Fondant: A decoration

When I was first introduced to fondant, I was completely turned off by the taste. It was so fun to work with, like playing with Play-Doh, but it tasted awful! I asked one of my friends who used it all the time and she said only in America do we expect to actually eat everything we see on a cake. Fondant is to be used as decoration, not for it's flavor. You're not actually supposed to eat it! I have heard rumors that some people actually like the taste, but most just peel it off the cake and eat what's underneath. For these reasons, I have started using it just for decoration. I have only covered an entire cake once. This one was for a bridal shower, the theme was "Tulips Entwined" (two lips entwined!).

I prefer to use the fondant as decorative pieces of the cake. For instance, this cake was a "Phantom of the Opera" theme. To make the harlequin pattern on the bottom layer, I used a diamond shaped cookie cutter on black and white fondant. That's the fun of fondant! You can use cookie cutters to make these perfect shapes.

I also used the fondant to make the mask out of a mold and the rose on top.

The borders are white fondant rolled into balls. I then brushed them with silver pearl dust mixed with clear vanilla making them look like silver pearls.

Fondant can surely be a fun decoration to work with and really make a cake look classy and polished, but you'll have to taste it yourself and decide what you think about the flavor!