Tutorial: Fondant Basics: Essential Equipment for Beginning Cake Decorators

This is a list of what I would consider essential equipment for beginning cake decorators when you're interested in working with fondant.

First off, if you want to work with fondant, you have to work with buttercream or ganache at least a little bit. So, our first piece of equipment is an off-set spatula. You can't smooth fondant without having smooth buttercream underneath it.

 And, of course, if you work with buttercream at all, you will need a rubber spatula to scrape your bowl.

 A turntable. You will want to be able to turn your cake around while you're working on it.

 A plastic rolling pin. Many people have a love-hate relationship with these, which are essentially just a long, round piece of plastic. It takes practice to roll fondant out evenly with it. But the reason you don't use a wooden rolling pin is because the texture in the wood leaves an impression on the fondant. Fondant needs a very smooth texture because it will take on any texture that comes in contact with it.

 A silicone mat. When you roll out fondant, you can spread powdered sugar or corn starch everywhere to keep the fondant from sticking to your surface, which you afterward have to clean up. Or, if that annoys you as much as it does me, get a silicone mat. You will very seldom need to use powdered sugar or corn starch if you roll your fondant out on a silicone mat.

 Gel food coloring. It very often happens that the fondant you buy isn't quite the right color. The best way to color it is to add a few drops of gel food coloring to color it. Liquid or powdered color won't work on fondant.

 Circle cutters. One of my most used cutter sets. You will very often need to cut circles out of something. And trying to freehand cut out a circle is just asking for trouble. It's really hard to get a regular circle with nothing but a knife.

 Speaking of knives... a sharp knife. Fondant needs to be cut into pieces and shaped very often. I use my knife all the time.

 A fondant smoother. This tool is great for that final smooth to get out all the irregularities that you can leave with your irregularly shaped fingers.

 Edible glue. Some people disagree with this one, but I use edible glue a lot. It's a combination of syrup and tylo powder. It dries harder than water and can often be useful to connect pieces of fondant because two pieces of fondant do not stick together on their own.

 A paintbrush. I use paintbrushes to paint on edible glue or food coloring. Very often. But make sure that any paintbrushes you use on your cakes are bought clean and only used for cakes. You don't want bits of normal paint to end up on your cake.

 A paint palette. I use this to mix food coloring with alcohol to create an edible paint.

 Any standard cutters that you think you will use very often. A few suggestions: small hearts, stars or flowers. I also love little leaves. But you should get those that you think you will use.

 Tylo power also known as CMC. This is a powder that you can add to fondant to make it stiffer. It also will dry harder if you use it. This is great for projects when you need something to defy gravity a bit more than fondant usually can.

This might seem like a strange one, but a good set of alphabet cutters. It's very difficult to cut out words by hand. Anyone who has tried it can confirm it. Do yourself a favor and get a good set of alphabets that you like and are fairly small. Words take up a surprising amount of space on a cake.

 Sculpting tools. These are very helpful whenever you need to sculpt anything.

 So, a few more equipment needed to work with fondant, but I think the results speak for themselves. Gorgeous cakes with lots of detail not possible with buttercream.

Watch us talk about this equipment on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/7ZcLI4bbN8M
Schaut zu wie wir über dieses Equipment auf YouTube reden hier: https://youtu.be/ySxG8lHV0VU