How to Make Fondant Soft Again
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Fondant is an extremely fun product to piece of work with and you tin can create virtually annihilation you fix your mind to!
You can encompass entire cakes, create cute marbled furnishings, or create intricate and delicate details.
Withal, a pesky little trouble we often meet is it becoming so hard that we cannot work with information technology! You lot try and try endlessly to knead it, but it doesn't seem to budge!
So, how do y'all soften fondant? A quick and easy way to soften fondant is to microwave it for 5 seconds, let information technology to cool, then knead it. However, this method does carry some gamble of ruining the fondant if non done correctly. A solution with less risk is to soften the fondant using your hands and a pasta machine.
Today, we will have a look at the many ways you tin soften your hard fondant, including all the pros and cons.
We will besides requite you some fantastic tips for how to continue fondant from drying out, how to shop it, and fifty-fifty how to know when it is past its prime!
What Is Fondant?
There are many different food items that are referred to as fondant.
Today, we are specifically talking about decorating fondant – you know, the rolled-out sugary sheets used to embrace cakes and make all those beautiful decorations!
Fondant is technically classified every bit a blazon of icing. What makes fondant unique is that it has a completely different texture to what you lot and I consider to be "icing".
Dissimilar the fluffy pipe-able icing sugar and whipped butter mixture we commonly apply, fondant has a dough-like or even dirt-like texture that tin can exist shaped and molded.
It is used to create beautiful and elaborate decorations that normal buttercream icing simply cannot.
There are different forms of fondant you lot tin buy, mainly poured or rolled fondant. Today, nosotros will be discussing rolled fondant.
This fondant is very strong and is what you lot see all those decorations being made from.
They have to be softened in order to be rolled out, shaped, and molded into different things.
What Is Fondant Fabricated Of?
In that location are many dissimilar recipes for fondant depending on what you want to do with them.
A basic recipe used to create minor details includes a combination of saccharide, water, and corn syrup.
For thicker fondant that is used to sculpt with, gelatin or glycerine is ofttimes added to give it an even thicker consistency.
A quick cheat-fondant tin be made using marshmallows and icing carbohydrate.
Marshmallows are basically softened versions of fondant, and then by melting them and combining them with icing saccharide, you can create a fake fondant if you're in a pinch.
Whichever blazon y'all use, what is key when it comes to fondant is that it should exist pliable.
Information technology is always rolled out before being used and to get information technology from the stone-hard form you purchase information technology into the soft consistency you demand, can be challenging to say the to the lowest degree.
Luckily, we have compiled some of the all-time ways to soften fondant effectively and quickly!
How To Soften Fondant
There are many reasons fondant becomes difficult. It can be due to ineffective storage methods used that caused it to dry, it existence very old, or it simply sitting on the counter uncovered for too long.
No matter the reason, there are many different ways in which you tin can soften your fondant once again.
The Microwave
We are not usually a fan of microwaves, but to reheat and soften the hardened fondant they are really lifesavers!
You lot can but place the hard slice of fondant in a microwave-safe bowl, container, or plate, and put it inside the microwave for 5 seconds on the highest possible rut setting.
Then, remove it from the microwave, get out it to cool down for a couple of minutes, and kickoff to knead information technology.
If your fondant is still not soft enough to be kneaded, merely identify information technology back into the microwave for 5 seconds, permit it to cool, and try over again.
Depending on how hard your fondant is, yous may need to attempt this several times.
While this is a great method to effort, it does accept some risks to information technology. For one, placing it into the microwave for too long can cause it to discolor.
This is because the sugar caramelizes when heated, and then especially your white fondant can hands turn brownish.
To prevent this, never put information technology in the microwave for longer than 5 seconds.
There is also a possibility of the fondant burning or completely changing texture. This is over again because the construction of the saccharide changes once heated or when heated for too long.
And delight do not endeavour to knead the fondant as shortly every bit you remove it from the microwaveastward. It builds upwards heat, particularly in the center of the brawl, and y'all volition burn yourself!
The melty sugar will as well stick to your hands, ultimately creating a big mess that's virtually impossible to clean or fix.
Your Hands
This is an first-class, still sometimes a painfully excruciatingly slow method to apply to soften fondant.
You lot can simply run your hands under hot water. So, cover it in fat like white margarine. White margarine is the all-time option every bit it volition not modify the color of your fondant or even the flavour.
The rut from your hands volition slowly soften the fondant while you knead it.
This completely removes the risk of changing the colour of the fondant, making it fire, or even giving it a toffee-like consistency.
The margarine also prevents the fondant from sticking to your hands as information technology heats up.
The biggest downside is that this method takes a while, particularly with very hard fondant, and can first cramping upwards your easily, only luckily we have a solution for that also – pasta rollers!
Pasta Rollers
Pasta machines are excellent ways to soften fondant by kneading it without actually having to do a ton of hard labor.
You lot tin soften the fondant using the hands' technique mentioned higher up, just for the difficult labor, put the fondant through the pasta car.
What helps a lot and makes the entire process easier and quicker, is to cut the fondant block into smaller pieces.
Then, feed each piece through the pasta machine starting on the biggest setting (the thickest pasta setting).
Each time you put it through the car, gradually reduce the size until y'all have reached the desired size.
Once it has been completely softened, roll the piece into a ball and wrap it up tightly to forestall it from drying out again.
Then, when all the pieces have been softened, combine them if yous need to create a larger piece and you can even put them through the automobile again.
Stand Mixers
This is another culling to mitt-kneading the pieces and an alternative if yous practice not have a pasta machine.
You can still apply your hand to help warm the fondant slightly, simply so place the smaller pieces into a stand mixer and run it at the lowest speed.
The depression speed helps work the fondant without changing its texture.
Do non use a blender or food processer. Manus blenders tend to have as well much ability and will either change the texture of the fondant or burn out the motor.
And food processors are made to change the texture of food! So delight please delight do not endeavour to utilise information technology. You will end up creating a paste.
Softening Oils
Here nosotros are specifically talking about glycerine. This oil is used to make commercial fondants and is what helps continue it moist.
By adding a few additional drops, you lot can bring it dorsum to its original consistency. Simply make sure to continuously knead while incorporating the glycerine.
The oil will trap h2o molecules that rehydrate the fondant.
One teaspoon of glycerine per pound of fondant is a proficient ratio to use and work off of.
How To Correctly Store Fondant
To entirely prevent hardened fondant it is of import that you correctly store it. This applies to all types of fondant, regardless of the type or age!
The central to keeping fondant soft is by reducing the corporeality of air it has been exposed to. Air dehydrates fondant and makes information technology difficult.
To reduce the amount of air fondant is exposed to you lot can use the following tricks we accept learned;
- Work in small batches and only remove what you demand. Whatever you are not using, try to wrap it tightly with plastic or saran wrap to forbid further exposure to air.
- When using it on a counter, you should all the same try and reduce the exposure to air. You lot can only cover the pieces with a towel or a sheet of plastic wrap. In one case they are left completely uncovered, they dry extremely quickly.
- Keep your fondant out of the refrigerator! A fridge circulates common cold air to help proceed its contents common cold. Information technology too has an extremely high wet content. Fondant absorbs moisture and will start to sweat inside the packaging which will create a sticky mess!
And the last point nosotros want to bear on is expired fondant. Unfortunately, despite the extremely loftier sugar content, fondant tin still elapse.
Fondant tin either become moldy if kept at room temperature for too long, or it can dry to the point where it cannot be fixed!
E'er keep your fondant tightly wrapped in a cool dry place and abroad from directly sunlight.
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Source: https://foodsguy.com/how-to-soften-fondant/
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