Poured Fondant Icing
Poured Fondant Icing is an all purpose confection used to ice sweet-breads, cakes, petit fours and napoleons.
What is poured fondant icing?
Not to be confused with Rolled Fondant, the sugar dough used to cover cakes, Fondant Icing is pourable and is used to glaze cakes and pastries with a thin sheen of sweetness.
True Fondant is, in fact, more candy than icing. Fondant is what you find in the middle of my all-time favorite candy, a Peppermint Patty. Making true fondant is an unforgiving process of controlled crystallization.
This is where simple, powdered sugar fondant icing comes in…
Even though I will readily admit that this simple Fondant Icing is not really a true fondant, and it honestly doesn’t have the beautiful sheen of a real fondant icing, it is a good compromise for the home baker who wants to make Petit Fours, Napoleons or a glazed Bundt Cake.
It tastes great, it’s easy to make and it’s very easy to use.
Ingredients
- Water
- Light corn syrup
- Vanilla extract
- Salt
- Confectioners’ sugar
How to make poured fondant icing:
- Simple Fondant Icing is made with powdered sugar.
- Pour the boiling water mixture into the sugar and stir.
- The icing should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Add more sugar if it’s too thin or more water it it’s too thick.
Storage
- Pour the icing into a bowl and sprinkle a few drops of water over the surface. This will prevent the surface from drying out and forming a crust. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
- Poured fondant icing can be held at room temperature for 2-3 days, refrigerated for up to a week and frozen for up to 3 months.
- Pour the water off the surface of the icing before using.
Fondant Icing is used to ice Classic Petit Fours, napoleons and donuts.
If you love this recipe as much as I do, I’d really appreciate a 5-star review.
Poured Fondant Icing Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 oz water (½ cup)
- 3 oz light corn syrup (¼ cup)
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 20 oz confectioner sugar (5 cups)
Instructions
- Combine the water, corn syrup, vanilla and salt in a medium sauce pan, bring to a boil.4 oz water, 3 oz light corn syrup, ½ tsp vanilla extract, ⅛ tsp salt
- Remove the pan from the heat and gradually whisk in the sugar.20 oz confectioner sugar
- The icing should be slightly warmer than body temperature and the consistency of thick cream. If you dip a spoon into the fondant it should cover with a slightly translucent finish. Use the fondant immediately or store in the refrigerator, well covered.
- If the fondant cools below 100°F, rewarm gently. If the icing gets too thick add a few drop of water at a time until it's thinned to the proper consistency. If it gets too thin, add a little more sugar.
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Could you use this for cake pucks instead of chocolate?
I asked someone who makes them and they were quite rude saying they would taste foul!
I don’t know what cake pucks are. Can you describe them?
Can this be used for cake pops? I have a friend who’s allergic to chocolate and I want to make her cake pops but wrapping each individual cake pop with fondant seems tedious! Lol
Yes!
Hi,just wondered if I added white colouring it would be less translucent.
Hmmm, I couldn’t say. I haven’t used white food coloring.
Once the cakes are covered do they freeze successfully fully decorated?
Thanks
No, I would not freeze a cake with poured fondant. It’s very likely the fondant would pick up moisture and become runny.
I don’t necessarily want to leave a rating, per se. Unfortunately, despite following the recipe exactly, these did not set up. They are wet HOURS after being coated. I was making the petit fours for mother’s day, so it’s kind of a bummer.
I’m wondering if we were meant to bring to a boil and hold for a certain amount of time? The recipe just says ‘bring to a boil’. This is the first time I’ve had a recipe go so poorly. (Like, don’t worry, they still TASTE good, but they’re very squidgy now, which is just..you know, not the intended outcome.)
I can’t say what could’ve gone wrong. I’ve never had trouble with this icing setting up. Did you weigh your ingredients? Were the petite fours possibly frozen when they were iced?
This is a glaze recipe, not a fondant. It will not have the nice chew you probably wanted and it will get runnier the more layers you add. You need to do the soft ball fondant recipe or better yet Amazon sells a super fine sugar product you add water to and it is what donut makers use for Their cake donuts (not the glazed donuts). Petit goes are a pain to make but you can’t take a shortcut on the fondant. Good luck.
You can, in fact, take a shortcut on the fondant icing. As seen in the photos in this post that’s exactly what I did and got nice results. As a pastry chef I’m well aware that this icing is not the same as a real fondant. As I stated in the post “Even though I will readily admit that this simple Fondant Icing is not really a true fondant, and it honestly doesn’t have the beautiful sheen of a real fondant icing, it is a good compromise for the home baker who wants to make Petit Fours, Napoleons or a glazed Bundt Cake.” The point of this recipe is that true fondant is difficult to make and work with. This icing is a nice compromise for a home baker.