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Have fondant-covered cakes gone out of style?

I used to be into cake decorating in the early 2000s and fondant was everywhere. Now, not so much. It's kind of a shame.

by Anonymousreply 91October 22, 2021 4:03 AM

Once upon a time, cakes were eaten because they tasted good.

Fondant became popular because you cannot taste things on YT and pretty became more visually important.

But once the technique mavens wring every bit of life out of beautiful but inedible cakes, people return to what tastes best.

It is not a shame. It is a cycle.

by Anonymousreply 1October 19, 2021 1:20 PM

Yesterday one of those cakes made to look like something else came across my timeline and I realized it had been ages since I'd seen one. They're definitely not as popular as they used to be. Probably replaced by home baking trends during COVID lockdowns.

by Anonymousreply 2October 19, 2021 1:27 PM

I hope so, because that shit is nasty.

by Anonymousreply 3October 19, 2021 1:28 PM

When it got to the point that they were selling fondant-only cakes, pulling back a little seemed wise.

by Anonymousreply 4October 19, 2021 1:33 PM

I think these days fondant is primarily used on wedding or other ceremonial cakes. I never cared for it, taste wise. It made a pretty cake, but the claylike texture was rather off putting to the mouth.

by Anonymousreply 5October 19, 2021 1:37 PM

Look for Ann Reardon of How To Cook That on YouTube. Great channel, she is a pastry chef with a food science degree and does a lot of debunking. She uses fondant a lot and has said, it looks nice but only little children seem to like the taste. She gives alternatives to fondant too.

by Anonymousreply 6October 19, 2021 1:42 PM

I say fondon’t!

by Anonymousreply 7October 19, 2021 1:45 PM

So I guess I'm the only one who likes the taste?

R6 almond paste/marzipan, which I also like, is one alternative.

by Anonymousreply 8October 19, 2021 1:46 PM

OP/R8: Fondant has the appeal of flavored clay to borrow from R5's analogy. It looks neat and clean and even, but frankly I icing or a glaze much better, for the appearance, texture, and certainly the taste. I love almonds in many forms, but hate almond paste and marzipan; it's cloying in the way that rosewater ruins anything it touches.

by Anonymousreply 9October 19, 2021 2:08 PM

She does make amazing cakes R6, but like Rosanna Pansino, I watch amazed at the "artistry" of it, but then think, who is going to actually eat this? Some of Pansino's cakes have like a quarter inch layer of fondant.

by Anonymousreply 10October 19, 2021 2:10 PM

[quote]Some of Pansino's cakes have like a quarter inch layer of fondant.

Fondant is structural. Nothing more.

by Anonymousreply 11October 19, 2021 2:13 PM

Oh I know R11, but a cake is meant to be eaten.

I’m not eating a slice of cake surrounded by a layer of think fondant. It isn’t terrible IMHO, but it isn’t good either.

by Anonymousreply 12October 19, 2021 11:30 PM

Mmmmmm... fondant... *drools*

Just hook it up to my veins, boys!

by Anonymousreply 13October 19, 2021 11:33 PM

Isn’t this what they make that edible underwear out of, says everything about its grossness.

by Anonymousreply 14October 19, 2021 11:36 PM

[quote] But once the technique mavens wring every bit of life out of beautiful but inedible cakes, people return to what tastes best.

Sounds like pubes vs. pube-shaving. Also a cycle!

by Anonymousreply 15October 19, 2021 11:42 PM

Fondant was big in the Cake Boss heyday. We’re in a phase now where “naked” cakes are popular, but I think we’re about coming to the end of that. Maybe ice cream cakes will make a return.

by Anonymousreply 16October 19, 2021 11:47 PM

Scaramouch, Scaramouch, will you do the Fondanto!

by Anonymousreply 17October 19, 2021 11:53 PM

I lived in Brazil for many years. Fondant-covered cakes are very popular - especially for birthday cakes and anything that needs something decorative on top. It's like biting into pure sugar.

by Anonymousreply 18October 19, 2021 11:57 PM

R8: you wouldn't be so fond of marzipan after seeing Diana Rigg in "Mother Love".

by Anonymousreply 19October 20, 2021 12:16 AM

This really only sounds like appropriate cake decorating for a Quinceanera.

by Anonymousreply 20October 20, 2021 12:21 AM

R14 I thought edible undies were basically Fruit Rollups in the shape of underwear

by Anonymousreply 21October 20, 2021 12:50 AM

Yes, Coty Lipsticks are fashion-matched... each a perfect partner for the lovely new fondant shades!

