Britishers are first who invented fondant as a pulpy covering.
They started using fondant because of avoid hard frosting and royal icing.

At that time basically placed over the a sweet yellow or white paste of ground almonds.
Generally fondant cakes are used in summer seasons to keep it much more longer,
Like wedding ceremony.

Fondant not contain any kind of icing texture.It is used for smooth and clean finishing.
Fondant is very easy to cover the whole cake and its acquire all kind of shapes.You can eat fondant without any problem but some people like it, and some are against the fondant because of its thickness and sweetness.
With fondant cakes looks much more polished.

Fondant using mainly this ingredient:

water
gelatin
vegetable fat or shortening
glycerol
Gelatin
Glucose
and sugar