I recently started working with fondant. There have been a couple cakes that I think could have been made even nicer if I'd steamed them when I was done. I was wondering who out there steams, and what kind of steamer you use. Are we talking a traditional fabric steamer, a special cake steamer?

Hi:
I saw this idea of steaming a cake in the Cake Boss show, and since I already had a fabric steamer I started using that. Just a little steam will make your fondant so nice.
Mine is a Conair compact fabric steamer that I bought in Walmart about 2 years ago for "ironing" some gowns. I think it costed about $30.-

I use Joy Mangano's Little Steamer, in Canada you could purchase it from The Shopping Channel at $39.99.

Hi,

Hope you don't mind me "butting in" to your thread, but I was just wondering what the purpose of steaming the fondant is? Might be a silly question, but does it make it smoother, or is it for a certain look?

Thanks,
Valerie.

I used my little clothing steamer for the first time on some fondant this past weekend. I made another Darth Vader cake and I used a lot of black fondant and powdered sugar to roll it out. I dusted most of the p/s off but it was still a little chalky looking....

I remembered seeing on Cake Boss how he steams his, so I brought out a little cheap fabric steamer that I bought YEARS ago....it "melted" all the p/s and gave it a great luster!! I was very happy.

Thanks! I think I'll give it a try on my next cake!

Big thanks to everyone for the input! I was thinking I could use a normal clothing steamer, but I'd hate to ruin a cake only to find out later that there is a special "cake steamer".

So...one more question. How long do you hold the steamer over the cake. Are we talking a really fast pass or at least a couple seconds?

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I'd like to know also how long you hold the steamer over the fondant - and how close to the fondant do you hold it?

I used a travel sized steamer on college logo fondant pieces and it was wonderful. It took maybe two seconds to restore.

You could try your steamer on a scrap of fondant and see how much steam yours puts out and how close it needs to be. Each brand and style may put out a different amount of steam. My little travel steamer does not put out a gush of steam, in fact you can barely see it.

You could try your steamer on a scrap of fondant and see how much steam yours puts out and how close it needs to be. Each brand and style may put out a different amount of steam. My little travel steamer does not put out a gush of steam, in fact you can barely see it.

Yeah, my steamer is not big, and you don't really see steam gushing out of it either. I actually put it pretty close to the cake, for a few seconds until I could see the results I wanted, then I slowly moved it around the cake. It didn't take much more than a minute or so to do the whole cake.

I agree that maybe you should test the steamer on a fondant scrap right before you use it on the actual cake.

oh i like that idea-when i made my first highheel shoes i was so dissappointed when the colour faded/dulled a bit when it dried-i'll definately give this a go. thanks

I have been wanting to steam fondant for a while. I, too, saw episodes on the Cake Boss and it looks wonderful. Just remembered I purchased a steamer from HSN and I am going to try it next week. I can't wait. Thanks for this site and the sharing subscribers.

Thanks for sharing everybody. I have a croc wedding cake coming up. Thinking of brushing with black dust and steaming instead of coloring fondant prior to applying. Will buy clothes steamer.

When I make gumpaste flowers I usually apply petal dust to them to enhance the flower. I then use my clothes steamer to steam them. It sets the color and make the whole flower look so much more realistic. You won't be a bit disappointed in the results.

I got my steamer from Sears a couple of years ago. I got a Sears gift card from my stepson for Christmas and new exactly what I was going to use it on. Haven't regretted it once. And it was under $40 if I remember correctly.