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by Anonymousreply 22October 20, 2021 12:53 AM

GenX Frauzillas loved fondant wedding cakes but I think that's out of style now thank god

by Anonymousreply 23October 20, 2021 1:06 AM

r10

Look for her debunking videos. She shows how channels scam people with fake hacks that can't be replicated.

by Anonymousreply 24October 20, 2021 2:24 PM

I thought that a lot of those cakes had icing under the fondant. Could've sworn I saw a judge on some show peel back the fondant.

Give me a good buttercream any day. I don't mind the naked trend as long as it's a good moist cake.

by Anonymousreply 25October 20, 2021 2:45 PM

Why do some people pronounce it like “fonette”?

by Anonymousreply 26October 20, 2021 2:49 PM

It’s like embalming a goddamn cake

by Anonymousreply 27October 20, 2021 2:56 PM

A cake condom.

by Anonymousreply 28October 20, 2021 2:59 PM

A cake mummy

by Anonymousreply 29October 20, 2021 3:24 PM

When I was lad decades ago, we got our cakes frozen at the Pepperidge Farm outlet store.

by Anonymousreply 30October 20, 2021 5:03 PM

R30 Did you do the little lad dance when you got cake?

by Anonymousreply 31October 20, 2021 5:20 PM

I don't know what you mean? These were mostly birthday cakes.

by Anonymousreply 32October 20, 2021 5:23 PM

When I make a frosted cake it's usually either frosted in Italian buttercream or a delicious 7 minute icing for my coconut cake. I would leave a cake bare rather than cover it in fondant.

by Anonymousreply 33October 20, 2021 6:06 PM

i've been making cakes for years and i hated the fondant craze. It tastes like crap and people don't know it's just for decoration and not to really eat. The cake is supposed to frosted in regular icing and then have the fondant on top. You are supposed to peel the fondant off before you eat the cake.

Some of the fondant cakes are really beautiful, but i don't consider them really edible. It's like decorating a cake with play doh.

by Anonymousreply 34October 20, 2021 6:14 PM

R34 That sounds like the whole eating of the cheese rind debate.

by Anonymousreply 35October 20, 2021 7:02 PM

If you like it, make it. I don’t get the whole following-trend thing.

I love a nice almond or lemon-flavored hard icing. Or nice and fluffy with no grit. I find a lot of buttercream frostings are gritty and not very flavorful although they look pretty.

by Anonymousreply 36October 20, 2021 7:11 PM

[quote] Why do some people pronounce it like “fonette”?

They don’t.

by Anonymousreply 37October 20, 2021 7:15 PM

There is nothing worse than those cake decorating competition shows on Food Network that allow contestants to make rice crispy treats in lieu of actual sponge cake, then covered in copious amounts of fondant. That's not a cake. It's a sculpted heap of sugar goo.

by Anonymousreply 38October 20, 2021 7:15 PM

Didn’t they find fondant was made of drywall?

by Anonymousreply 39October 20, 2021 7:30 PM

Beats a soggy bottom.

by Anonymousreply 40October 20, 2021 7:34 PM

Fondant is mostly made of sugar and has a marshmallow taste. It is still used today for professional cakes where edges need to be smooth and flat.

by Anonymousreply 41October 20, 2021 7:35 PM

If you don't like fondant, try sculpting with (the no doubt equally repellent) "modeling chocolate," as this woman does! For some reason she reads to me as Eastern European, but she's actually from Ohio.

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by Anonymousreply 42October 20, 2021 7:44 PM

It has the texture of smegma. I'll pass.

by Anonymousreply 43October 20, 2021 7:56 PM

[quote] I find a lot of buttercream frostings are gritty

A properly made buttercream should be as smooth as Crisco. If it's gritty it's because the person who made it had no idea what they were doing and didn't beat the frosting long enough for sugar to completely melt.

by Anonymousreply 44October 20, 2021 11:55 PM

[quote] Why do some people pronounce it like “fonette”?

