Our current word for the afternoon (at least for me) is “fondant” defined as a form of icing used to decorate cakes and other pastries, and it is made from sugar, water, gelatin, vegetable fat or shortening, and glycerol.
It’s softer than traditional icing that can become brittle and split off… The main ingredient in fondant is sugar, the much maligned but attractive, sweet crystals! Heating sugar (or sucrose) to 366 degrees F gives you caramel.
That high melting point is why sugar is ideal for the hard-shell coating on candies that won’t “melt in your hands” as 1 brand advertises, advertisers for such candies must think the difference between melting, which involves just 1 substance, and dissolving which requires a solvent. Anyone who has opened a packet of sugar to add to their afternoon Dunkin Donuts Coffee knows about sugar’s solubility in water. That property of sugar presents a concern for caterers, bakers, and people trying to make a fondant-covered cake for a wedding or birthday get together. If the display case or room where the cake is stored does not have a toiling Heating and Air Conditioning system, condensate from the air will settle on the icing layer, dissolving some of the sugar and potentially ruining the cake’s appearance. Therefore, bakers and confectioners need Heating and Air Conditioning to control the humidity in their stores! Customers picking up a wedding cake or a special birthday cake will need a car with the A/C running and an Heating and Air Conditioning system at lake house to hold the cake until it is ready to be cut and served. If you haven’t had your Heating and Air Conditioning ducts cleaned in a while, be sure to keep that cake in the box or take the risk of some dust and dirt settling on the pure colorless fondant on that cake.
Heating equipment