Fondant Compared to Buttercream and Marzipan

Out of curiosity, I looked up recipes for marshmallow fondant (considered less disgusting than other fondants, I guess) to a recipe for buttercream and a recipe for marzipan. I have included the ratio of each ingredient to the amount of sugar in the recipe, to help make up for the recipes not necessarily producing the same amount of cake cover, formatted as ingredient:sugarMarshmellow Fondant Ingredients:-8 cups of shifted confectioner's sugar (1:1, obviously)-about 2 cups of marshmellows (1:4)-1/2 cup of solid vegetable shortening (1:16)-4 tablespoons of water (1:32)Buttercream Ingredients:-2 cups of shifted confectioner's sugar (1:1, yet again)-1/2 cup of unsalted butter (1:4)-2 tablespoons of milk (1:16)-1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract (1:64)Marzipan Ingredients:-7 1/2 cups of powdered sugar (1:1, I don't know why I keep putting it here)-4 cups of almond paste (8:15, or a little more than 1:2)-1/3 cups of light corn syrup (about 11:250, I am sorry, blame the sugar amount for the ratios here)-3 tablespoons of water (no, I'm done, no more ratios to sugar, I can't... well, I could, but I'm too lazy, I didn't even double check the one for corn syrup)Conclusions: For one thing, it seems the only thing saving marzipan from being fondant is the almond paste balancing the flavors. Since almonds aren't sweet, it prevents it from tasting like trash candy concrete. Unless you have a nut allergy, there's really no reason to use fondant over marzipan. The latter tastes better and is easier to work with. Although marshmellow fondant is less concrete-like than others (thanks to the glycerin in the marshmallows exceeding that which is added in most other recipes), that limits you to just one flavor... one which doesn't necessarily pair well with a lot of cakes. Also, it's still fondant that tastes too sweet. Doesn't matter if people say this is the best fondant, that's like being a one legged person that wins a race against quadriplegics with malfunctioning wheelchairs.Buttercream, however, is a bit more different. It has a higher moisture content overall and uses milk in place of water. In fact, the only ingredient it shares with the fondant is confectioner's sugar. This results in an overall superior mouthfeel and flavor to fondant, but it's harder to work with than either fondant or marzipan. So unless you have some skill in cake decorating, using buttercream is liable to make the cake look messy. Personally, I'd rather the cake look meh and taste great than be a decent decoration that is utterly inedible, but to each their own.In case anyone was curious, frosting is just buttercream with shortening or cream cheese in place of the butter.Feel free to discuss my conclusions, bashing them, agreeing, or coming up with your own. I have no idea why I spent so much time on this, but rant over. via /r/FondantHate https://ift.tt/2LE8quG