Covering celebration cakes with fondant needn't be stressful - Milly's are here to help make your baking easy with our expertise, tips and tricks.

Fondant is an easy, fun and very colourful way to cover and decorate birthday and other celebration cakes, cupcakes, cookies and more … but it can be a little tricky for beginners. Weather, temperature and humidity levels (especially in the northern areas of New Zealand) can all affect the texture and performance of your fondant so why not let the experts at Milly’s get you off to a great start with all the tips we’ve learned over the years.

Most frequently asked question here at Milly’s? Can I eat fondant?
Yes, absolutely! Fondant is completely food safe, it’s usually vanilla flavoured and often coloured with food safe colours. Ok, let's get started:

Make sure you start with an immaculately clean work surface. Clean down your bench with a good bench spray then dry it thoroughly. Ensure there are no crumbs or other debris around as these will easily be incorporated into your icing as you roll it and are almost impossible to remove.

Ensure your suface is dry. Before you begin, dust your cleaned and dried off workstation with either icing sugar or cornflour. Fondant can be really sticky (especially if it’s a hot or humid day) and ‘stuck to the bench fondant’ is a real pain!

Before you begin rolling you need to knead! A pre-knead gets your fondant soft and pliable and easily rolled. (Make sure your hands are clean before you begin. Some people like to wear food safe gloves for this task).

Get the right rolling pin. You’ll need a fondant roller or super smooth rolling pin to roll out your fondant. Any imperfections in the surface of your rolling pin will show on your finished fondant - our Wilton Silicone Icing Rollers are perfect for the job as they’re completely smooth.

Roll out your fondant, turning it a 1/4 turn each time. This ensures a more even roll and, again, helps keep it from sticking to the bench. (Once you’ve begun to roll your fondant, it’s important to keep it moving - feel free to add a little more icing sugar or cornflour as you go but try to use as little as possible as too much can dry your fondant out making it crack).

Once you’ve reached your desired thickness (about 3mm – a little thicker, around 4mm, for fondant cutouts like letters and numbers) gently drape your fondant over your rolling pin before placing it over your pre-prepared cake.

You need to work quickly as rolled fondant starts to dry quite quickly. Use your hands then a fondant smoother to guide fondant into place. Run hands lightly and evenly over the surface of your cake, taking care to smooth out air pockets (these can also be pricked with a sharp pin) and any indentations in the fondant. The do the same with a fondant smoother, taking particular care around the areas where fondant is draped over the edges of a cake. Using a knife or fondant trimmer, quickly cut away excess icing from around the base of the cake to neaten and finish the edge.

 
Frequently Asked Questions:

Can you colour white fondant – or do I need to buy precoloured?
Please see more about colouring fondant here

How do I store my fondant?
As fondant dries out very quickly when exposed to the air, excess fondant should be kept tightly wrapped in a double layer of plastic wrap. Store at room temperature in a sealed container. It will last for ages kept like this.

My fondant ends up uneven – how can I correct this?
Wilton have a series of guide rings that you can add to their (or your) rolling pin. These ensure that you are easily able to achieve a perfectly even thickness.

How much fondant do I need?
We have a fondant coverage chart coming soon. Please email us at customerservice@millys.co.nz if you need help in the meantime.

Can you freeze fondant?
No. Definitely not. The freezer (and the fridge, actually) will dry out your fondant making it impossible to roll without cracking.

We hope this helps with all your fondant questions but if the team can assist with anything further please do email us at customerservice@millys.co.nz.