4 cups of granulated sugar,
1-1/2 cups of cold water,
1/4 a teaspoonful of cream of tartar, or 3 drops of acetic acid.
Stir the sugar and water in a saucepan, set on the back part of the
range, until the sugar is melted, then draw the saucepan to a hotter
part of the range, and stir until the boiling point is reached; add the
cream of tartar or acid and, with the hand or a cloth wet repeatedly in
cold water, wash down the sides of the saucepan, to remove any grains of
sugar that have been thrown there. Cover the saucepan and let boil
rapidly three or four minutes. Remove the cover, set in the
thermometer--if one is to be used--and let cook very rapidly to 240° F.,
or the soft ball degree. Wet the hand in cold water and with it dampen a
marble slab or a large platter, then without jarring the syrup turn it
onto the marble or platter. Do not scrape out the saucepan or allow the
last of the syrup to drip from it, as sugary portions will spoil the
fondant by making it grainy. When the syrup is cold, with a metal
scraper or a wooden spatula, turn the edges of the mass towards the
center, and continue turning the edges in until the mass begins to
thicken and grow white, then work it up into a ball, scraping all the
sugar from the marble onto the mass; knead slightly, then cover closely
with a heavy piece of cotton cloth wrung out of cold water. Let the
sugar stand for an hour or longer to ripen, then remove the damp cloth
and cut the mass into pieces; press these closely into a kitchen bowl,
cover with a cloth wrung out of water (this cloth must not touch the
fondant) and then with heavy paper. The fondant may be used the next
day, but is in better condition after several days, and may be kept
almost indefinitely, if the cloth covering it be wrung out of cold water
and replaced once in five or six days. Fondant may be used, white or
delicately colored with vegetable color-pastes or with chocolate, as
frosting for small cakes, or éclairs or for making candy "centers," to
be coated with chocolate or with some of the same fondant tinted and
flavored appropriately.