Mona Lisa Fondant Review - High Humidity Wonder

A question that all cake decorators asks is, "What is the Best fondant?"

To answer this you must first define "Best".  Do you want a fondant that tastes great?  One that produces a superior looking finish?  Do you want one that is easy to use?  Cuts like a dream?  Stands up to heat and humidity?  All of the above?

Ideally you want a fondant to check off all the boxes, but sadly after all my testing of various fondants (15 so far) I have found that no single fondant does it all.

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The latest fondant to show up on my radar is Mona Lisa from Barry Callebaut. This fondant was released in 2016, and I finally found a retail vendor a few weeks ago.  Yea!!  I couldn't wait to give it a try!! 


Packaging - The Mona Lisa only comes in a big, honking, 20 pound tub, so it isn't for the faint of heart.  The price tag is ~$100 plus shipping, but on a per pound cost it is on par with other high quality fondants.  Inside the tub are two 10 pound vacuum sealed coverings.  I don't call them "bags" because the plastic is not resealable.  Once the cover is torn open, the most you can do is fold the loose end over and secure with tape or a rubber band.  Or you can put the unused portion in zip-lock - I put everything in zip-lock bags. But the non-sealing bags really aren't a problem because this fondant is very, very, very slow to dry out.  I'm talking MONTHS to dry out.

Taste - Given that this fondant is from Barry Callebaut I was expecting more of a chocolate taste, but not so.  The fondant has a pleasant sugary flavor with a slight hint of vanilla. Nothing about the flavor is strong or distinctive.  It is a nice, munchable fondant, that (some) party-goers actually enjoy.  I have had people eat the cake and not even realize there was fondant on it!! 

The mouth-feel of the Mona Lisa is soft and delicate.  It melts in the mouth without chewing or effort, and it doesn't leave any chemical aftertaste.  This fondant gets high marks in the "Taste" category.


Texture – Straight out of the vacuum sealed wrapper, this fondant is as hard as a rock.  I actually had to use a knife to hack off pieces from the mother block.  The fondant was dry to the touch, and almost has a crumbly texture.

But once exposed to the gentle heat of your hands it quickly softens and becomes very pliable.  After working it a few seconds the fondant gets slightly tacky, but it quickly loses the stickiness when it leaves your hands. (I have very hot hands.)

 

And with just a few minutes of conditioning, it gets stretchy.

The Mona Lisa isn't as soft as the Renshaw, Fat Daddio's,  Dream, or Fantasia fondant I reviewed a few months ago.  The other brands will pick up the texture from a paper towel with no effort.  The Mona Lisa will pick up the impression too, but you just need to press a little harder.


Rolling – I find the Mona Lisa fondant a little more difficult to roll than other brands.  It takes some elbow grease to get this stuff to flatten to 1/8".  I really wish I had one of the mechanical fondant rollers << Christmas wish list item >>.   Bubbles are somewhat of an issue with this fondant, but not as bad as the Carma Massa, and if you are careful not to trap air into the fondant as you knead it, the bubbles are almost non existent.

This fondant is the pliable type, so the edges stayed smooth - no splits, cracks, or ragged edges with this fondant.  Everything stays smooth and even.

The fondant released easily from the non-stick rolling mat.  No problems what-so-ever with sticking.

Coverage – In all the fondant tests I've conducted, I use 5 ounces of fondant and roll to 1/8” thick.  For the Mona Lisa I was able to roll the 5 oz to a to 10 inches round.  That is about average compared to the other fondants I've tested.  Not the best, but not the worst.  Like I said earlier, this fondant is a little tough to roll out, so it doesn't have the spreading ability of other fondants, and at 1/8" the fondant was still opaque.  Some fondant can look almost translucent when you roll it out to 1/8".

But after covering a few cakes with the Mona Lisa I've decided that 1/8" is just too thin.  At 1/8" the finished cakes look a little lumpy, especially when the underlying cover of buttercream or ganache starts to soften a bit.  At 1/4" the finished fondant covered cake looks much smoother and uniform. But you also can't roll the Mona Lisa fondant too thick because it has a tendency to stretch under its own weight.


