When I had my cake shop, we made dozens of cakes a week and needed about 50kg of fondant per week. As you can imagine, this would have cost a lot of money if I was to buy ready made fondant so we saved quite a lot of money making it ourselves.

At that time, our fondant recipe was quite complicated with many different things. It wasn’t as good as store-bought rolled fondant but it got us by for many years.

So here it is…My simple homemade fondant recipe without marshmallow!

Ingredients

The weights in the recipe table below will yield the following 'weight per unit' and 'number of units'. If you would like to change the recipe to cater to a different 'weight per unit' and/or 'number of units', you can use the Recipe Calculator Tool below the ingredients table.
Weight Per Unit: 520
Number of Units: 1
WEIGHT
(grams)
ALTERNATIVE METRIC INGREDIENT IMAGE CONDITION
Group 1 (pulp/glue)
A 10 0.4 ounce Tapioca Starch
B 50 1.8 ounces Icing Sugar Mixture Icing sugar mixture, also known as confectioners' sugar or powdered sugar, is pulverised granulated sugar crushed together with a small amount (about three percent) of cornflour. This icing sugar is great to use when making icing for kids' birthday cakes or dusting sweet treats.
C 60 2.1 ounces Water
Group 2
D 375 13.2 ounces Icing Sugar Mixture Icing sugar mixture, also known as confectioners' sugar or powdered sugar, is pulverised granulated sugar crushed together with a small amount (about three percent) of cornflour. This icing sugar is great to use when making icing for kids' birthday cakes or dusting sweet treats.
Decrease for softer fondant
E 20 0.7 ounce Shortening
Increase for slower drying time
F 5 0.2 ounce CMC/Tylose
Increase for more stretch
520

Recipe Calculator Tool

Using this tool, you can alter this recipe for your own requirements. Use the two fields below to generate new weights for the ingredients above.

STEP 1. Enter your Custom Weight Per Unit
The 'Custom Weight Per Unit' is already loaded with the weight per unit for this recipe but can be changed if required. If all you wish to do is change the number of units (or servings), just leave the current weight per unit.

STEP 2. Enter your Custom Number of Units
This is the number of units (or servings) you want this recipe to yield.

STEP 3. Click Calculate
The new weights for your adjusted recipe will be displayed in the table above.

Custom Weight Per Unit (grams) Custom Number of Units
Calculate

Method

STEP ACTION DETAIL CONDITION
1 Mix Mix Group 1
2 Microwave Microwave Group 1 for 1 minute and 30 seconds
3 Mix Mix Group 1 with Group 2

Important Notes

- 25% additional icing mix can be added to make fondant firmer for modelling (less sagging). - If fondant is drying too quickly and you want more time to work with it, increase fat amount (trial and error). Also note that temperature will make a difference to fat so if you knead it too much, it will melt the fat content and break the fondant texture. - If cracking (elephant skin) or not stretching enough, increase tylose and/or tapioca starch. If you do this, you may also need to increase water. - If the fondant is too hard (eg. to roll), reduce the amount of icing sugar in the whole recipe. I haven't provided any measurements for all these variables because everyones situation is different. You need to find the perfect variation for your own environment by trialing, failing and adjusting.

25 comments

  1. Why most icing fondant manufacturer use modified starch (INS1401,E1401).
    How it impacts rather than tapioca starch ?

  2. jim carpenter says:

    Well, my friend after the cost of commercial fondant has skyrocketed here in the NW (Oregon) I watched your video on how to make my own fondant. This recipe is the best, your straightforward approach to making this and so many other recipes is wonderful. Thanks for all you have taught me over the years. The comments I get on my work have been terrific. I have PTSD from the military and when I’m down I bake a cake. My favorite comment is “Eat Cake because cake makes everyone happy”.

  3. jim carpenter says:

    Well, my friend after the cost of commercial fondant has sky rocketed here in the NW (Oregon) I watched your video on how to make my own fondant. This recipe is the best, your straightforward approach to making this and so many other recipes is wonderful. Thanks for all you have taught me over the years.. The comments I get on my work have been terrific. I have PTSD from the military and when I’m down I bake cake. My favorite comment is “Eat Cake because cake makes everyone happy”.

  4. sherif says:

    good morning, please I wanted to know what is the type of Shortening we should use. and whether there is vegetarian Shortening, I hope not animal source Shortening such as pork fat.

  5. yvonne yourkowski says:

    How do you store the fondant? how long can it last?

    1. Serdar Yener says:

      If it is not contaminated during handling and kept in a double plastic bag, keeping a month or two would be no problem. If you produce more than need just keep it in the fridge.

      1. yvonne yourkowski says:

        thanks. I like this recipe because the fondant is softer than the other recipe I use but not sure why with this recipe the fondant dries and cracks very quickly. What am I doing wrong? It is soft until I stop molding and then dries in minutes crusting over.

  6. sherif says:

    good morning chef Serdar
    please I wanted to inquire about Tapioca Starch, if I don’t found in my region what replacement material can I use?

    1. Serdar Yener says:

      Tapioca starch has a unique, bouncy consistency and can not be replaced. It is not the same but try Cassava Flour

    2. skipperlee says:

      I found Tapioca Starch at my local Asian market/grocery store I hope this helps.

  7. Candy Lee says:

    Can I use a double boiler if I don’t have microwave?

    1. Serdar Yener says:

      I would use steam instead double boiler.

  8. PEGGYTHOMAS says:

    I made this today, this was easier than I thought! I made mine a vanilla flavor, it is such a smooth and stretchy fondant, I love it! Can’t wait to use it on an upcoming cake. Thanks so much for sharing this with us!

    1. Sokuntheary Pok says:

      Is icing sugar mixture the same as soft icing sugar?
      Thank you in advance.

  9. Iveta Trefilová says:

    Good evening, what is Tapioca starch. Replace with what? Can I use gelatine? Thank you for your reply.

    1. Serdar Yener says:

      This is a recipe for avoiding gelatine.

      1. Iveta Trefilová says:

        Hello, Can I replace the corn syrup? Thank you for your reply. Good day.

  10. Andrew Mendes says:

    This works beautifully.

    1. PEGGYTHOMAS says:

      I’m looking to make this for a wedding cake in the next couple weeks. So easy to use, did you flavor yours at all? If not, does it just taste like sugar? I’ve used Satin Ice which tastes like Play Doh so I won’t use that, Renshaw is good. But looking for something more economical and tastes good too. Glad it worked beautifully for you, anxious to try this.

  11. kery humphries says:

    What size cake does this weight of fondant cover on average pls? Thank you

    1. Serdar Yener says:

      5 cm high 25 cm round cake

  12. Nancy Patrick says:

    Hello chef. How thin can this fondant be rolled out?

    1. Serdar Yener says:

      As thin as you wish, Thanks

  13. Sumaiya Siraj says:

    What can I replace tylose powder with? I don’t have CMC or tylose. Thank you!

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