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

Fantasia Fondant Review - Oh So Marshmallowy

 
Like The Neverending Story, this is The Nevernding Fondant Review. For my 14th review I'm doing Fantasia Fondant.  This fondant in made in Italy by Laped and distributed in the US by Vardanyan Enterprises.

Fantasia Fondant

In my non-expert analysis of these various fondants, I use ten different criteria: Taste, Texture, Rolling, Coverage, Draping/Smoothing, Cutting/Trimming, Drying Time, Tinting, The Final Look, and a recently added criteria: Humidity/Refrigeration/Moisture test.


Taste - If I had to describe the taste of Fantasia Fondant in one word it would be Marshmallowy.  That is what is tastes like, feels like, and smells like.  If you like the taste of marshmallows this is the fondant for you!

The mouth-feel of the Fantasia is soft, fluffy, and melts in your mouth.  It is also has a stretchy feel that reminds me of soft taffy.   After swallowing the fondant it leave a faint marshmallow taste in the mouth.   


Texture – Out of the foil wrapper this fondant is very soft and stretchy. You can pinch off pieces with no effort. When you first take the fondant out of the package it is a little sticky and damp, but after working it for a few minutes it loses most, but not all, of the tackiness.

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The fondant is very easy to knead, roll, and shape; and like the Renshaw, Fat Daddio and Dream fondant I reviewed a few weeks ago, it easily picks up textures from leaf veiners, impression mats, or even paper towels.

The Fantasia fondant is also very elastic and stretchy.  It almost acts like warm taffy.

I like these stretchy fondants because they don't rip as easily when covering the cake.  Another positive thing about this fondant is that it doesn't seems to gouge as much as other super soft brands.  The Renshaw and Via Roma fondants had this same non-gouging quality.  Maybe it is the stretchiness of the fondant that keep the marks from showing?? 

Rolling – Because the Fantasia fondant is so soft it is very, very easy to roll.  I would call it a breeze to roll.  You definitely won't get a workout rolling out this fondant.  The Fantasia also didn't produce any air bubbles inside the fondant when rolling.  <<Happy, Happy Dance >>   But I did notice some air bubble forming between the fondant and The Mat below.  Not a big deal though because once you lift the fondant from The Mat the air bubble disappears.

Another plus with the Fantasia is that its elasticity keeps the edges soft and smooth as it is rolled larger and larger.  No split, cracks, or ragged edges with this fondant.  Everything stays smooth and even.

And the Fantasia didn't stick to the plastic mat that I use to roll out the fondant.  It pulled off without any problems.   The fondant also had a very shiny appearance when I pulled it from the mat.  It almost glistened like it was rubbed with oil.

Coverage – In all the fondant tests I've conducted, I use 5 ounces of fondant and roll to 1/8” thick.  For the Fantasia I was able to roll the 5 oz to a little over 11 inches round.  For coverage, this is one of the better fondants I've tested. 

In fact you can roll this fondant even thinner than 1/8".  My 5oz could actually be rolled to 13 inches or more.  I was able to cover a 7x4" cake and a 8x4" cake with just 11 ounces of this fondant.   Wow!!   And even with the fondant that thin, I had no problems with the fondant ripping when I covered the cakes, and after covering I had no problems with the fondant becoming transparent due to the thinness. This fondant gets 5+ stars in the coverage department.


Draping/Smoothing - This Fantasia fondant forms A LOT of drapes and folds when placed on the cake (especially when you roll it really thin).  It was a little time consuming smoothing out the folds, but it wasn't too difficult. The fondant did get a little tacky while I was working with it (humidity was running about 90% that day), and because of the tackiness I couldn't use a plastic fondant smoother because it kept sticking to the fondant.  In the end I just used my hands to do all the smoothing, and it came out fine.   But one big advantage of the slightly tacky surface is NO ELEPHANT SKIN.  The surface of the fondant didn't dry out, so the fondant didn't get that ugly puckered look. (Sorry I forgot to take a picture of the draping with the white fondant on the "dummy" cake, so here is the draping on a real cake.)

Notice the difference in the sheen of the fondant when comparing the picture above and below?  In the picture above, the fondant (purchased pre-colored) was placed on a buttercream cake (1/2 butter, 1/2 crisco).  Notice how the blue fondant above is shinier and tackier than the white fondant pictured below (which is layer directly atop a metal pan).  I guess the Fantasia fondant (especially the tinted fondant) soaks up moisture from the cake and frosting layered under the fondant.

Cutting/Trimming – The fondant cuts easily with no major edge problems.  Even with my dull blade it slices nice and clean. 

