Questions Regarding Marshmallow Fondant.
Decorating By luv2cook721 Updated 24 Jan 2009 , 6:28am by luv2cook721
I have a couple of questions regarding MMF. I have used it a couple of times and it seemed somewhat dry and had some surface fissures in a few places. I tried adding a bit of water and kneading it, but it still seemed a bit dry, is this normal? I haven't tried any other fondant so I don't know how it compares, but I have been told taste wise it is the only way to go.
Also, how long will the leftovers last? I have more cakes to do in a few weeks, and read on one site it keeps well for "weeks" but does that mean 2 weeks, 12 weeks or what?
How do you get it smooth at the bottom of the cake, mine was all wrinkled up because there was more than was needed to go around.
I look forward to the advice you have to offer. 
I don't like MMF because I can never get it to turn out the same way each time... I use another recipe from this site. BUT..... I can tell you that it sounds like the MMF is too dry. You don't want to add water, you would want to knead in some crisco I would think.
I always lift my cake off the table when covering it. I will put my cake up on top of something.. an empty bucket or something so that the fondant will drape down and I can cut it easy. If it is a large layer, you might have too much fondant at the bottom, which causes it to be a bit harder to work. I just started on one side and work my way around.
Keep your fondant wrapped in saran and then in a large baggie and it should keep for many weeks. Your two week period you talk about should be just fine. I have kept mine for a month or longer and it is fine.
good luck !!
Please #1 Never!! add water just add glycerin little by little I always do that and it work for me. I sounds like you add to much sugar and it is dry, It is not normal you can see my pictures and the football and hat cake it is MMF, I recommend to use Ronda's MMF or Michele's Foster fondant it is amazing, delicious and easy to work with. 
#2 I usually keep my MMF for two weeks in the fridge and it is fine.
#3 to smooth the edges I use the wilton smother and the cut with the pizza cutter. 
I hope this can help you 
I used to use only MMF also, but let me tell you that taste-wise it is NOT the only way to go! The taste and texture of Michele Foster's fondant is superior. You will find it s much easier to work with...it doesn't tear as easily. It will change you mind about MMF! It's easy to make, too! Try it, you'll like it! 
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-3663-0-Michele-Fosters-Delicious-Fondant.html
Ok,
I use both MMF and MFF (Michele Foster's Fondant aka sugarflowers) MMF is cheaper and easier to make, but MFF tastes WAY better. I mean, I eat MFF plain. Now, I use Rhonda's Ultimate Marshmallow fondant recipe and it's much better than most (I also add 1t. butter flavor) other recipes. However, ignore the amount of ps it calls for. It's wrong for some reason because I almost never use more than half a 2lb bag of ps.
If it's dry, kneed in crisco or corn syrup or glycerine little by little.
There are some good tutorials around for smoothing, so you can get a visual on how they smooth from the top down and then adhere the sides before trimming. Some people elevate their cake so that the excess hangs straight down before trimming but that can be tricky with MMF as it can stretch and tear (ask me how I know this).
Here's a video from Satin Ice: http://atecousa.net/dev/learn/satin-ice-tutorial-i-icing-your-cake.html . Super helpful. Or one from our very own Aine2
I never have dry fondant when I use Rhonda's MFF recipe here in the recipes section. If you are willing to venture away from marshmallows, the recommendation to try Michele Foster's Delicious Fondant (also here in the recipe section) is solid.
But to address another part of your post, actually it does not HAVE to be homemade to taste good. What it HAS to be is: NOT Wilton!! Lol. That stuff isn't fit for dogs (but it's great for modeling if you're darned sure the figure won't get eaten) SatinIce is wildly popular, Choco-Pan tastes great (but a little harder to work with), some people like Pettinice, others prefer Fondex or Fondarific...there are lots of popular brands.
MMF is indeed softer than a lot of these, that can be good or bad. Premade is a real timesaver but surely more expensive especially since it is hard to find locally, and even when you can buy it at a good price online, shipping will kill you (unless you are buying in bulk or buy lots of other stuff to absorb the shipping cost). Plus of course if you run out...you're SOL. If you run out of homemade...make more!
