Why fondant blows

Last week in preparation for my CAP exams, I decided to make some pate a choux. I knew they'd be on the exam and would likely take the form of eclairs. Whenever I think of eclairs or pain au chocolat, I always think of one of my former classmates and friend who is slightly eponymous and loves writing about her pastry shenanigans as much as I do.

I filled them with vanilla and chocolate pastry cream. Since I didn't have any fondant on hand (who does?), I decided to just powder them with confectioners sugar and cocoa powder.

I've never really liked working with fondant. Its really finicky, sticky, and hard to get 'a point' or at the perfect temperature to use. Also its really thick so you have use some serious muscle to mix it with whatever colorant or flavoring you're adding. At work, we sort of bypass the sticky process by adding some mycryo cocoa butter powder, pipe the fondant into silicon molds, add the pastry part in, and freeze. Ten minutes later, pop the pastry out and it looks perfectly glazed.

My fondant work? Not so perfect. During my CAP practical exam, one of the proctors actually asked me if I had ever made eclairs before. Mind you, everything BUT the fondant was fine. My fondant was way too hard and a sticky globby mess. I should have added some glucose, or more simple syrup, but at that point I was too tired and just dipped the eclairs and did a quick swipe of the fondant. I'm sure they tasted fine, but I doubt anyone would pay good money for something that looked like what some Parisian dogs leave out for unsuspecting pedestrians.