Drying Time – As I tested this Fantasia fondant I noticed a lot of similarities between it and the Renshaw fondant.  Another similarity is how it dries - or doesn't dry.  The fondant almost forms a thin outer crust of dried fondant, but under that thin shell the fondant stays soft and malleable.   Below is a rectangle piece of fondant that is 1/4" thick.  It is freshly rolled and cut, yet it still holds it shape and doesn't sag too much when suspended over the side of the turntable.

And after over 36 hours of air drying, the fondant was still soft and tender under the hard shell.  I was able to squish the rectangle back into a ball and re-roll it.  The Renshaw fondant had this same quality.

Tinting – No major problems with tinting.  The Fantasia took the Wilton food color gels without any problems.  Even the troublesome burgundy looked true.

Most of the Americolor tints also works as well.  The only problems I noticed were with the Americolor mauve and burgundy.  The mauve came out brown (second from the right in the picture below) and the burgundy came out a little too purple (far right).

The tinted Fantasia fondants also stayed vibrant.  Even after a few days there was no fading.  But like most of the super soft fondants, adding a lot of color made the fondant much stickier and more susceptible to humidity and moisture leaching from the cake into the fondant.

Final Look – Overall the finished look of the Fantasia fondant was very nice.  No blemishes, sages, or gouges.  The bottom cut was a little wonky, but I think my cutting blade is getting a little dull.

Humidity/Refrigeration/Moisture Test

Humidity and Heat is a big problem in my neck of the woods so I wanted to document 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.

The test cake below shows two tiers covered in Blue Fantasia fondant after they were refrigerated overnight and then taken out and set on the counter. The top tier has ganache under the fondant and the bottom tier has buttercream under the fondant. It looks fine at this point.  It was just a little tacky to the touch, but nothing major.

Then I let the cake sit in an insulated box for about 3 hours so the cake would come to room temperature.  Sadly the fondant didn't handle the New Orleans summer humidity very well.  The fondant got very damp looking and was extremely sticky to the touch.  Just look how it shines.

The upper tier had ganache under the fondant. My ganache didn't come out as thick and sturdy as normal -- guess I put too much cream in it???   And my crumb coat of chocolate buttercream was a little thicker than normal.  But even with all the frosting problems, cutting through the fondant didn't make too much of a mess.  The soft, tacky fondant pulled a bit with the knife, but it wasn't unmanageable.

In fact the cut piece didn't look bad at all.

The bottom tier had buttercream under the fondant, and the Fantasia fondant had some serious problems with that (in combinations with the New Orleans humidity).  There was some major pulling of the fondant during slicing.

Not pretty at all....



Summary

So in summary, some of the big pluses with this Fantasia fondant include: 1) it was super easy to handle and roll, 2) it didn't rip or tear as I worked with it on the cake, 3) it didn’t form any “elephant skin” as it dried, 3) it didn't show many marks or gouges from my fingernails, and even when I did accidentally mark the fondant, the marks were easy to smooth out because the fondant is so elastic and stretchy, 4) the ability of this fondant to dry on the outside but not on the inside is really helpful if you need to remove and re-roll your fondant, 5) the taste was pretty good - if you like marshmallow, and 6) it can be rolled very thin so a 1.1 lb brick is more than enough to cover two smallish cakes.   

The only issue I had with the fondant was the way the Fantasia fondant handle humidity and the moisture leaching from the cake.  Even with ganache under the fondant, the fondant became sticky and shiny .  If you live in a dry climate this fondant is probably a great choice, but if the humidity is running in the 85-100% range this fondant my turn sticky. 


If you want to read my other fondant reviews you can find them here:  The original  7 fondant comparison, the Via Roma review, the Cake Craft review, the Carma Massa review, the Dream review, the Fat Daddio review, and the Renshaw review.

Happy Baking (and Decorating),

Carol

  

Rolled Fondant - Just how many brands are out there???!!!

Yowza!! Just how many ready-made brands of rolled fondant are out there???

I'm starting to lose count of just how many commercial brands of rolled fondant are on the market. It seems like every few months a new one is being introduced. I needed a list to keep track of them, so I started this (hopefully everygreen) post.

