My first attempt at Fondant was a few years ago for a colleague's wedding. I was totally self-taught with only 1 book for the recipe reference and another book for the design. I remember rolling the fondant like a piece of sun-baked clay! It was tough like old rubber. Ok, I'm totally exaggerating here but I certainly couldn't get the smooth and pliable 'dough' like the pictures in the books.
I already dismissed that recipe as a failure. Therefore, I was quite surprised to find the recipe/ingredients used for this class by Kak Mis was similar to the one I attempted on that occasion.
I came back home today delighted by the experience. Now I know where I went wrong and what the books 'forgot' to inform. I didn't use corn flour at all last time. I didn't flip my fondant over and over while rolling. I didn't even roll it the correct way causing it to stick to the rolling board. Oh, need I mention that I didn't even know how liquid glucose looked like. I just melted some sugar in water and that was it. It was supposed to be very thick and sticky. I really didn't know the correct ratio of sugar and water to make the home-made liquid glucose or glucose syrup. Oh, I even committed the Cardinal sin of leaving the fondant exposed to the air while working. No wonder everything went tough and cracky.
My fondant Sugarbox. Leaves are royal icing.
We did a girly and frilly Dutch girl cake design today and a sugar box out of fondant. No gumpaste at all today which is great as I was always doubting fondant's capability of hardening properly especially for flower deco. I remember my first rose wilting and cracking at the bends. It wouldn't dry like it did in the the books.
Can fondant be used for flower deco? The verdict after today......YES.
I made her blonde where everybody else chose to paint her hair brunette. To me, I couldn't imagine her to be anything other than blonde.
For my Dutch girl cake top, I admitted making lots of mistakes. I'm not too proficient on the Garret frills which I already attempted on that very first occasion years ago. I'm still not doing that much progress today as far as I can see. I need to practise more on crimping techniques later if I decide to get the crimpers at all.
We were racing for time and as a result, my mind couldn't concentrate very well. How to when there was a bus home to catch later in the day?
Back to the deco. I wasn't too happy with my colour scheme as the colours I had originally envisioned didn't materialise. I wanted very soft blue background which failed and had to switch to the peach coral pink thing. For the sugar box, I originally wanted a light lime green colour to embellish with silver ribbons but I didn't know how to mix the colours to achive that. So, I had to abandon that idea and ended up with the peach coral pink thingy again.
I was quite happy with my Dutch girl though. I was the only one who decided to give her the blonde 3D hair. I wanted ribbons on the nape of her hood but didn't have time for it so I just stuck a flower there instead. I liked her bouquet. I wanted it to look like she picked the flowers up from the meadow beneath her feet. Wasn't too thrilled with the frills at her skirt hem though. Told ya that Garret frills aren't my specialty at the moment.
The only thing I excel over everybody else was my paintbrush stroke.......thank God!
All in all, mine certainly wasn't the most attractive cake there but there was only ONE thing that I managed to excel over everybody else. That is my paintbrush stroke. Drawing and painting are second nature to me since I was a kid and I will always feel more comfortable and steady with a paintbrush than I ever will with a nozzled piping back.
The finished product
It was worth the money I forked out for this class. Thanks Kak Mis.
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