Fondant Icing

[kickassangel]

Need to post & run, but just a quick question.

I've noticed that professional icers use steam to make fondant icing get shiny. How do you achieve this at home? Do you have special equipment?

If not, how do you get it to be totally smooth & shiny looking?

bump

thanks. i have a smoother & will be making sure the cake is as flat as poss., then putting it in the fridge bfore adding the fondant, so should be a nice hard, smooth surface. BUT i like the 'shiny look' & was hoping to get ivory (with some sparkle in it) all bright & shiny/glossy looking.

for small pieces, i've found i can suspend them over a bowl of steaming water to get the effect, but was hoping to do it to the actual cake.

hmm, may go for deliberately matt cake, with shiny bits i put on instead.

any one ever experimented with holding their steam iron near the cake? or is that a bad idea?

ok, will NOT be experimenting with random pieces of housewares.

think i'll change things round - got a good result from resting decorative bits on the cooling rack, then suspending that over a bowl of steaming water for a couple of mins.

I recently used stuff in a can (edible) that gave a lustre effect to the fondant - from an online cake supply shop.

looked fab