Below is a summary of all the brands that I can name. If you know of any other fondants that are readily available in the USA, just post a comment and I will add it to the list…

Here are 21 fondant brands in alphabetical order:

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1. Cake Craft Fondant
• Marketed by Cake Craft 
• www.cakecraftusa.com 
• See my review here


2. Choco-Pan
• Marketed by Confectionery Products Manufacturing Inc (CPMI) 
• www.choco-pan.com 
• See my review here 


3. CK Fondant 
• Marketed by CK Products
• www.ckproducts.com 


4. Dream Fondant by Choco-Pan
• Marketed by Confectionery Products Manufacturing Inc (CPMI) 
• www.choco-pan.com
• See my review here 


5. Duff Goldman Fondant 
• Rumor has it that this is Fondarific in different packaging.  Both Duff and Fondarific need to be microwaved to soften, so it might be true.
• See my review here 


6. Elite by Fondx (discontinued?)
• Marketed by Caljava 
• www.caljavaonline.com 
• See my review here 


7.  Fantasia Fondant (Introduced in 2016)
• Marketed by Vardanyan Enterprises, Inc
• www.fantasiafondant.com 
• Made in Italy 
• See my review here


8. Fat Daddio’s Pro Series Fondant
• Marketed by Fat Daddio’s 
• www.fatdaddios.com 
• See my review here


9. Fondarific Fondant
• Marketed by Fondarific 
• www.fondarific.com 
• See my review here


10. Fondx Fondant
• Marketed by Caljava 
• www.caljavaonline.com 
• See my review here


11.  Massa Americana and
12.  Massa Grischuna 
• Marketed by AUI Fine Foods (Albert Uster) 
•  www.auifinefoods.com  
• Made in Switzerland 
• Not made by the same company as Carma Massa below 


13. Massa Ticcino Tropic by Carma
• Marketed by Carma
• www.carma.ch 
• Made in Switzerland
• See my review here 


14. Mona Lisa Fondant 
• Marketed by Mona Lisa Decorations 
•  www.monalisadecorations.com/en/fondant 
• Made in North America
• Just released in Nov 2016.  
• See my review here


15.  Pettinice Fondant
• Marketed by Bakel’s 
• www.pettinice.com 
• Made in Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, South Africa 
• See my review here 


16. Renshaw Fondant
• Marketed by Renshaw Baking
• www.renshawbaking.com
• Made in the UK
• See my review here 


17. Satin Ice Fondant
• Marketed by Satin Ice  
• www.satinice.com 
• Made in USA
• See my review here 


18. Tylina Sweetshop
• Sold at Michaels
• www.facebook.com/TylinaSweetShop/ 
• review coming soon


19. Wilton Original
• Discontinued when Wilton Decorator Preferred came out
• See my review here


20. Wilton Decorator Preferred
• Marketed by Wilton 
•  www.wilton.com


21. Via Roma Bakery
• Marketed by Via Roma Bakery 
• www.viaromabakery.com
• Made in Italy 
• See  my review here

Whew! That is a long list. It would be nice if you could go to one site and get a sample of each, but no such luck.  If you want to do your own comparisons and find your perfect fondant, you will need to do a lot of shopping. But that's a good thing, right? I love shopping for cake stuff…

Happy Decorating,

Carol

Renshaw Fondant Review

 
I know you guys are getting tired of my never ending  parade of fondant reviews, but I've tried a new one that gets pretty high marks.  Not perfect mind you, but good enough to "maybe" become my goto fondant. 

If you haven't been following my Never Ending Fondant Comparison let me summarize.  Over the last 5 years I have tried about 12 different fondant.  Some were good, some where okay, and some were downright bad.  One  I considered a 5 stars fondant (Via Roma) till I got a few bad batches.  Sad, Sad Days.  If you want to read the other reviews you can find them here:  The original  7 fondant comparison, the Via Roma review, the Cake Craft review, the Carma Massa review, the Dream review,  the Fat Daddio review, and the Fantasia review.

So back to the current review.  The fondant being reviewed has a lot of Pros and only one Con that I can name.  The fondant is soft yet firm, stretchy yet strong, it colors well, and has a nice finish with no bubbles or elephant skin.  So what, you may ask, is the name of this standout fondant - well it is called  Renshaw

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Renshaw?  Rennnnshawww?  You've never heard of Renshaw?  Well neither had I till someone mentioned it on another of my fondant reviews.  It comes from the UK and the company has been around since 1898.  Wow.  Anyway, onto the review...


Renshaw Fondant

In my non-expert analysis of these various fondants, I use ten different criteria: Taste, Texture, Rolling, Coverage, Draping/Smoothing, Cutting/Trimming, Drying Time, Tinting, The Final Look, and a recently added criteria: Humidity/Refrigeration/Moisture test.