As for leftovers, you want to form it into a ball and lube it up with crisco, then wrap it in plastic wrap...twice...then into a ziploc. MMF is good for at least a month, maybe more. Ziploc has these new vacuum bags, they work pretty well to help ensure you got all the air out, my fondnat seems to be lasting longer as a result.
adding to what ceshell said - I've tried fondarific (ordered sample pack from their website) and it tasted pretty good compared to satin ice (smells like play-dough) and they offer a ton of flavors and colors, BUT, it's very very expensive. My philosophy is, if I can make a batch of fondant for $5, why should I pay tripple that plus shipping for a product that still tastes mildly of chemicals?
thanks for all the great advice. I will try them out.
Does anyone know that when adding the gelatin in if this is where you can flavor your MFF? Or is the flavoring through the extracts?
Paul & Peter
We just realized our question wasn't totally worded correctly....What we mean is: Can we use flavored gelatin (like lemon if we wanted lemon flavored fondant)? Or would we have to use lemon extract with plain gelatin?
Paul & Peter
Sweet_Guys -
I haven't seen a MMF recipe that calls for gelatin...maybe you got it confused with glycerine? Although I do know that there are jello fondant recipe's out there. If you try one, let us know how it turns out
Michele Foster's fondant recipe uses gelatin. I've never thought to substitute Jello for the plain gelatin. I"m wondering how you would match up the correct amounts to ensure you added the equivalent of "x" packets of plain gelatin to your mix. I.e. how many "packets of gelatin" are in a pack of Jello? If you can figure that out I suppose it might work...? I mean, what are the other ingredients in Jello...just food coloring and sugar?
In Michele's recipe that Renaejrk posted, it calls for 3 packs (6 tsp) gelatin...We're guessing, then, that we could use 6 tsp of the flavored gelatin...We might just try this out today.
Sayhello---That posting was MFF (Michelle Foster's Fondant) as opposed to MMF (MarshMallow Fondant)...Got to love it when all of our fellow CC'ers come up with abbreviations that are so similar!
Paul & Peter
I worked some glycerin into the leftover fondant and it made a world of difference! The fondant was much more pliable (but also much stickier). I didn't try rolling it out last night, but may do that tonight.
Should I be keeping it in the fridge, or is on the counter ok? None of the ingredients require refrigeration and I don't have lots of room in there.
Oh sorry- my bad! I've seen this question asked to her before and no, you cannot use flavored because it has a lot of things in it besides gelatin (color, flavoring) and would mess up the recipe. I have seen recipes on this site for Jello fondant though. If you happen to try one - let me know how it comes out for you!
How do you get it smooth at the bottom of the cake, mine was all wrinkled up because there was more than was needed to go around.
I've had problems with that, too. I think in my situation it happened because my top layer was larger (not on purpose!) than the lower layer and it just didn't lay right. It seemed pleated almost when you got to the bottom. I didn't really know what to do. It wasn't a cake for anyone in particular and so I just kind of trimmed it vertically taking some of it out and tried to smooth it together. Hint: didn't work well.
I watched Aine's video. Everything looks so darn easy in videoland!
Lisa
I was wondering if trimming some out would work, thanks for sharing your difficulties. I think the top layers of my cake were also bigger and I thought that was contributing to the problem. I think the dryness of the fondant was also a part of the problem.
What I do is put all my cakes on a cake cardboard the same size as the cake, then put waxed paper under it on the turntable while I ice it and whatnot. I put the fondant on and smooth it down, then use the waxed paper to lift the cake up by the cardboard and push the fondant under the cake cardboard. The fondant will attach itself and rip. This way - no folds or icing leaking out.
that sounds really compicated, sorry. It's not though - promise
Thanks Sayhellojana, that makes sense and I will give it a try when I have a chance. My next few probably won't be covered in fondant so I will have to remember your suggestion. I really appreciate all the advice from everyone.
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