Draping/Smoothing - The Mona Lisa performs well in the draping category.  It is a little stiffer than other fondants, so it doesn't form a lot of drapes and folds when it is placed over the cake (or the cake dummy in this case), and because the fondant is dry to the touch, the folds don't stick together. 

The Mona Lisa is also a breeze to smooth.  It was easy to fluff out and fit to the cake, and it stays dry to the touch even on hot and humid days.  I could use fondant smoothing tools without having them stick to the cake.

Cutting/Trimming – The fondant cuts very, very clean. This is one of the best fondants in this category.

Drying Time – One of the best (and most problematic) things about this fondant is its slow drying time.  Even though it is dry to the touch, it doesn't dry out.  If you are not pleased with the look of your rolled out fondant, you can knead it a little and re-roll over and over again.  And if you have fondant left over from one cake you can just wrap it up and save it till you need that color again.  I've saved all of my excess tinted Mona Lisa fondant, and they were all soft and usable even months later.  Note: For the most part I don't use the old fondant on cakes, instead I save it for cake boards and decorations.


Tinting – No major problems with tinting.  The Mona Lisa took most of  the AmeriColor and  Wilton food color gels without any problems.   Blues and greens looks good.

As well as  red, rose, peach, yellow and orange.

There was some trouble with the AmeriColor Burgundy, but the Wilton Burgundy looked fine, and while the AmeriColor Electric Purple looked good, the Wilton Violet looked a little blueish.

Another plus is that the gel colors also didn't overly effect the texture of the fondant.  There was no noticeable  stickiness after adding the gel.


Final Look – Sadly, the overall finished look of the Mona Lisa fondant was just okay.  At 1/8" thick it looked a little lumpy and dented.  In all of my fondant tests I cover a mini angel food pan that is not coated with anything.  I just place fondant against smooth metal, so all of the imperfections seen are strictly from me handling the fondant.

At the beginning of my fondant comparison odyssey I decided that this "fondant on metal" method of testing would give a controlled comparison.  If I had covered a real cake coated in buttercream and/or ganache, I wouldn't know if the "problems" noticed were from the fondant or if the "problems" in the fondant were being caused by imperfections in the buttercream below the fondant.

So after covering the metal pan with the 1/8" rolled Mona Lisa fondant I was disappointed in the results.  The Mona Lisa finish just didn't look as good as other fondants I've tested.  With the Mona Lisa you need watch how you touch the fondant because it easily dents with the press of your fingers.  The Mona Lisa shows depressions, dips and imperfections in your cake much more than other fondants.  Some fondants have a stretchy, elastic-like texture that lets it float above cake imperfections and makes the flaws less visible.  Sadly the Mona Lisa isn't like that.  The Mona Lisa tends to sink into imperfections which makes the flaws more obvious.    The Mona Lisa isn't going to hide any problems with the underlying cake, so when using this fondant you need to make sure you get a smooth, perfect surface on which to place the fondant. 

I also tested the Mona Lisa at 1/4" thickness and this did give a much smoother finished.  BUT because the fondant is heavy and never really hardens, you have to watch for slumping.  If the cake is tall, the weight of the 1/4"+ thick fondant on the sides will cause the fondant to stretch and pull out of shape.  You will end up with a slight puddling of fondant at the base of the cake.  The stretching will also distort any decorations on the cake.

For example, below is a cake that I covered and decorated with Mona Lisa.  The "waves" are made from curled tubes of fondant.  Notice how the curls are very round looking when I first placed them on the cake.

But notice those same wave curls the next day when I removed it from the refrigerator.  See how the curls are no longer perfectly round?  Overnight both the fondant on the side of the cake and the decorations slumped and compressed which caused the curls to flattened into a more oval shape.

No one but me noticed the flattening, but next time I will use a sturdier fondant (one that dries out faster) when making thick-ish decorations.  


Humidity/Refrigeration/Moisture Test – Humidity and Heat is a big problem in my neck of the woods so I have also started testing how the fondant react to refrigeration and humidity.  The moisture test is actually to test how the fondant reacts to the underlying frosting be it buttercream or ganache.

Below is a test cake where half the cake is covered in ganache and half is covered in a crusting buttercream (100% shortening).    The cake was allow to sit for 3 hours before I started slicing.