Taste - The taste of this Renshaw white fondant is what I would call understated.  It has a mild sugary taste with no other noticeable flavors.  The list of ingredients on the package has "Natural Flavoring" as the last item.  This "Natural Flavor" doesn't taste like vanilla or almond or even white chocolate.  It just tastes mildly sugary, like a not-to-sweet buttercream.

Actually the taste is a little nondescript, but in a good way.  I have come to the conclusion that a fondant with a lot of flavor distracts from the taste of the cake.  And hey - who are we kidding -- no one actually eats the fondant.  Everyone I've watched eating a fondant covered cake just peals it off and pushes it aside.

The mouth-feel of the Renshaw is soft and velvety.  It has a melt-in-your mouth quality that I like.  When eaten with the frosting and cake the Renshaw fondant just kind of melts away and is indistinguishable from the frosting.  It doesn't have any bold flavor of its own so all you taste (and feel in your mouth) is the cake and frosting.  This is a fondant that people may actually eat! 


Texture – Out of the box and foil wrapper this fondant is very soft and squishy. You can pinch off pieces with no effort. When you first take the fondant out of the package it is a little sticky and damp, but after working it for a few minutes it loses the tackiness and becomes dry and silky.  It feels like soft bread dough.

The fondant is very easy to knead, roll, and shape; and like the Fat Daddio and Dream fondant I reviewed a few weeks ago, it easily picks up textures from leaf veiners, impression mats, or even paper towels.

The Renshaw fondant is also very elastic and stretchy.  It almost acts like taffy.  I like stretchy fondants because they doesn't rip as easily when covering the cake.  Another curious thing about this taffy oops I mean fondant is that it doesn't seems to gouge as much as other super soft brands.  The Via Roma fondant has this same non-gouging quality.  Maybe it is the stretchiness of the fondant that keep the marks from showing??  Maybe when you dent the fondant with a fingernail it just melds itself back together??  I don't know what makes this fondant resistant to gouging, but I like it!

Rolling – Because the Renshaw fondant is so soft it is very, very easy to roll.  I would call it a breeze.  You definitely won't get a workout rolling out this fondant.  The Renshaw also didn't produce any air bubbles when rolling.  <<Happy, Happy Dance >>   Not a single air bubble appeared in the fondant as I rolled it out. Some fondants are so frustrating to roll because huge bubbles form when the fondant is kneaded and conditioned.  The professionals say you can pop the bubbles and they disappear, but I've never had much luck doing that.  The outline of the bubbles always seem to show.

Another plus with the Renshaw is that its elasticity keeps the edges soft and smooth as it is rolled bigger and bigger.  No split, cracks, or ragged edges with this fondant.  Everything stays smooth and even.

And the Renshaw didn't stick to the plastic mat that I use to roll out the fondant.  It pulled off without any problems. The instructions on the Renshaw package says to lightly dust the rolling surface with cornstarch or powdered sugar to keep the fondant from sticking, but I didn't dust and I didn't have any problems with it coming off.



Coverage – In all the fondant tests I've conducted, I use 5 ounces of fondant and roll to 1/8” thick.  For the Renshaw I was able to roll the 5 oz to a little less than 10 inches round.  In comparison to other fondants this is a little on the low side.

I also noticed that at 1/8" thickness, the fondant was too thin.  I could actually see through it.  It looked almost translucent.   When placed on my dummy testing "cake" (which is actually a tiny metal tube pan) you could actually see the gray color of the metal through the fondant.  The fondant also pulled a little out of shape as it was hanging on the rolling pin.  Again, it doesn't do that if you roll it thicker.

So 1/8" is definitely too thin for this fondant.  The instructions on the packaging also back this up.  The package doesn't give a recommended rolling thickness, but it does say that the 1.5 pound package will cover an 8" round cake.



Draping/Smoothing - When placed on the cake dummy, the fondant seemed to float above the top of the cake.  The fondant settled nicely along the top edge and draped into a few loose folds around the sides.  I think the elasticity of the fondant keeps it from settling into more folds and drapes. 

The Renshaw was also very easy to smooth.  A few fluffs of the drapes and everything smoothed out nicely.  The fondant doesn't seem to stick to itself, so the folds and drapes were easy to pull apart and realign.  And even though the fondant was rolled too thin, I didn't get any rips or tears or the dreaded crepey elephant skin. 

Cutting/Trimming – The fondant cuts easily with no major edge problems.  Even with my dull pizza cutter it slices nice and clean.  But the Renshaw does get a little sticky when you add gel food coloring to it, so the tinted fondant doesn't cut as cleanly.

