Smackdown: Marzipan v. Fondant

mmmmmmmmm marzipan. haven't used it, but LOVE the stuff. if i choked on it and died i probably wouldn't even notice.

I think fondant is supposed to be easier to work with.

I don't know, I just saw one receipe for it and it looked easy.

marzipan, delicious, but pretty pricey.

Marzipan is rather easy to form.
You can buy here maripan in different quality. One is called raw-marzipan, less expensive and better for decorating. Or prepare your own marzipan- almonds, sugar and a bit of rosewater.
You can color marzipan with food color.
It is like working with play dough.
For more delicate decorations you can roll it out, best between cling foil, and then use pastry cutters or a knive to cut the forms you like.
Marzipan keeps well, you can do the decoration days in advance.

Enter my world please
Just like dagmar, I love eating it - period.

MARZIPAN HEAVEN

SWEEEEET!!!!

in this little pastry shop near where my parents live they have a marzipan-chocolate rolade....uhhhh hhhh hhhhh slurp... melt....faint of exstasy.
nothing but marzipan rolled up with this creamy dark chocolate kinda like a strudle. you can't eat much, but once you try, you're done. it's worse than heroin.

I used fondant on Yaya's first birthday cake. It worked rather easily, but I was only worried about covering the little cakes and used royal icing for decorating.

I do not recommend it for the taste.

Butrflynet just sent me this cool site:

http://www.baking911.com/decorating/cakes_marzipan.htm

http://www.baking911.com/decorating/cakes_fondant.htm

After looking it over, I think I could handle either one.

Marzipan looks like the hands down winner in the flavor department, huh?

I'm making a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. I think the marzipan would taste really good with that. Expense wise, the fondant makes a bit more sense. Plus, I was thinking I could use royal icing for some of the greenery and stuff.

Do you think I could do a combination of both, especially if I went light on the cake frosting?

I was thinking I could use Mo's little playdough doohickeys to extrude grass and stuff - that might be easier and a whole lot cheaper with fondant.

Marzipan Heaven! Look at those darling little things! Now I really have an impossible standard to live up to!

Wahhhh.

Usually, fondant isn't so easy to handle - you must keep the temperature constantly at ... 118° C, I think.

Although I like both fondant and marzipan, it's nothing for loosing weight, I'm told. :wink:

just don't put playdough on top of the cake.

a little marzipan can go a loooong way. it would be so cute to have a carrot cake with marzipan carrots on top.

You guys are like the marzipan army or something!

I don't want it to be too overdone - it isn't quite as elaborate as it may sound here.

Maybe fondant mostly with spikes of marzipan placed around a bit?

What? No playdough!?

Did you make your own fondant or did you buy ready-made DrewDad?

Definitely ready made.

Who has a heated marble slab to make their own?

Yikes!

I haven't come across anything saying heated marble slab!

The recipe about halfway down this page for European fondant looked pretty easy: http://www.baking911.com/recipes/cakes/fondant_rolled.htm

I like the idea of using Play-Do doodads....

I saw that or a similar recipe... then compared prices at Michaels... no contest.

I'm all about ease of use.

dagmar, the Marzipanbread with the dark chocolate around
is simply the best - you're right. We have a German shop
outside of San Diego and they carry "Nieburger Marzipan"
(my favorite brand) but I don't dare go there more than
4 x a year <sigh>

boomerang, we have a Belgian bakery in SD and they make
divine carrot cake with those little Marzipan carrots on top -
too cute.

I was trying to find a picture of Martha Stewart's garden cake that uses fondant and marzipan, but this is the best I could come up with:

Okay so here's what I'm thinking -- give me your opinion -- too much or okay.

Carrot cake with a thin layer of cream cheese frosting.

In the middle of the cake will be the "garden". I'll make the "dirt" out of maybe.... chocolate graham crackers?.... crushed.

Surrounding the garden will be short, spiky grass made from fondant - maybe pressed through a playdough sieve. Flavored with lemon or orange.

Marzipan fruits and vegetables - mostly like pumpkins or squash or watermelons - things that creep along (so that I can spread it out around the cake) instead of things that grow underground or climb.

Royal icing for vines, leaves, that sort of thing.

Maybe some gummy worms or gummy bugs for an ick factor.

Maybe a rock candy path?

Is that too much? Too many different flavors?

I'm not talking about a whole lot of space. I'm thinking a double layer 9x13 cake (for tall, skinny pieces using less surface area).

The cake will need to feed a maximum of 25 people. Will that be enough cake?

Oh cute, cute, cute, Green Witch!

That looks easier than what I was thinking about!