Fondant and Candy Clay Differences

There are several differences between fondant and candy clay that are important to know before you start interchanging them in your cake and cookie designs.

Fondant can be made at home using simple to make ingredients. This is great because you can control what goes into it and coordinate your extract flavor with the cakes or cookies. This homemade fondant can be used immediately or have to sit overnight depending on the specific recipe. Some people find homemade fondant hard to work with of all the kneading involved and prefer to purchase it pre-made. There are so many different types of fondant on the market. Check out Fondarific, Satin Ice, Regalice, and Duff Goldman's new fondant. Most of these fondants can be purchased at cake decorating stores or online. Duff's fondant is sold exclusively at Michael's. Because of the difference between price and taste, you should go to online cake forums on Cake Central or Cakes We Bake and do a search so you can read the discussions on this topic. Go to company websites as well. There are some that send you samples for a small fee.

Don't like the taste of your fondant? Use concentrated flavors (not extracts) to compliment your cake. A little goes a long way so invest in the little droppers to get a little out at a time.

Want to use fondant to make a figure? You should use a 50/50 gumpaste with fondant blend because the fondant is too soft on its own to hold the shape. You can also add a little Tylose to your fondant to stiffen it up to use in this manner for figures. The fondant has to sit for several hours to allow the Tylose to do its job. Keep it sealed and away from your other fondant.

Candy Clay is delicious and can be made at home using candy melts and corn syrup. This turns into a ball of clay that needs to rest for 24 hours before using. Some decorators suggest that you "milk" the clay to remove most of the oil from it. This is a tedious process which can be extremely messy. You're basically soaking all of the oil out of the clay using paper towels. Do not use cheesecloth. It sticks to the candy clay and wants to stay there.

Candy Clay should be broken off in small pieces and kneaded gently to make pliable. Do not overknead it or the oils in it will rise up and you'll have a piece of clay you cannot use. Practice kneading it and then rolling it out to get used to how it works before starting your project. You can use it to create figurines and molds in the candy molds.

Two important differences to remember: 1) Do not use Crisco on your candy clay. It makes it shiny. Crisco can be used on your fondant to blend together paste or gel colors easily without dying your hands. 2) Hard fondant can be softened using the microwave in short bursts till it's pliable. Do not try that with your candy clay. It doesn't work.

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