What is going on? I'm trying to cover a small cake with MMF and it isn't cooperating! It's tearing (and I'm not putting it on that thin) and the texure is funky. What did I do wrong? Can I fix it? It feels almost gritty.

Too dry is the only thing I can think of. ? the gritty feeling is probably the dryness &/or the powdered sugar. did you sift your PS? I have found that is a must when I make my MMF.

Try pulling it off, & if it's in okay condition (not too much piping gell or BC stuck to it) wad it up & throw it back in the microwave for about 5-10 seconds. rub a bit of crisco into it and knead again.

HTH

This happened to me once. It wasn't gritty but it was cracking everytime I went to manipulate it or cover the cake. It was after I had coloured it a deep red and I think there was too much colour paste to MMF ratio or something.

So I just added a small wad of plain MMF to the cracking MMF and some glycerin and kneaded it all together. I had to microwave it a few times at 10 second intervals to warm it enough to blend it all together but eventually it did come together.

You may need to make some more MMF to do this. I happened to have some extra at the time.

I did try just glycerin alone at first (which is usually suggested as a good way to fix dry MMF) but that did not work for me. It wasn't until I added the additional MMF that it actually came together. I think it was needed to provide the elasticity.

HTH...Good Luck!

Was this your 1st time with MMF or was it just something weird that happened this time?

Adding glycerine usually works unless there is too much PS, in which case it would be easier to just make a new batch than try to fix it. Did you remember the water when melting the MMs?

Did you use 16 oz MMs to 2 lbs PS? I know a lot of store brands sell 10oz bags of MMs and others have made that mistake. (I stick with Wal Mart brand MMs and PS for consistency).

Macsmom wrote:

Hahaha! I did this without thinking one time recently. I knew that I had bought 10oz bags, but my brain out to lunch when I began making my MMF. It was a mess! I tried to fix it by nuking some more mm's & adding to my really dry lump of MMF but that only made it worse.

By this point my brain had clocked back in from lunch & I hollered for DH to come and pour some more PS into the sticky wad of goo that was stuck ALL over my hands. It actually worked itself out in the end, but it sure was funny while it was happening.

I've only made MMF once, and mine was the same way. It cracked, tore and felt gritty, but only after I kneaded in the food coloring. I think I kneaded it too long (is that possible??). Anyways, I worked in LOTS of extra Crisco and popped it in to the microwave for another 30 seconds (10 seconds at a time though!!), and it worked. It even tasted good!