I just made MMF for the first time. It seems to be really dry. It gets real wrinkly as I try to cover my cake. Is this normal? I'm not completely sold on the flavor, but hey it's WAY better than Wilton Fondant. Are there any other kinds I can make that might have less of a "powdered sugar" flavor?

Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks!!

Also...

I tried rolling out my scraps and it was even drier. I'm guessing the culprit here is the cornstarch I'm rolling it out with? And how do I put a little moisture into it without ruining it? Am I suppose to knead a little shortening into it? Sorry for so many questions, just trying to get this to work. I want to be able to make my own fondant!!

Yes, do need in some shortening and it will help a lot. Sometimes I also wrap it in plastic wrap and microwave on half power for a short time just to warm it up a little and make it a little easier to work with.

I have never used cornstarch for MMF (or any other fondant), but others do. I always just use PS.

Good luck!

What recipe did you use? I just finished mixing up a batch myself and didn't have any problems with it being dry, after I remembered to add the aditional 2 tablespoons of water to it. I started with 2 tablespoons water, 1 bag of marshmellows and 2 lbs. of powder sugar. I used Crisco on my hands and work surface to kneed it, and kept adding a coating of crisco to my hands and work surface as it was asorbed into the mixture. I have heard that if you want to change the taste you can add flavoring to it. Almond, clear vanilla, orange oil are all clear and shouldn't change the color. If your not going to use the stuff you already have mixed up try adding a little flavor and a few drops of water at a time to it. What have you got to lose?
Sherri

LOL I too was wondering which recipe you used. I find that the Rhonda's Ultimate recipe here in the recipe section has a much better flavor, less like straight ps (well, because there are flavorings in it!) and seems to dry out less, maybe due to the corn syrup. I agree that when I first made MMF it seemed dry-to-dryer when I used cornstarch to roll it. Now I use shortening exclusively, UNLESS I am trying to dry it out a bit. You can definitely add shortening now, also nuke it for just a few sec's to soften it up and make it easier to get the shortening in. I know I've added water too, but that's trickier because it may just get sticky on you. For scraps I've used drops of water...but honestly shortening should work out better, because then you have moisture but it's greased up a bit too.

Good luck, I am sure it will work out at some point. The first batch is always the worst, it will just get easier from here!

I used the recipe in the cc article about making fondant.

1 lb marshmallows
2 lb powdered sugar
2 TB water
2 tsp vanilla

Yep, that's the one I first used, several times. Honestly there's nothing wrong with it, most people aren't interested in eating the fondant anyway.

I now make this one http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-3183-2-Rhondas-Ultimate-MMF.html . It's possible the extra flavorings are a waste of time if nobody is going to eat it, but I just like the idea that it will taste better IF they do. And I HAVE met people who "love fondant". I now always torte my cakes so that I get 3 layers of filling. If I'm doing a "filling" filling ie fruit, custard, etc., I'll still only put it in 1 layer and then I put my buttercream icing in the other two layers. So now each slice of cake still has icing and filling INSIDE but I can then just crumbcoat the cake b4 applying fondant...the fondant goes on better and then if they peel it off they don't lose any bc.

For what it's worth there are even better fondant recipes (Michele Foster's, Toba Garrett's) but MMF is the easiest for beginning fondant-makers IMHO.

I also use the same recipe as mommy2djb (haven't used it on many cakes yet), but I add a few drops of Lorann oil in champagne flavor instead of the vanilla and it taste pretty good. Haven't tried it with other flavors though. Possibilities are endless!

When you use the shortening on your hands and your mat, does it not make the fondant too tacky? It seems like there's an even split, some use shortening, some use ps or cornstarch...

Thanks for everyone's input! Looks like I'm going to have to keep trying!

I don't find the shortening makes the fondant too tacky at all. If anything it makes it a bit more pliable and definitely LESS tacky. But I understand your hesitance; I used to do the exact same thing the first few times, I didn't want it any SOFTER so I always used cornstarch. Now I only use cornstarch when I'm making accents to give 'em a boost for drying out.