I see videos on lifting fondant (over a rolling pin, or with a cake board underneath) and placing on the cake. I see people flipping over their rolled out fondant on cornstarch with no issues.

My fondant must be the wrong texture because I can't do this! The only way I can cover a cake is to roll it out on the wilton mat thing and then place it down on my cake and peel away the mat. I tried rolling on cornstarch and another time on crisco on my counter. When I go to pick it up, it stretches out of shape.

Any idea what's wrong? I've been using MFF lately and adding extra glycerin because if I don't, it's dryish looking and gets millions of pock marks when I roll it out. With extra glycerin, it's perfectly smooth on my cake. Am I making it too soft? I tried using more powdered sugar one time and it was even worse as far as the dryness/pockmarks, and used less another time, both times seemed to have the same stretching problem. And i don't know if that's true of MMf or not because I had never tried using it any way but on the mat, but I won't go back to the mmf because nothing I do rids it of the little marks.

I swear, it might just be time to bite the bullet and buy pre-made fondant, but how come everyone else can get the homemade stuff to work and mine is just constant frustration??

Have you ever tried MMF? I haven't used MFF, but I do use MMF and it works great for me. I can lift my fondant w/ no problems.

Yeah, if you see above I used to use MMF but cannot get it to roll smooth, I get hundreds of pock marks, and I have tried all the troubleshooting tips. THat's why I moved on to MFF.

Sorry, I somehow missed that part of your post. I wish I could help you with MFF, but I can't since I've never tried it. Maybe try PMing Michele Foster.

The last few times that I have made fondant it has been entirely too soft. It took me a while to figure out the problem, but I finally did. The corn syrup is VERY thin. It seems that the manufacturers of corn syrup have decided to add more water to their product. This was the same for the name brand and generic.

My suggestion for this is to reduce the amount of corn syrup for a single batch by 1/4 cup. I have not had the opportunity to try this so I don't know if it is a fix or not. Another idea is to add more gelatin (I don't know how much) or even add some tylose (again, I don't know how much). It's going to take some experimentation to work around the new and less desirable qualities of grocery store corn syrup.

HTH

Michele

Thank you, how interesting! I'll try less corn syrup next time. I assume then, that what I am looking for is a firmer texture but not dryer texture? Because if I just add extra powdered sugar, I think it'll be dry rather than firm. The time that I tried 3 tbsp of gelatin, the result was a much denser, firmer fondant. Maybe that was more toward the right path, though in that case I was never able to get it smooth on my cake. Oh well, experiments to try!

I tried more gelatin and I didn't like it, but I haven't tried less corn syrup. We'll just have to keep experimenting!

Has anyone found a process that will fix the corn syrup problem? I am going to be doing 3-4 batch of fondant in the next week or so and I would really like them all to be perfect.

thanks,

I don't use all the powdered sugar that my MMF recipe calls for. I only use enough to get a consistency that's not too thin or thick. I think if I used the entire amount it would be so stiff I'd never be able to roll it out. I've never had issues with pock marks but I knead it pretty good before I wrap it up to let it sit a day or two before using.

If you want to try rolling the fondant onto a pin or something to transfer it to the cake, try using a piece of PVC pipe (you can get at any hardware store) that's bigger around than a normal rolling pin. It's easier rolling fondant around a large pipe that's 5 inches in diameter than a rolling pin that's only a couple inches in diameter. Just use some corn starch to keep the fondant from sticking onto itself.

Instead of using powdered sugar or cornstarch I use Meringue powder and I rarely have problems. I use Wilton rolled fondant I buy it in the large pack and freeze what i don't use. I don't make cakes frequently as I am just starting to dedicate time to cake making so I have yet to need a larger volume.

I rarely use all the powdered sugar that MMF calls for, but I'm planning to use Michele's recipe and I was wondering if anyone had figured out a quantity of corn syrup that works since it seems to be more watery than it used to be. I'll make a batch tomorrow following Michele's suggestion and see how it works for me.