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White Fondant
2 1/2 lbs. sugar 1 1/2 cups hot water 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar Put ingredients into a smooth granite stewpan. Stir, place on range, and heat gradually to boiling point. Boil without stirring until, when tried in cold water, a soft ball may be formed that will just keep in shape, which is 238 degree F. After a few minutes' boiling, sugar will adhere to sides of kettle; this should be washed off with the hand first dipped in cold water. Have a pan of cold water near at hand, dip hand in cold water, then quickly wash off a small part of the sugar with tips of fingers, and repeat until all sugar adhering to side of saucepan is removed. If this is quickly done, there is no danger of burning the fingers. Pour slowly on a slightly oiled marble slab. Let stand a few minutes to cool, but not long enough to become hard around the edge. Scrape fondant with chopping knife to one end of marble, and work with a wooden spatula until white and creamy. It will quickly change from this consistency, and begin to lump, when it should be kneaded with the hands until perfectly smooth.
Put into a bowl, cover with oiled paper to exclude air, that a crust may not form on top, and let stand twenty-four hours. A large oiled platter and wooden spoon may be used in place of marble slab and spatula. Always make fondant on a clear day, as a damp, heavy atmosphere has an unfavorable effect on the boiling of sugar.
A classic poured fondant, the base for bonbon centers and simple cake coverings. It is sugar chemistry rather than baking, and the two things that decide success are the exact temperature and keeping stray crystals out of the syrup.
- The hinge: 238FUse a digital or candy thermometer and pull the pan at 238F, no higher. A few degrees over gives a hard, crumbly mass that will not knead smooth; the cold-water soft-ball test is a fallback, not a substitute.
- Do not stir after boiling startsStirring drags sugar crystals through the syrup and sets off premature graining. Washing the pan sides is the same principle, and a pastry brush dipped in cold water does the job as well as fingers and with less risk over a hot pan.
- Granite stewpanThis means enamelled or graniteware steel. Any heavy-bottomed pan works; choose one tall enough that the syrup can boil hard without climbing over.
- Quantities2 1/2 lb sugar is about 5 1/2 cups granulated; with 1 1/2 cups water this makes roughly 2 1/2 lb of finished fondant, which is a very large batch by modern standards. Halving it works perfectly well.
- Marble and oilA marble or granite slab cools the syrup fast and evenly, which is what keeps the crystals fine. A cold rimmed baking sheet is the usual stand-in. Oil the surface very lightly, just a film wiped with a paper towel.
- Working the massLet the poured syrup sit until it is barely warm to the back of the hand before you begin. Working it hot produces coarse grain; working it cold means it will never move at all.
- The 24-hour restThis ripening step is real and worth respecting. The fondant softens and smooths as it stands, and it keeps for weeks in a sealed container. Warm gently over hot water, never over direct heat, when you want to pour it.
- Humid daysSugar work does absorb atmospheric moisture, so a damp day gives a slacker fondant. Air conditioning has largely settled the problem; if the kitchen is muggy, expect to boil a degree or two higher.
Fondant, from the French fondre, to melt, was popularized in American domestic cookery by the Boston Cooking School writers, whose phrasing this recipe closely follows. Cream of tartar is the working ingredient beyond the sugar: an acid that inverts part of the sucrose during boiling, producing glucose and fructose that physically interfere with crystal growth and give the finished paste its fine, creamy grain rather than a gritty one. Fondant served as a general-purpose sweet base, to be thinned for pouring over cakes, colored and flavored for bonbon centers, or kneaded with nuts and fruit into after-dinner candies.