There are several differences between fondant and candy clay that are important to know before you start swapping them in your cake and cookie designs.
The fondant can be made at home with simple ingredients. This is great because you can control what it contains and coordinate the flavor of your extract with cakes or cookies. This homemade fondant can be used immediately or allowed to sit overnight depending on the specific recipe. Some people find it difficult to work with all the involved mixers’ homemade fondant and prefer to buy it pre-made. There are so many different types of fondant on the market. Take a look at Fondarific, Satin Ice, Regalice, and Duff Goldman’s new fondant. Most of these fondants can be purchased at cake decorating stores or online. Duff’s fondant is sold exclusively at Michael’s. Due to the difference between price and taste, you should go to the online cake forums at Cake Central or Cakes We Bake and do a search so that you can read the discussions on this topic. Also go to the company websites. There are some who send you samples for a small fee.
Don’t you like the taste of your fondant? Use concentrated flavors (not extracts) to complement your cake. A little goes a long way, so invest in the small droppers to get out a little at a time.
Do you want to use fondant to make a figure? You should use a 50/50 gum paste with fondant mix because the fondant is too soft on its own to hold its shape. You can also add some Tylose to your fondant to stiffen it up and use it this way for the figures. The fondant has to sit for several hours to allow the Tylose to do its job. Keep it sealed and away from your other fondant.
Candy Clay is delicious and can be made at home using candy melts and corn syrup. This turns into a ball of clay that needs to sit for 24 hours before use. Some decorators suggest that you “milk” the clay to remove most of the oil. This is a tedious process that can be extremely complicated. Basically, you are soaking all the oil out of the clay with paper towels. Do not use gauze. It sticks to the candy clay and wants to stay there.
Candy Clay needs to be broken into small pieces and gently kneaded to make it flexible. Don’t knead it too much or the oils in it will rise up and you’ll have a lump of clay that you can’t use. Practice kneading it and then rolling it out to get used to how it works before starting your project. You can use it to create shapes and molds in the candy molds.
Two important differences to remember: 1) Don’t use Crisco on your candy clay. Makes it brilliant. Crisco can be used in your fondant to easily mix paste or gel colors without staining your hands. 2) Hard fondant can be softened using the microwave in short bursts until pliable. Don’t try that with your candy clay. It does not work.