Name: Another Fondant Coattno
Ingredients: 2 lbs loaf sugar; ½ cup cold water

Another Fondant Coattno

Ingredients

2 lbs loaf sugar
½ cup cold water

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 245°F (118°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the syrup

Crush the sugar and place it in a saucepan with the cold water.
Dissolve slowly on the side of the heat, washing the inside of the pan with a brush dipped in cold water.
Once dissolved, move the pan closer to the heat and cover it until steam puffs out.
Remove the cover and boil until the thermometer reaches 245°F (118°C).
If you don't have a thermometer, wet a wooden skewer, dip it into the boiling sugar, then into cold water; it should be rollable between your fingers.

Coat and dry

Dip the sweets (like marzipan or fondant cream) one at a time into the sugar using a wire fork.
Place each coated sweet on an oiled sheet of tin, allowing the drop of sugar to curl on top.
Do not let the sweets touch while drying, and place them on clean blotting paper to absorb excess oil.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Loaf sugar: Forms the syrup that hardens into the smooth, glossy fondant coating.
Cold water: Dissolves the sugar gently so it can be brought to a controlled boil without crystallising.

The step that matters

Boil to 245°F (118°C). The syrup must reach this temperature to set firm yet smooth when cooled. Undercooked syrup stays sticky, while overcooked syrup turns hard and grainy. Washing the pan sides prevents stray sugar crystals that can trigger graining.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.