I have recently discovered the world of “cake decorating”. Last December, my second daughter turned 1 and I wanted to make a special cake to celebrate the occasion. It took me a few days of research and some more days of planning, but in the end I decided to try and decorate a cake with fondant. I had never done it before, so I was a bit nervous about it. I have to say that it is not as hard as it seems, but it does require a little practice, especially if you want to create the figurines or more complicated patterns.
TIPS:
- For these cakes I had to buy some material and tools: white fondant, food colouring pastes, spatulas, a fondant smoother, a cake board, a sugar craft gun, modelling tools, an impression sheet for the grass and cutters for the flowers.
- When you roll the fondant, make sure you work with some sifted icing sugar, so that it does not stick to the bench top or to the rolling pin.
- Do not use a sponge cake if you want to decorate it with fondant! The fondant is too heavy for it and the cake may collapse! I used a butter cake, but pound cakes or mud cakes work just as well.
EASY BUTTER CAKE RECIPE, IDEAL FOR FONDANT DECORATED CAKES
Recipe adapted from Taste
Ingredients: (for a 23 cm square pan)
250g butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence
3 eggs
2 1/2 cups self-raising flour
2/3 cup milk
Preheat the oven to 160°C fan-forced. Grease and line 23 cm square cake pan with baking paper.
Using an electric mixer, cream butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy.
Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating to combine.
Add half the flour and combine. Add half the milk and to combine.
Repeat with remaining flour and milk.
Pour the mixture into the pan and bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Stand in the pan for 10 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
Now it is ready to decorate.
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Here are some of the fondant decorated cakes I have created:
leng says
January 30, 2012 at 5:54 amhi there! i am planning to make a chocolate butter cake and cover it with fondant. a friend told me that it would be taste too heavy together. is it true? this is my first time to deal with fondant and i want my cake to taste and look good. hope to hear from u thanks.
Manu says
January 30, 2012 at 10:12 amHi! I have never made a fondant covered chocolate cake… so I don’t know how it would taste. I guess it would be ok if you use dark chocolate or cocoa powder… so that it doesn’t turn out too sweet. Another thing to keep in mind is that with a dark cake you really need to make sure you put a good layer of crumb coating and a thick enough fondant covering… so that the cake does’t show underneath. Hope it helps!
andrea says
November 30, 2012 at 4:20 amHello! This is going to be my very first time trying to make a fondant cake and im wondering if you have a chocolate butter cake recipe? Im afraid to use just any other chocolate cake recipe as it might be too moist and fail to withstand the weight of the fondant. Hope you can reply soon 🙂 thank you for your time
Manu says
November 30, 2012 at 6:14 amHi Andrea… I usually make a vanilla butter cake (http://www.manusmenu.com/tips/cake-decoration/fondant-cakes) or a vanilla yogurt cake (http://www.manusmenu.com/yogurt-cake-torta-allo-yogurt)… actually I am making one on Sunday for my youngest daughter’s birthday party and I am making a yogurt cake as a base… I find it thick enough for the fondant and lighter to eat. For any of the 2 recipes, you can just add a few tbsp of cocoa powder to make it into a chocolate cake! I am sure you’ll have great fun with fondant!!! Let me know how you go! 🙂
Andrea says
November 30, 2012 at 4:24 amHello! This is going to be my very first time making a fondant cake and im a little nervous. But for the cake, do you have a good chocolate butter cake recipe? Im afraid to use just any other recipe as the cake might be too moist and fail to withstand the weight of the fondant. Hope you can reply soon:) thank you for your time
Olamiju Ajilore says
March 28, 2013 at 11:37 pmPlease i need to know the recipe of a mollding paste and also the recipe of suger craft
Manu says
March 29, 2013 at 6:50 amI am sorry, but I usually buy it ready made… I haven’t tried to make my own yet. 🙁
Kim says
November 6, 2016 at 5:38 pmHi will you please give me the same ingredients that I should use for a ten inch (25cms) round cake tin please?
Rell Hackie says
November 21, 2013 at 9:44 pmHi there! I usually make mudcake fir my fondant cakes, but I am out if time today. So, trying butter cake with butter cream between fondant and Cake. Just wondering if Green’s butter cake packet mix would be the same as made from scratch. Butter cake is butter cake, right? Looking forward to tour response 🙂
Jacqui says
January 27, 2014 at 4:57 amHi, I love your blog! I tried the yogurt cake this morning, but had an epic fail 🙁 I doubled the recipe to make two 23cm round cakes. The batter was quite runny, and after 1 1/2 hours of still not cooking through, I had to admit defeat! I now want to try this recipe. Is it also OK to do this in a 23cm round tin, or do I need to adjust the ingredient?
Amy says
March 25, 2014 at 1:51 pmHi, I’m going to be making my first fondant butter cake – I wanted to make it a 2 layer cake – how do I go about it? Do I just put a filling in the middle and then lay the fondant over the top? Please reply as soon as you can, thanks 🙂
Manu says
March 25, 2014 at 8:10 pmHi Amy. Yes, you just fill it and then cover it with fondant. Remember to do the crumb coating all over the cake before covering it with fondant (it’s just a simple thin layer of icing/frosting) and let it dry before covering it with fondant. This will help to “seal” in any crumbs and it will make your final cake look neater. Hope it helps!
Bim Cleofas says
August 5, 2014 at 11:06 pmThank you for sharing this! Been searching for a recipe for fondant . I will try this soon!
Shazia shah says
December 16, 2015 at 3:09 amHi I’m baking a large square cake was wondering with your moo cake what the measurements for the cake are. Cant find a receipe anywhere
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Di says
March 24, 2016 at 5:56 amHello, just wondering if the baking powder and salt….shall we put some?
Lily Koshy says
May 4, 2016 at 1:09 pmHi Manu, I just want to check about the fondant on a butter cake. I am going to buy the ready mix fondant. Can I just roll it out and cover the butter cake? Just finding the easier way out. Do I need to cover the cake with any frosting or not necessary. Please advise. Thank you.
Manu says
May 4, 2016 at 2:34 pmHi Lily
Yes, you can cover a butter cake with fondant. I would coat it lightly with a thin layer of frosting first, to contain any crumbs. Let the frosting dry and then cover it with fondant.
Hope it helps!
Manu
Lily Koshy says
May 4, 2016 at 1:10 pmI just sent a comment. Can you please send me the reply via email. Thanking you in advance.
Dejah says
December 22, 2018 at 9:24 amIs there a good store bought fondant that tastes good or is it better to make your own?