And how did the Mona Lisa do?

Well it cut like a DREAM!!  I was amazed.  Even after exposure to soft buttercream, the fondant cut cleanly.  The fondant stayed dry to the touch and didn't absorb any moisture from the buttercream underneath.

As for the Refrigerator test -  Again the Mona Lisa performed like a dream.   Some fondants start to glisten and get dewy after an overnight stay in the refrigerator while other fondants get downright wet, but the Mona Lisa reacts very little to the cool air and moisture in the refrigerator.  The surface of the fondant got a little tacky, but there was no sweating or streaking of colors.  And once the cake reached room temperate the fondant was completely dry to the touch.  The Mona Lisa also sliced without any pulling or gumminess to the fondant.  This fondant cuts like a dream.   


Summary

So what is the finally verdict?  Well there are some things about the Mona Lisa fondant that I love, and somethings I don't like as much.

On the plus side the Mona Lisa gets high marks in the taste category.  It is easy enough to roll out and doesn't form many air pocket.   It is pliable, but not sticky, so it is easy to cover and smooth the fondant over the cake.  Mona Lisa can be tinted almost any color, and leftover fondant will stay soft and fresh for months if you wrap it in plastic wrap.  The Mona Lisa performs like a champ under high humidity conditions, and can be refrigerated without getting gummy.  And best of all this fondant slices cleanly and easily even when it covers high-moisture frostings.

On the minus side the Mona Lisa fondant shows flaws and imperfection more than other fondants I've tried.  If the Mona Lisa would float above dimples and depressions in the cake instead of sinking into them this would be the perfect fondant. 

The Mona Lisa fondant is also not the best fondant for making decorations on your cake (unless the decorations are very thin).  Because the fondant takes so long to dry, the sides of the cake and thicker decorations tend to droop and slump over time.

In the end I considered all the pros and cons and I decided that I would continue using Mona Lisa as my goto fondant.  For me the humidity resistant aspect of the Mona Lisa was more important than using a fondant that would give a flawless finish. 

So this concludes the Mona Lisa fondant review.  If you have issues with humidity in your neck of the woods give this fondant a try. 


Happy Decorating,

Carol

Nothing but BARK - Woodland / Stump Cake

Stump Cakes are all the rage for "guy" parties.  Everything from Baby's First Birthday to Bro-Showers to Grand-Paw's 80th birthday are going with the Woodland theme. So when a friend request one I jumped on the chance to give it a try.  And despite my initial angst, the cake was surprisingly easy to make.

There were three parts to this cake: 1) the  Ax, 2) a cake board that looked like wood and was thick enough to hold up the Ax, and 3) the "bark" of the stump.  

To me the "bark" was the biggest unknown.  I researched a few different ways of making the bark (chocolate curls, fondant ropes, bark impression mats, etc), but decided on the easiest method I could find: melted dark chocolate. 

I just melted some dark chocolate, and used an offset spatula smeared lines of chocolate on some wax paper.  My cake was 7-1/2 inches tall so I marked off lines on the wax paper to make sure my chocolate lines were long enough.  I made the surface extra lumpy and uneven, because, hey, when have you ever seen a smooth piece of tree bark. And make sure you make them relatively thick - if the chocolate is too thin it will crumble when you peal them from the paper.

After the wax paper was filled with "bark", I popped it into the freezer till it harden.  Then carefully, cautiously I removed the harden strips of chocolate from the paper.  Once free from the wax paper, I stuck them to the side of the cake using chocolate buttercream as glue.

How easy is that?  And don't worry if the strips break into pieces.  Just slap the pieces anywhere you want.  The beauty of a stump cake is that you DON'T want it to look perfect.

And the gaps?  No worries there.  If you end up with large gaps between your chocolate strips...

Just use a paint brush and fill in the holes with a little bit of melted chocolate.  But what if your melted chocolate is a different color from your chocolate bark strips??  Well, that's all the better.  The various shades will make your Stump Cake look even more realistic.

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Next to give the bark a little "life", I painted on some edible luster dust.  I used brown and black and some white. I tried green for a moss-like effect, but it didn't look very good.

