So I’m kind of into making cakes lately. I love the creative process of frosting and decorating etc. For a long time now, I’ve wanted to decorate a cake with vegan fondant but my experience with making fondant has been zero, zilch. I didn’t even know what it was until I started watching ‘Cake Boss.’ Even though I was curious about making it myself, I kept putting it off because it seemed like so much work and I wasn’t sure how to veganize it. But then I finally decided to get off my butt and give it a shot. Here’s the result:

A family of fondant penguins on a winter north pole cake! The inside was a two-layer green-tea cake with buttercream frosting.

I found a few vegan fondant recipes online and in the end, went with this one but made a few tiny changes. I ended up increasing the agar powder to 1tsp and I used less sugar powder than the recipe called for. The original recipe called for 4 cups, but I only used about 3 1/4… maybe 3 1/2. If I had used all of the sugar powder, my fondant would’ve been a crumbly dry mess. Maybe it was the dry weather, maybe it was the density of the sugar powder, or both.

I already had the agar agar powder in my pantry, but I had to order the glycerin from GMarket. I’m not sure where else you could get it except online… perhaps at Bangsan market, but don’t quote me on it. :)

The first test penguin. I wanted to see whether he would dry up too much, so I left him out in the open air for a day. After a day, it was a bit crusty and dry on the outside, but the fondant wasn’t rock hard and I could still bite into his pudgy butt. Not that I recommend eating too much of the stuff since it is pretty much just a wad of pure sugar. Here’s the recipe with my changes. I’ll probably continue to tweak the recipe over time, but I reckon this is a good place to start.

Vegan Fondant (slightly modified from this recipe)

1 tsp agar agar powder
1/8 cup cold water
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 tbsp vegetable shortening
1/2 Tbs glycerin
3 1/2 cups vegan powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Sift sugar powder into a bowl.
2. Mix the agar powder and water in a small saucepan and let it soak for about 10 minutes. Place on stove over low heat and mix continuously as the agar dissolves. If the mixture becomes too thick, or sticks to the pan, add a little more water.
3. Remove the pan from the stove and add the corn syrup, shortening, glycerin, and extracts. Stir until the shortening has completely melted. Pour into a separate large bowl.
4. Add about half of the sifted sugar powder into the mixture and begin mixing with a spoon. Once it thickens, you will have to knead it with your hands. Continue to add sugar powder until you reach the right fondant consistency. For me, I used almost 3.5 cups. Knead the fondant into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap and then place in another air tight bag. Store at room temperature.

More fondant penguins in the making. All those hours of messing with playdough as a kid finally got put to good use. I used a little vanilla extract as the ‘glue’ to hold all the bits together. If the fondant got a bit crumbly while working, I kneaded in a little buttercream frosting to soften it up again.

The baby penguin was my favorite~ :)

Also the one with the red beanie, affectionately named Mr. Zissou.

sliiiide~~

And because I am a child, here are some turd cupcakes with fondant flies. Teehee~ poop jokes and turd-shaped food will always give me the giggles. I made these for a friend’s birthday party and everyone enjoyed their poops.

Poopy poopy poop~ la-dee-da-dee-daaa~~

“Dis is dee mos deeelicious crap I’s ever tasted!” Mmm, scrummy.

So that’s my first foray into vegan fondant. I’ve thought about taking cake decorating classes, just so I can properly learn how to do fancy piping and sugar art, but cake deco classes are surprisingly expensive here and ofcourse, none are vegan. So for now, I just have to learn on my own, with the internet as my teacher. Overall, making the fondant itself is simpler than I expected. On the other hand, making the figurines is time consuming and it takes some practice to get all the pieces to stick together. But the whole process is a lot of fun too. I love this kind of thing~ making and crafting with my hands. :) You guys should try it too!

Leave a comment and let me know what you think! :)