Fondant
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
In a clean copper kettle, combine sugar, water, and glucose.
Place over medium heat and stir with a wooden paddle until it begins to boil.
Use a skimmer to remove any dirt and scum that rises to the top.
Remove from heat and crush any undissolved lumps.
Return to heat, cover with a lid, and steam down the sides of the kettle.
Boil until the temperature reaches 230°F (110°C).
Cool and knead
Pour onto a slab well wet with cold water and let it cool until nearly cold.
Knead into a soft mass with your hands.
Place in an earthen crock and cover with a damp cloth until ready to use.
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
- White sugar
- Forms the bulk of the fondant and, once cooled and kneaded, sets into a fine-textured, soft mass.
- Glucose
- Interferes with sugar crystal formation, helping the fondant stay smooth and soft rather than grainy.
- Water
- Dissolves the sugar so it can be boiled into a syrup before cooling.
The step that matters
Crush any undissolved lumps before reboiling. Undissolved sugar crystals can seed unwanted crystallization as the syrup cools, making the fondant grainy. Crushing them while the syrup is still hot helps everything dissolve evenly before the final boil.
“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.
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