I went a little overboard with the white, but after a night in the refrigerator the white dulled down a bit.

PS: Here is the top of the cake.  I just swirled the "tree rings" into the buttercream using a spoon.

The second challenge to this cake was the Ax.  I thought about using a real one, but they were too expensive (and not really food safe).  So I made my own!!    I built an armature out of balsa wood and aluminum foil, and then covered the handle section in tan fondant.  I scored the length of the handle to give it a wood-like look.

Next I used black fondant to make the ax blade.  I scored random lines and dings in the soft fondant to make the blade look old and used.

A little powder food color in black and brown to make the blade and wooden handle look more life-like...

And then a final touch of edible silver powder food color to give the blade a shiny look...

The final challenge of this Stump Cake was the board under the cake.  I wanted it to look like wooden planks, so I used a technique I found on YouTube called  Weathered Fondant Effect Using Wafer Paper by Kass. Again the technique is so easy and yet it gives amazing results.  The finished fondant board looks like real weathered wood.  Here is an example from the Bear Head Smash Cake that I also made for this Woodland Theme party. This board was made with gray fondant.

The first step to making the weathered board is to choose the fondant for the base color.  For the Stump Cake I wanted a brown toned board, so I gathered up a bunch of fondant scraps in all different colors and squished them together.  I know it looks like some strange sea creature, but it is fondant.

Roll out the fondant to fit the size of the edible wafer paper, and then trim the fondant to fit the paper.

Wet the wafer paper with water.

Use a small roller to roll the fondant and wafer paper together.   The fondant will stretch and thin as you roll it, but the wafer paper can't stretch so it will rip and tear instead.

The more you roll, the more the wafer paper will be shredded and the more the "wood" will look weathered.

When you get the look you want, use a strip cutter to cut the fondant into evenly sized "planks".

Then simply place the planks on your cake board.  I wasn't sure if I would have enough of my "sea creature" colored fondant, so I skimped and left the center of the cake board empty.

I let the board dry overnight, and then I added some additional color with the edible powder food colors in black and brown.

And below is the finished "weathered wood" fondant board.  A night in the refrigerator also increased the "weathered" look.  The cold air really dried out the wafer paper and made it curl up even more.  This technique is so neat.

So this ends my Stump Cake adventure.   Give it a try for your next Guy party, it really is a fun (and easy) cake to make. 


Happy Decorating,

Carol

Cutest (and Easiest) Bear Head Cake

A friend asked me to make a Bear Head smash cake for her 1 year old's birthday, and I say so myself it turned out soooo cute.  Best part is - it was AMAZINGLY easy to make.

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First I baked three 7" cakes.  (I like to use Fat Daddio's pans and bake even strips to make sure the cakes bake up flat and even. ) I stacked 2 layers for the head, and then cut out circles from the third layer for the snout and ears. (I had to test different sizes till I found the one that looked "right" next to the head.) I cut out little arcs from the ears to make them fit flush with the head.  Then I iced the main head in chocolate buttercream and then iced the snout and ears in a very light shade of brown buttercream.

I used the little arcs I cut from the ears as the eyebrow ridge.  In hindsight I should have cut the arcs in half so they weren't as tall.  After I iced the eyebrows, my bear ended up with a Neanderthal ridge. :-)

The eyes and nose I made from black fondant.  As a last step I painted the eyes and nose with corn syrup to make them shine and placed a little with ball of fondant on each eye to make them sparkle.

Next came the piping of the "fur".  I used a Wilton 233 grass tip, and a very soft chocolate buttercream icing.

It took about 90 minutes to pipe the fur, but I had to stop a couple of times to refrigerate the icing because it was getting too soft.  You know it is getting too soft if you get a mushy blob instead of individual points of fur.

I just kept piping and eventually finished the cake.   Too cute.  Many thanks to the different bear cakes on Pinterest for the inspiration.

And if you are wondering about the board -- well it is fondant and not real wood!!  You make it with fondant and rice/wafer paper and a little bit of powdered food color.

Here is a link to a quick YouTube video by Cakes by Kass showing the process. It really is super easy

Happy Decorating,

Carol