Fondant has, rightfully so, gotten a bad rap over the years. It’s known for its excessively artificial sweet aftertaste. This recipe will completely change your mind. Using unbleached powdered sugar and naturally derived gums gives it a clean, pure taste. (See page 32 for more information on these ingredients.) Fondant is great for covering cakes to achieve a clean and modern look. Generally speaking, you will need 1 cup fondant to cover a 4-inch cake, 2 cups for a 6-inch cake, 3 cups for an 8-inch cake, and so on; this recipe makes enough to cover up to an 8-inch cake. For a step-by-step tutorial on how to cover a cake with fondant, see page 116.

Fondant can also be used to make two-dimensional decorations to be applied directly on a cake. The chevron pattern on page 249 is a great example. Because fondant stays soft and will not completely dry out, it’s preferable to sugar paste for covering a cake or for applying decorations directly on a cake. It will not, however, hold a firm or three-dimensional shape (for 3-D decorations that need to keep their shape, use sugar paste instead). See page 127 for more information on working with fondant and sugar paste.

Be sure your work surface is very clean for this recipe. The fondant is extremely sticky when mixing. I like to prepare a nonstick surface by dusting with powdered sugar and keep palm shortening nearby. Grease a pair of gloves with non-hydrogenated palm oil for kneading. While most cake and icing recipes work best using a stand mixer, fondant, sugar paste, and marzipan are best made by hand.