Basic Fondant

With this recipe, you do some basic cooking using techniques that large-scale candy makers in real candy kitchens use. After you make the fondant in this recipe, you’ll be able to make a number of other products in our website. Although fondant is considered a candy, for your purposes, fondant is also an ingredient for making other candies.

Approximately 1 tablespoon butter to grease pan

21⁄2 cups sugar

1⁄2 cup corn syrup

11⁄2 cups water

• Lightly butter a 9 x 13-inch baking pan and dampen it slightly with water. Set aside.
• Combine the sugar, syrup, and water in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon.
• When the sugar dissolves (usually after about 10 minutes), cover the pan for 5 minutes to allow the sugar to wash down the sides.
• After 5 minutes, remove the cover, clip a candy thermometer to the inside of the pan — being certain that the tip of the thermometer doesn’t touch the bottom of the pan — and cook the mixture to 240 degrees. Total cooking time for the batch falls between 20 and 25 minutes.
• Remove the pan from the heat and pour the contents into the greased 9 x 13-inch baking pan.
• Lightly sprinkle water on top of the fondant and allow the fondant to cool at room temperature to 125 degrees. Cooling takes about 40 to 45 minutes in a 72-degree kitchen.
• Place the fondant mixture on a small marble slab (one that measures at least 12 x 12 inches) and work the mixture with a metal scraper by folding, chopping, and refolding it until it becomes opaque and crumbly. Working the fondant on the slab usually takes about 7 to 10 minutes.

Preparation time: 20 to 25 minutes plus 50 minutes of cooling time

Yield: 11⁄2 pounds of fondant (8 servings)