterdam.  But, I remember that for special occasions she sometimes made a lovely apple pie and pound cake was another favourite.  For a few years she specialized in a bundt cake, which she would sprinkle with powdered sugar and dress up with a red bow.  One particular Christmas we went to my brother and his wife's for Christmas and the bundt cake came along on the train.  She had made an adult version with rum and a non-alcoholic version for my brother and I.  She cut the two bundt cakes in half and then put them together as if they were one (I guess that meant there was another whole cake waiting for us at home!)  Delicious!  She knew that good quality ingredients always make a terrific dessert.

For my family Thanksgiving, I will be serving this beautiful bundt cake.  To make it I started by creating a caramel.  I added apple chunks, which I cooked down until they were soft and had soaked up the caramel flavour.  I stirred these delicious apples, along with toasted walnuts, into a rich brown sugar and butter batter that I spiced up with cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger!  Once the cake had cooled, I made a glaze with apple cider and drizzled it on the top.  This cake really speaks of fall flavours and is a perfect way to end your Thanksgiving meal, or perhaps start your day!  Please place your order by Monday, October 3rd.

Thanksgiving cookies

When the kids head back to school, the nights turn crisper and the leaves on the trees start to change colour, my mind starts turning towards fall events that keep us happy and busy until Christmas.  Most of my American friends are already deep into Halloween baking and preparations, but we Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving first!  Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October, which is then followed by Halloween and then, you guessed it, a two month lead up to Christmas!!

This beautiful Thanksgiving cookie platter (inspired by the incredible talents of the Cookie Artisan) features eighteen beautiful harvest designs, from pumpkins, acorns, sunflowers, oak and maple leaves, to a squirrel and a turkey as well as a sweet banner cookie.  My super-delicious sugar cookies are made with butter, sugar, flour, eggs and are speckled with vanilla bean seeds.  They are frosted in royal icing and make a truly wonderful hostess gift that will be ooh'd and aah'd over.  Orders must be placed by October 3rd - boxed and ready for gift giving.

Bridal Shower Cake and Cupcakes

Jan was put in charge of her niece's bridal shower cake.  She knew she wanted something feminine, with a purple colour palate and something that would be easy for the guests to enjoy in the casual atmosphere of the bridal shower.  I suggested that a cutting cake might add a nice touch, so, we settled on a small cake and cupcakes, with a custom stand to match.  The flavours are chocolate butter cake and white butter cake (alternating layers in the cake) with Swiss meringue buttercream and various shades and sizes of purple gum paste flowers and leaves.

Wishing Jan's niece and her husband-to-be wonderful life filled with happiness.

Fantasy Flower 65th Birthday Cake

Designing and creating a cake for a special occasion; a milestone birthday, a child's birthday, an anniversary or a wedding always fills me with such a feeling of joy.  As I work on the cake I feel my craft will help make the occasion even more special and I always feel honoured for the request and the ability to add something really special to the day.  When the delivery takes place, I leave before the guests arrive and rarely witness the guest reaction to the cake and its taste. 

Last weekend my wonderful mother-in-law turned 65 and my father-in-law planned a surprise party for her.  He hesitated asking me for the cake because the party was two hours away on a hot July day.  I really wanted to do this cake and I went to work creating an elegant design that I felt would suit her beautiful, kind and loving nature.  It is not often I get to design a cake from scratch and this one was an extra special project.

I started by creating these fantasy flowers that shimmered with lustre dust and reminded me of sea shells, perfect for my m-i-l who loves to travel.  Then I baked up layers of chocolate butter cake and white butter cake and alternated them with my delicious Swiss meringue buttercream tinted the softest shade of coral.  I fashioned an elegant 65 out of gum paste and placed it on top of this beauty.

After a harrowing 2 hour drive in 32 degree celcius heat, the cake arrived at its destination intact.  It was a different experience to be there as the cake was cut and served.  I suspect that like every cake delivery I make, the cake became a focal point that people could talk about, study and eventually taste.  The incredibly positive feedback added a happy element to the party for me and I was so happy that my mother-in-law loved it as well.  I wish you many more happy and healthy years, Jackie!