It's funny -- the smooth and sleek look of fondant looks extremely difficult. In reality, however, there are ways to get the look with minimal effort. In fact, it can often be easier and quicker than regular frosting. I can't speak for classic fondant (this no-cook formula works so well that I haven't bothered making the real thing yet), but with this no-cook stuff, you can ignore all those suggestions to buy fondant pre-made, or warnings about difficult trials and tribulations ahead. It takes maybe 5 minutes to make, and really easy to use.

This fondant is the rollable kind -- no pouring here. It's also immensely forgiving. You can get a pretty sleek cake without a crumb coat if the cake doesn't have too many ridges and the fondant is thick enough. Scraps can be smushed together and re-rolled. It won't last forever uncovered, but will easily survive the time it takes to roll and place it. It can even last, wrapped in saran, for weeks on the counter -- it'll be a bit dry, but can be kneaded into a decent and usable mass once again.

The recipe is after the jump!

Uncooked Fondant

1/3 cup butter, soft
1/3 cup light corn syrup (you can use dark, but be prepared for a color change)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
16 oz / 450 g of sifted icing sugar (at times, I've forgotten to sift and still got great results)

Step One: Mix butter, syrup, vanilla, and salt until smooth.

Step Two: Add icing sugar and mix on slow, gradually increasing the speed to medium, until the mixture forms a ball.

Step Three: Wrap tightly with Saran Wrap and store in an air-tight container until use.

Step Four: Use cornstarch rather than flour, when rolling the fondant to place over a cake. You can brush it off the fondant easily. Also, lighter rolling pins are better than heavy ones, which make it more difficult to roll out evenly.

Extra notes:

• To color the fondant, squirt some liquid color or some toothpick-applied bakers' color, to the ball, and knead through the fondant. Add more and repeat until desired color is achieved.
• A pastry cutter with a round edge is invaluable -- the cutter will help you cut off excess crisply and easily while the rounded handle works great for smoothing the fondant layer.