Royal Icing or Fondant

Fondant for me….I learnt Cake decorating 15 years ago in India and we mostly learned Royal Icing and Butter Icing (as we called it) piping and when I came to New Zealand I saw all these fondant masterpieces from all over the world!!! People want their lives represented in cake these days so that’s the way to go I guess! I enjoy using cutters and molds to enhance my work. Here is a pic of my work THEN and NOW!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=610167069006414&set=a.411477572208699.95546.411460042210452&type=1&theater

How gorgeous is your Jimmy Cho cake??? I would never in a million years have the courage to post my first cake lol.. I can see a huge difference.. even though I do like your Micky Mouse cake, so cute :) I too love to work with fondant, so much more you can achieve and it certainly does give the cake that WOW factor… But just sometimes I do get rather excited when I can use Royal Icing.. :) xxxx

I’ve not yet had a go with royal icing, its on my list of thing to learn.
If I’m honest piping bags scare me a little :-) both royal icing and buttercream.
Love love love playing with fondant!!

One day I’ll experiment with the others x

Hi Sharon, I’m new to the world of cake decorating so it was all fondant and cutters and tools !! But recently I done a course in royal icing and I loved it, the run outs, the pressure piping the extension work !!
It’s definitely a lot harder the hand cramps and amount of contraction you need. But you do get lost in another world while piping ( well I do ).
I am a absolute learner in the world of royal icing, and I love it when I get a chance to practice (which is not very often). I got Eddie Spence ’s book and am just amazed by it.
Well done on decorator of the week your cakes are fab x

I am definitely a fondant follower. I love modelling with it and certainly love the fact that a mould can enable you to recreate things in fondant perfectly which really enhance the design of a cake. Royal icing is a bit scary and I often find myself scraping anything I have piped onto the cake off my lines are wonky. I also love sculpted cakes and love the fact that really so much is possible rather than impossible. :)

I tooo still have the wonky lines lol and piping does make your hand and wrist ache so much! I don’t think I will ever go back to completely covering a cake with royal icing.. its fondant all the way for covering.. As for sculpting cakes? well lets just say .. I have a long way to go with that.. my cars always turn out like postman pat vans and I once attempted a cushion cake!! well that turned out to look like a footstool, total disaster… however I won’t give up lol
Sarah I am a follower of yours on Face Book and your work is incredible… so you may just be my port of call for advice when I next attempt a sculpture cake!!
Andie… I too get lost in my own little world when piping.. :) xxxx

Each to its own, but I do love working in royal icing when given the opportunity