When we first came to Thailand I was pretty stumped at the few options for my creative outlet of baking and decorating.
First bummer, ovens are not standard in a Thai kitchen. I guess the main places with an oven here are bakeries. Not many options for home use.
Secondly, the fondant cake decorating trend has not reached Thailand, yet. In my online searches I couldn't find one single cake decorating supply store in all of Thailand. Sure, there are bakery supplies, but their inventory has a different target.
(Should you know of any place, or have different information, I would love to here from you.)
Going south just a little bit, to Malaysia or Indonesia, things look way different. Cake decorating as we know it is not so uncommon there. Unfortunately, ordering from an online store in Malaysia will cost me just as much in shipping as ordering from the States or Canada. So far I haven't done that, but maybe soon.
So, I realized I had to be creative to live out my creativity.
My plan was to make home-made fondant. I was able to find gelatin, shortening, cornstarch, and a sugar syrup that works in place of glucose, but nowhere was icing sugar to be found. The MAIN ingredient for cake or cookie decorating.
But I wasn't going to give up just yet. Online I found instructions how to make icing sugar from granulated sugar, all one needs is a blender or grinder.
I was ready to invest into a small appliance very similar to this blender with grinder attachment
While looking for my other needed ingredients like gelatin and corn starch, I was struck by what else caught my eye. There it was. In all its white and powdery sweet beauty... Icing sugar!
I couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing. After shopping in the same stores for close to two months for the first time this store had icing sugar in stock. You will not believe what joy filled my soul over something most people, including myself just a short while ago, would consider an ordinary staple.
Of course, I had to stock up, just in case it would be another two months before I would get a chance to buy more of the sweet goodness my creative streak feeds on.
Now, I cannot explain why icing sugar was unavailable for so long, leading me to believe I wouldn't be able to buy it here. Whether it is a really slow restocking system, or if maybethe floodings in other parts of the country were the cause.
There have been several other occasions when we tried ordering something from a menu that we were told the item was not available at the moment due to the floodings. 7/11 stores have signs up apologizing that because of the flooding situation they are not able to keep up their usual inventory.
The high water levels may have receded and transportation and supply chain logistics are returning to normal, allowing me to have this little icing sugar joy. But I had to think that in the flood regions there are people who will still be affected for a long time. You can read more here.
So, while I am diving into my first creative projects (home-made fondant and decorated sugar cookies) here in Thailand, I am reminded to be thankful for the comforts we can enjoy and keep in my prayers those who are rebuilding their lives now.
Tara
Hi Regina,
Do you remember which store you purchased the Icing sugar from, I want to make my son a birthday cake and after visits to 3-4 supermarkets I've not been able to find it!
We found cake flour and colourings etc but no icing sugar.
Regina
Hi Tara,
it was either a Big C or one of the large Tesco Lotus stores.
All the best for your birthday cake ventures.
lily
Hello, Regina! I'm looking in the internet Massa Ticino Tropic and saw your website! And I also live in Thailand! With fondant I have also a problem (((( Please tell me you found this pasta or not?
Regina
Hi Lily, I never ended up buying fondant in Thailand. I only used homemade. But I am sure you can have it shipped there. I've heard good reviews from other cake decorators who live in the tropical Caribbean and used this fondant successfully.
lily
I also made ​​homemade fondant from marshmallow, dry milk, and from gelatin for flowers. Only from gelatin not melts, but it's not good for covering the cake! And how are you making? If not a secret)))
Regina
No secret at all 🙂 I also used a gelatin-based fondant while in Thailand. But I never covered a cake with it, only small cupcakes and flower decorations
Sergey
Hi! Were you able to find a good recipe for fondant that would be happy with in Thailand? I have tried different types of fondant here in Thailand, and it was really difficult to work with every single of them in this humidity.
Regina
I agree Sergey, fondant and humidity don't work very well. I never tried to cover an entire cake in Thailand. Mainly I worked with smaller decoration pieces. I added extra icing sugar and gum powder (tylose) to make it more pliable and less sticky. I hear there is a brand that makes special fondant for humid weather - Carma Massa Ticino Tropic http://www.carma.ch/en/438 I never used it personally but read great reviews.
Joe
I'm an expat American, now also in Thailand.
We are setting up a barista style coffee shop, and I've spent about
three months worrying about opening day (Aug. 1) and the lack of
powdered sugar.
After checking out wholesalers, super markets, bakery supply houses (Schmidt's in Bangkok), et al, I had visions of having to explain to Thai Customs once a month that those fifty kilo bags of white powder REALLY are sugar, no I swear they are, here have a few thousand baht and let me through.
An online friend who's a pastry chef in Stockholm told me that he long ago took up making blender powdered sugar. Their original reason is very slick... they wanted cane sugar based product and couldn't find it.
Now, he says, they make their own in the hotel even though powdered cane sugar is available. Why? It's so simple and it's a massive savings over the factory milled product.