Because they're dumb and uneducated.

by Anonymousreply 45October 20, 2021 11:56 PM

As an aside, I heard from an old friend in Baltimore a few years ago that the cakes made by that fugly Uncle Fester looking guy Duff Goldman at Charm City Cakes are horrible. They look good because all those weirdos working there are art school graduates, but are all dry as a bone. I'm betting like so many commercial bakeries, all their cakes are made from boxed mixes, and apparently they don't know the tricks to make a boxed cake more like a scratch cake.

by Anonymousreply 46October 21, 2021 12:01 AM

Duff's cakes never looked good, IMO. Maybe for kids' parties, but not ever sophisticated looking.

by Anonymousreply 47October 21, 2021 12:07 AM

My sister got married during the fondant craze. I went to a bakery with her to taste cakes (she was choosing what she wanted). I guess the look on my face was telling when I tried to eat the fondant. The bakery worker said you don't need to eat the fondant.

by Anonymousreply 48October 21, 2021 12:08 AM

They should make bridges out of fondant. Our country's infrastructure would be in better shape.

by Anonymousreply 49October 21, 2021 12:25 AM

Fondant is for theme cakes. Theme cakes are not for eating. They're for looking at.

by Anonymousreply 50October 21, 2021 12:49 AM

r44 agreed. American buttercream is crap too.

by Anonymousreply 51October 21, 2021 12:57 AM

The fondant trend was preferable to the current trend of

"Nude" or "Barely-Frosted" dry and crumbly cakes

by Anonymousreply 52October 21, 2021 1:06 AM

I like funfetti frosting by Pillsbury.

by Anonymousreply 53October 21, 2021 1:07 AM

[quote] American buttercream is crap too.

The only thing I've found American buttercream good for is a topping for cupcakes or for piping flowers. It's basically nothing but butter and a ton of powdered sugar, a little salt and flavoring. It'll hold up longer than a meringue buttercream, but there's no comparison in taste or texture.

However, you can make it lighter by switching from the paddle to the whisk attachment after it's fully combined and whisking about 3 or 4 more minutes to get more air into it. But that won't do a thing for the taste.

It's a buttercream for people who don't have advanced baking skills.

by Anonymousreply 54October 21, 2021 1:17 AM

Apparently, you can’t have your cake and eat it too if there’s fondant involved.

by Anonymousreply 55October 21, 2021 1:28 AM

God, no wonder you people are ALL fat pigs. All you think about is cake icing?

by Anonymousreply 56October 21, 2021 1:33 AM

Ice ice baby.

by Anonymousreply 57October 21, 2021 1:35 AM

Fondant is for people with no patience or hand control. Nothing will ever beat a flawless royal Icing rose.

And piped latticework f you want to get really fancy. Great piping skills are practically a lost art.

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by Anonymousreply 58October 21, 2021 2:14 AM

^Oh look, it's in Chawneeze.

by Anonymousreply 59October 21, 2021 12:05 PM

R42 that woman is super talented.

R58 royal icing dries hard and crunchy. A cake covered in royal icing would be more inedible than a cake covered in fondant.

by Anonymousreply 60October 21, 2021 7:12 PM

R60 beat me. Royal icing is only good for Christmas cookies. It's like liquid sugar to me.

Best wedding cake I ever had was my mom's when she remarried. It was an orange amaretto cake and the icing was so light and buttery and not sickeningly sweet like so many buttercreams.

by Anonymousreply 61October 21, 2021 7:18 PM

R61 do you have any idea what kind of icing it was? Someone I know is getting engaged soon and has been asking for wedding cake ideas

by Anonymousreply 62October 21, 2021 7:21 PM

No idea R62. I've looked for recipes that I thought might copy it to no avail. My guess would be just put less sugar or maybe it was one of the meringue buttercreams mentioned.

by Anonymousreply 63October 21, 2021 7:37 PM

Random cake question -- did anyone else's mom (or whomever) make a particular frosting for angel food cakes? My mom made a very simple frosting with powdered sugar, regular sugar and almond extract - and a few other ingredients. She didn't always frost angel food - plenty of times we'd have it plain with ice cream and/or fruit. But, when she did, this is the frosting she'd make. Flavorful, but light, which went well with the light airiness of the cake. Someone once brought an angel food cake to work with traditional , heavier frosting and it just seemed so off.

by Anonymousreply 64October 21, 2021 7:47 PM

We had angel food with berries and cream. Never seen one frosted.

by Anonymousreply 65October 21, 2021 7:51 PM

There was a woman who owned a bakery in NJ who had a blog with her recipes. It was called Gretchen’s Bakery. The recipes were fantastic, especially the frostings and fillings. Now she has gone vegan and doesn’t post much. I’d love to find a link to her original recipes.

by Anonymousreply 66October 21, 2021 7:55 PM

R62 I'm thinking that it may have been a Swiss meringue buttercream after looking at different recipes.

by Anonymousreply 67October 21, 2021 7:57 PM

A nice whipped cream frosting is the best. I find most buttercreams are just too heavy and sugary. But when I’ve made cakes for buttercream lovers, I used a recipe from Rosie’s Bakery in Boston—it’s not so sugary.