Drying Time – One of the best things about this fondant is the way it dries - or doesn't dry.  It is very unique.  As you roll and work with the fondant, the surface seems to dry and gets firm to the touch.  Fondant cutouts hold their shape without drooping and sagging.  Below is a rectangle piece of fondant that is 1/4" thick.  It is freshly rolled and cut, yet it still holds it shape and doesn't sag too bad when suspended over the side of the box.

After allowing the rectangle to rest and harden for 30 minutes, I got even less slumping.

But the strange and exciting thing about this fondant is that even though the outside skin of the fondant dries and allows it to hold its shape, the INSIDE of the fondant DOESN'T DRY OUT!!  How cool is that???

I had a small 1/2" ball of Renshaw fondant sitting on the counter for 4 days.  The outside of the fondant was dry and firm to the touch, but when I squished it between my fingers it became soft and pliable again.  I was actually able to roll it into a thin disk.  That is pretty amazing.  Most fondants (except maybe Fondarific) would dry rock solid after sitting that long.   The fact that the outside dries enough to hold a shape while the inside stays soft and squishy is truly unique.  And because it stays soft even when exposed to air means you don't have to rush to roll and place the fondant, and if you make a mistake you can pull it off and re-roll without having to worry about the fondant drying out and cracking (or getting elephant skin).  <<shiver>>



Tinting – No major problems with tinting.  The Renshaw took both Wilton food color gels, and Americolor well.  All the colors I tested looked fine, and the shades seemed true to the color indicator on the bottle.  But I did encounter a few other tinting issues: 1) the fondant does get a little sticky when you add gel food coloring to it.  I was trying to tint to a very dark blue and the fondant was as sticky as cookie dough, but it did settled down after a few minutes of kneading. 2) the fondant seems to bleed color onto the underlying buttercream more than other fondants I've tried.

Final Look – Overall the finished look of the Renshaw fondant was very nice.  It dried to a soft matte finish that hid most of the blemishes.  (Note: fondants that keep a glossy finish show more blemishes and problem areas than fondants that dry to a matte finish.)

A few hours after covering the dummy I did noticed that the 1/8" thick fondant had sunk into the nooks and crannies on the top of my metal cake dummy (see picture above), but when I re-rolled and covered the dummy with a thicker round of fondant, there was no sinking.  1/8" is just too thin for this fondant.


Humidity/Refrigeration/Moisture Test

Humidity and Heat is a big problem in my neck of the woods so I wanted to document 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.

This is a test cake covered in Renshaw fondant after it was refrigerated overnight and then taken out and set on the counter.  The temperature of the room is about 72 and the humidity is like 100%.  Hey it is New Orleans in the summer!!!  The fondant did fine in the refrigerator.  When removed and set on the counter, the fondant was a little damp and clammy, but it soon dried off.

Next I took the cake outside to see how it would react to an hour in the 90 degree heat.  --It was not a pretty sight.  The Renshaw fondant almost melted under the extreme conditions.  The cake itself didn't fair much better.  The top tier has ganache under the fondant and it held up okay, but the bottom tier, which is American Buttercream, started to collapse.  Good this this was just a test cake.  (PS: I also shook the cake quite a bit.  I wanted to simulate a bumpy ride in a hot car.)

Once back inside the cool house, the Renshaw fondant on the ganache covered tier dried out and cut cleanly and smoothly...

But the Renshaw fondant on top of the buttercream stayed wet and gooey.  The fondant seemed to pick up the moisture from the underlying buttercream, and even after sitting for hours at room temperature, the fondant never dried out. It was very difficult to cleanly slice a piece of cake.

So Renshaw can be refrigerated, but when exposed to heat and humidity it works better with a base of ganache than a base of high-moisture frosting like buttercream.


Summary

Some of the big pluses with this fondant include: 1) it was super easy to work with, 2) it didn't rip or tear as I worked with it on the cake, 3) it didn’t form any “elephant skin” as it dried, 3) it didn't show many marks or gouges from my fingernails, and even when I did accidentally mark the fondant, the marks were easy to smooth out because the fondant is so elastic and stretchy, 4) the ability of this fondant to dry on the outside but not on the inside is really helpful, and 5) the taste was pretty good.

The only minor nits I have with the fondant is 1) its sickness when gel color is added, and 2) the coverage.  It needs to be rolled thicker than other fondants, and the same volume of Renshaw doesn't cover as large and area as other fondants.  

So Renshaw, in my un-professional opinion, is one of the better fondants I've tried.  I'm going to test it out on my next few cakes and see if I can crown it my "Goto fondant".  

Happy Baking (and Decorating),

Carol