Rolling Out Fondant: Do You Use Ps, Cs Or Crisco?
Decorating By handymama Updated 9 Oct 2008 , 12:08pm by allycatt
This week's cake experience was less than stellar--mostly because of the fondant. It was very soft and very stretchy, and wanted to sag, stretch and ultimately tear once it got on the cake. I re-covered a topsy-turvey cake five times. Finally I covered it with a thicker layer of fondant that wouldn't stretch and tear so quickly, only to have the whole cake implode from the bad day it was having (and yes, it was 4:00 am when it happened 
). In the past when I used Crisco while rolling out fondant it got too soft and sticky. CS works pretty well, but I'm told it molds if left under the fondant/next to the cake for very long. It took ample amounts of PS to keep the fondant from sticking to the mat. However, after rolling/failing/kneading a few times the additional PS seemed to make it soft, stretchy and brittle! I've had better luck with rolling fondant thickly, but no one wants to eat it--including me! Since this was an expensive cake I was trying to keep the fondant thin enough that people would enjoy it. Still, there were comments about not liking it. All hints, suggestions, solutions are welcome.
I used crisco for a while, but I use corn starch now. I put it in a dusting pouch and use a very little.. just enough to have it able to move around and not stick.. it takes a very little bit to achieve this.. the crisco was making the fondant really soft and hard to work with plus it was making the fondant a little tacky and the rolling pin was sticking to it making it come up and then I'd end up rolling over a wrinkled area and wrecking the work I just did. With the corn starch I have no issues.
A light swipe of crisco on a vinyl or silicone mat. I use Satin Ice or FondX for covering and Wilton for decos.
I don't find the little bit of crisco causing the problems with the fondant--I do find variations from bucket to bucket of fondant sometimes causing problems (not to mention heat & humidity thrown into the mix). To counter that issue, I add 1/3 Wilton to the other fondants to firm them up, retain flavor, and increase workablility--love the results!
In my book, cornstarch dries out, PS yields sticky, and crisco creates glide.
Rae
The California cake club started these a few years ago--in between cake camp years. Last Sept. the cruise went to Alaska with Nick Lodge & Colette Peters. This year, in Dec., it goes to the Caribbean with Nick, BKeith Ryder, and Toba Garrett and they're doing hands-on classes as well as demos.
Info here: cakecruise.com
cakecamp.com
Rae
Question: Doesn't a silpat leave a pattern on your fondant?
I use the big blue mat, with Crisco to knead, until its smooth and soft. Then I switch to dusting with CS when doing the small items like decorations, and borders.
Also, I used to use the vinyl until my daughter brought to my attention that some clients might be upset about the "vinyl scare" that's going around. Just something to think about.
Yes, a silpat will leave a pattern, but since it's on the back of the rolled out piece, it shouldn't be a problem if the fondant is rolled thick enough (you shouldn't be turning the fondant over after rolling it).
As for the "vinyl scare", this has been brought up here on CC many times. I honestly believe that there's no reason to fear incidental contact with vinyl while rolling out fondant. Many of us have more concentrated contact with soft vinyl, and the phthalates that make it soft, every day.
Certainly eating a small piece of fondant that spent 2 minutes on vinyl is a total non-issue. If it isn't a non-issue for someone, they might want to consider moving into an environmentally controlled bubble and staying there indefinitely..................
Rae
Question: Doesn't a silpat leave a pattern on your fondant?
I use the big blue mat, with Crisco to knead, until its smooth and soft. Then I switch to dusting with CS when doing the small items like decorations, and borders.
Also, I used to use the vinyl until my daughter brought to my attention that some clients might be upset about the "vinyl scare" that's going around. Just something to think about.
Yes there's a slight pattern but it either relaxes out or gets rubbed out.
Silicone is not part of the vinyl scare is it?
To answer the op--I use the big food safe mat and nothing else.
No, I don't think anyone is scared of silicone mats..........yet.........but give it time--I'm sure something will come up 
Also, you shouldn't use sharp items to cut on the silpat (e.g. pizza cutters, knives, exacto, etc.), nor should you ever cut a silpat to another size, because the threads embedded in the silicone are fiberglass and those should not be exposed/released near food--and they hurt like the devil if they get stuck in your skin!
Rae
I use a piece of vinyl that I got from Wal-Mart for use an a tablecloth. Very cheap and it works well. I used just a little cornstarch because powdered sugar is to gritty for me. I use shortening on my hands for kneading. That's it!
I bought mine at Sur La Table....spent too much I'm sure....But you can just google Silpat, it will bring up many.
OK, let's see if I've got this right. According to the answers the best thing to use when rolling out fondant is:
vinyl with CS
vinyl with Crisco
vinyl with nothing
don't use vinyl, it sticks
silpat with Crisco and CS
silicone mat alone
silicone with CS
Crisco alone
CS alone
1/2 CS and 1/2 PS
The one thing that does seem to be emerging is that PS is not the thing to use, and that a silicone or vinyl mat is helpful. I can see the wisdom of using a bit of Crisco to help more CS adhere.
All of this helps with the "rolling out" issue, but there's still the problem of the fondant itself being so relaxed that it just wouldn't retain a consistent thickness in the time it took to get it off the table and onto the cake that was sitting right beside it! Because of that remarkable stretchiness it also kept "going with gravity" once on the cake and was prone to tears.
I can see the wisdom of using a bit of Crisco to help more CS adhere.
All of this helps with the "rolling out" issue, but there's still the problem of the fondant itself being so relaxed that it just wouldn't retain a consistent thickness in the time it took to get it off the table and onto the cake that was sitting right beside it! Because of that remarkable stretchiness it also kept "going with gravity" once on the cake and was prone to tears.
I can see no wisdom to using crisco & cornstarch, simultaneously. You don't want CS to adhere to anything--and mixed with crisco it could make an unattractive mess that's hard to remove.
CS is a drying agent, but the type of drying that it imparts on fondant yields cracking & elephant skin. It doesn't "firm up" the fondant, but makes it more prone to tears.
The simplest way I've found to combat overly soft/stretchy fondant is to mix it with some Wilton (1/3 wilton to 2/3 Satin Ice, FondX, whatever). If I can't do that (i.e. no Wilton on hand), I have kneaded in some PS and most importantly--then let the fondant sit for at least 30 mins. before trying to re-roll it.
If kneading in some PS still doesn't get me where I need to be, I've kneaded in some gum tex or even tylose--not much--maybe a tsp. or 2 to 4lbs.--and let that rest, too, before re-rolling.
Sometimes, "going to gravity" isn't the fault of the fondant, either. It can be because the cake isn't sturdy enough to handle the weight of the buttercream & fondant applied to it. It can also be that the fondant is rolled too thick. It can be that it's just too warm or too humid (and the addtion of some gum tex or tylose can help with that issue, too).
Rae
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