I am so frustrated!! Will you please take a look at my MMF in the photos below and tell me what you think might be my problem? It is just grainy, and full of air bubbles. How can I avoid this next time?

I do think I heated the marshmallows too hot, could that be a problem, with the graininess?

I added 2 tsp. glycerine to my MMF to make it more elastic...

Also, my sifter is broke, so I didnt get to sift the sugar... so that's probably the problem with the graininess, but why the air bubbles and chunks of something hard?? Any tips?? PLEASE??? I cant have this happen to me next time, my next cake is going to be a very important cake!!! This one (in the photos below) is just a practice cake...boy am I glad I did a practice!!!

Please give me any and all tips possible!! Thank you so much!!

Did you wrap it and let it rest overnight before you used it? That will usually take care of the powdered sugar "chunks." Also, I used to always use MMF, but now I've discovered the wonders of Michelle Foster's fondant recipe (here, in the recipe section) and will never go back to MMF. The texture of Michelle's is so much better, and it still tastes great. I think it tastes better then MMF, too. [/i]

I agree whole heartedly, I used to use MMF until I found Michele Foster's too, and have not had any fondant headaches anymore. I've had the grainy stuff in my MMF before, even after letting it rest. It was probably the combo of no sifting and overheating. Some of the bubbles may have happened when you rolled it out, what method do you use?

I'm also a Michelle Foster fondant fan! I've made it several times and have NEVER had an issue.

But to answer your question about your MMF... It looks to me that you did indeed heat the marshmallows too hot. The sugar in the marshmallows could have crystalized and caused all the grainyness. I also suspect that you could have possibly over-mixed it, which could explain the air bubbles. But that is JMO based on the picture...I would need to see it in person & feel it to be able to know for sure what happened.

Hope I was some help, and keep your chin up!

It looks too soft--either from not enough PS or warming too much in the micro. To prevent graininess, Add the PS in small increments; when you add too much at once, the MMs don't absorb all of the PS. (I don't sift mine).

To fix MMF that is too soft, kneading in some corn starch can help.

Thank you everyone for your help!! I think I'll try that Michelle Foster fondant...I haven't had good experiences with "real" fondant though, I'll do a practice run first!!

Thanks for all your tips! I really like MMF, and people like the taste of it, so thanks also for all the tips of MMF, I really dont want to give that up!!

Sarsi,

before I started making my fondant from scratch, I bought a ready made Wilton's fondant.
i know it tastes bad but at least it gave me a feeling of how smooth and consistent my fondant should be.

Thanks oilili...I have made MMF many times before...once in a while I've had a little chunk of sugar, that I just picked out...but this time I dont know what happened!!! I think it must've been from heating it too hot!

Do most of you heat it in 30 second intervals and stir? I read on here somwhere that you can just heat it for 2 min without stiring, so I tired that....is that my problem?

I love M. Foster's fondant. it is the only homemade fondant recipe I have had success with.
I feel your pain with MMF, but I do think the hard pieces in your MMF are crystalized sugar from over heating the marshmellows.
Good Luck with Foster's fondant recipe.

I heat mine for 1 minute and stir then I put back for 25 seconds and stir untill all MMs are melted.
HTH

For sure give Michele's a try. Its great. You'll love it. A tip with the recipe, my gelatin packets don't measure the same as the recipe calls for so I always measure my gelatin rather than just throw the packets in. The one time I didn't measure it was totally unusable and I had to toss it 'cause it had too much gelatin.

Thanks for that tip Alana!!!

Back to the MMf (can't wait to try Michele Foster's though...) Stirring every 30 seconds is great, but if you don't have time I've found that knocking the power level of your microwave back to 7 allows you to do the full two minutes without crystalizing the sugar in the marshmallows. Then just stir to finish the dissolving... HTH

I ended up using MMF again, but only nuking it for 1min, stir, and then again for 15 seconds...turned out great, and my cake was wonderful!!! I sifted the sugar first too, I only let it sit a couple hours before using it, and found NO lumps or grittiness at all!!! Thanks for all your help!!