# How is fondant made?

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## Summary

Fondant is sugar and water boiled to the soft ball stage, cooled undisturbed, then beaten hard so many tiny sugar crystals form at once, giving a smooth cream.

## Description

Fondant is a mixture of sugar and water used as a sweet, a filling or an icing. Sometimes gelatine and glycerine are added as softeners or stabilisers. The kind found inside sweets and chocolates is poured fondant, a creamy confection used as a filling or coating for cakes, pastries and sweets.
How it is made
Boil. Sugar and water are heated until the sugar dissolves, then boiled to the soft ball stage, about 112 to 116°C: see how are sweets made?Cool undisturbed. The syrup is left to cool slightly without being stirred.Beat. It is then stirred or beaten vigorously. This works in air, and the clear syrup turns into an opaque mass with a creamy consistency.Flavour and colour. Lemon or vanilla are often added, along with other flavourings and colours.
Why the timing matters
More than twice as much sugar dissolves in boiling water as in water at room temperature. So as the syrup cools, it holds more sugar than it normally could: it is supersaturated, and the sugar stays dissolved until something starts it crystallising. If a seed crystal of sugar gets in, or the syrup is disturbed while it cools, the sugar forms large, crunchy crystals, which is how rock candy is made: see how is rock candy made? But if it is left to cool undisturbed and then stirred vigorously, it forms many tiny crystals, and the result is smooth.
Sweets made this way belong to the crystalline family. Their texture comes from tiny, organised sugar crystals, which makes them easy to bite or cut into. Clear boiled sweets are the opposite: they have no crystals at all. Fudge is handled in much the same way, cooled and then beaten until creamy: see how is fudge made?
Fondant in British sweets
Fry's Chocolate Cream, first produced in 1866, is a plain fondant centre covered in plain chocolate, with peppermint and orange versions: see Fry's Chocolate CreamThe Creme Egg is filled with a fondant made from sugar, glucose syrup, invert sugar syrup, dried egg white and flavouring. A smaller amount coloured yellow with paprika extract makes the yolk: see the Creme Egg recipe rowSugar mice are traditionally a boiled fondant of sugar and water, shaped into mice, given a tail and left to dry for a day or two until they turn dry and crumbly, a little like fudge: see sugar miceFondant fancies are small cakes coated in poured fondant.
Runny centres
Some chocolate covered sweets and fondant sweets include invertase, an enzyme that breaks the sugar down and liquefies it: see what is invert sugar?
Not the same as cake fondant
The rolled fondant used to cover wedding cakes is a different material. It includes gelatine, or agar in vegetarian recipes, and glycerine, which keep the sugar pliable like dough. Commercial ready made rolled fondant often consists mainly of sugar and hydrogenated oil. If you are checking a sweet for gelatine, it is worth knowing that fondant can contain it: see gelatine in sweets explained

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