The Icons: What makes a Fondant Fancy?

Over a century ago, our founder Frederick Belmont introduced the world to his handcrafted bakes and cakes in the first Bettys Café Tea Room in Harrogate. Frederick created a whole host of cream cakes, fancies and patisserie and Bettys rapidly became a household name as word spread about its delightful dainty treats.

The below image shows a tray of Frederick’s ‘Fancies’ from the 1930s. As you can see, the initial idea of our famous Fondant Fancies arose here, along with some other Bettys favourites: can you spot them?

A classic combination

If you’re wondering just what a Fondant Fancy is, let us take you on a guided tour inside our signature treat. Each one consists of a cube of our expert bakers’ delectably light and buttery Genoese sponge cake, sandwiched with raspberry preserve and vanilla buttercream. With white chocolate underneath and marzipan on top, the whole creation is flawlessly finished with the smoothest fondant icing.

The craft of delight

It’s hard to fathom how much attention to detail goes in to each one of our Fondant Fancies. The story starts in our Harrogate Craft Bakery where we select the most premium ingredients: quality butter, free range eggs, creamy Swiss white chocolate and all-natural food colouring.

Once the Genoese sponge cakes have been baked, our skilled confectionery team begin by carefully ‘crumbing’ or removing the golden coloured top of each delicately baked sponge to make sure each fancy is the perfect colour and size. A fine layer of Swiss white chocolate is weighed out and spread with a pallet knife over the cake. Once set, this provides the confectioner with a sturdy base, ready for them to add a generous layer of vanilla buttercream and tangy raspberry preserve.

Next comes the second layer of sponge, topped with soft marzipan and another layer of buttercream. Now assembled, the cakes are cut into the perfect fancy cube shape, ready to be enrobed in ivory white fondant. Finally, our team of craft confectioners individually hand-pipe our seasonal designs in royal icing onto each fancy.

Did you know that our confectionery team fondly refer to Fondant Fancies as ‘Dips’ in the bakery? This nickname comes from the age-old process of dipping the fancies into fondant icing, giving each one its immaculate coating.

But what makes it fancy?

Well, we believe that’s in the eye – and the taste – of the beholder… From the exquisite finish on each one and the perfect layering of sponge, filling and fondant, to Fondant Fancies’ status as a timelessly elegant teatime treat, the name says it all.

A look for all seasons

Our classic Fondant Fancy recipe stays the same all year round, but the decorations have a touch of seasonal style. There are a few flavour changes as well, including cherry, lemon, and chocolate orange that make an appearance throughout the year.

Flights of fancies

At times, our confectionery team indulge their curiosity and create something extra special with limited edition Fondant Fancy flavours. Here are some of our favourites to date – keep your eye out for when they’ll be back.