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by Anonymousreply 68October 21, 2021 7:59 PM

Frankly, I find today's cupcakes disgusting. As a kid we had a very thin layer of icing on them. These days the icing towers 6 inches above the cake. Too much.

by Anonymousreply 69October 21, 2021 8:07 PM

One can only hope.

by Anonymousreply 70October 21, 2021 8:09 PM

R69 I agree that store-bought cupcakes are gross.

Don't get me started on the cake pop trend 🤢🤮🤮🤮

by Anonymousreply 71October 21, 2021 8:16 PM

I’m tired of my house smelling like shit. I keep my house clean.

by Anonymousreply 72October 21, 2021 8:24 PM

i find all grocery store cakes gross. The exception is the Fresh Market. They make nice cakes and desserts. I'm not saying they are the best, but pretty good for store bought.

by Anonymousreply 73October 21, 2021 8:25 PM

It tastes like shit

by Anonymousreply 74October 21, 2021 8:26 PM

Well damn, now I want a piece of cake.

by Anonymousreply 75October 21, 2021 8:27 PM

Next time I'm near Fresh Market I'll have to get some cake!

by Anonymousreply 76October 21, 2021 8:33 PM

r65 : Last cake I made was an Angel Food with a sparse addition of chopped maraschino cherries in the cake proper, and a dark chocolate buttercream frosting (all from scratch). It was much appreciated.

by Anonymousreply 77October 21, 2021 8:44 PM

It’s CAK, damn it!

by Anonymousreply 78October 21, 2021 9:08 PM

I love the Chantilly cake from Whole Foods.

by Anonymousreply 79October 21, 2021 10:26 PM

There’s nothing worse than those idiotic donut walls.

by Anonymousreply 80October 21, 2021 10:32 PM

R80? Donut walls?

by Anonymousreply 81October 21, 2021 10:34 PM

It took until R78 for someone to correct the spelling of [bold]CAK[/bold]. You cunts are slipping. I couldn't post earlier due to primetime.

by Anonymousreply 82October 21, 2021 10:37 PM

Big frau driven trend R81. Weddings, baby showers, birthdays, you name it.

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by Anonymousreply 83October 21, 2021 10:43 PM

Donut walls are the glory holes of fraudom. There's a hole, there's a wall, there's a rigid "cock."

by Anonymousreply 84October 21, 2021 10:46 PM

Please stop talking about that caaaaaaaaaaaake.

by Anonymousreply 85October 21, 2021 10:47 PM

Donuts at a wedding are tacky as hell.

by Anonymousreply 86October 21, 2021 10:50 PM

What about holes, R86?

by Anonymousreply 87October 22, 2021 2:46 AM

Holes are always presented.

by Anonymousreply 88October 22, 2021 2:49 AM

r60 & R61: Frosting a cake with Royal Icing would indeed be a mistake - Buttercream frosting and Royal Icing roses - or even stiff buttercream roses is much preferable.

It takes a long time to learn how to pipe on the sides of a cake, but it's worth the effort. (Turn the sound off - the 'music' is dreadful)

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by Anonymousreply 89October 22, 2021 2:56 AM

What kind of graxy is popular now to put on cak?

by Anonymousreply 90October 22, 2021 3:00 AM

r66 I also enjoyed watching her videos. Have made her pecan pie bars and they are outstanding. I believe she had a "thing" for the guy who used to do her videos, he was on cam for a few episodes but then he disappeared.

She's certainly inventive when it comes to vegan-izing various baked goods. She the first pastry chef I saw use that aqua-faba stuff to make vegan cake frostings.

The only video left over from her days as a NJ bakery owner is the Christmas Yule Log episode. I'm guessing she took down the old stuff after she went vegan, because she didn't want the vintage videos messing with her new line.

by Anonymousreply 91October 22, 2021 4:03 AM
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