Despite all the trouble Ive had with MMF I still try. Im trying to cover my cakes right now. I have to leave today to deliver this thing at the beach.

When I roll out the fondant its getting lots of bubbles in it. How can I fix this? Some of them are really huge and its just too noticable to use it this way.

Also, I wonder if its still too wet? I dont always add all the PS because for some reason here all we get is 10oz bags of MM so I use less sugar. Maybe I need to add more? When I hold the fondant in my hand it will start to flatten out slowly and ooze a bit from my hand. Not terribly, but it seems more elastic than it should be, but at the same time when I knead it I can see where it is a little dry..like, its not cracking, but it gets a little bit of that elephant skin look. Im so paranoid about making it too dry so this is most likely my problem.

Can this be causing the bubbles?
I really need help asap guys. Thanks in advance.

First, if your fondant is 'oozing' or moving slightly when you hold it immediately after mixing it up, then I would say that's just about right.

Second, when I get bubbles in the fondant as I'm rolling it out, I use a straight pin and poke the holes then roll out a little bit more. The tiny little holes disappear.

It sounds like you need to add more sugar. I dont htink that is what is causing your air bubbles. The only time I get air bubbles is when I'm not kneading it correctly. I try to knead it like bread. Dont pull it apart and fold over a whole lot. I hope you understand what I am saying. Knead it in little folds. I hope this helps.

It sounds like you need to add more sugar. I dont htink that is what is causing your air bubbles. The only time I get air bubbles is when I'm not kneading it correctly. I try to knead it like bread. Dont pull it apart and fold over a whole lot. I hope you understand what I am saying. Knead it in little folds. I hope this helps.

Its a lot of bubbles. I guess I could try poking them. Its just so many though, and some are really big, like an inch. I was wondering about kneading it, like maybe I did it too much or not enough? I think I was kneading it correctly. I dont know how you could knead it wrong though. lol. Seems kind of logical. Ok well I guess Ill go mess with it again. Im not on the verge of panic yet, but give me a few minutes. That might change.

I covered the cake in fondant, it was horrible. It was too stretchy and it just started tearing on the sides. Plus for some reason it looked really lumpy. You could see all the layers of cake underneath. My crumbcoat was very smooth though. Maybe when I put the fondant on I messed up the crumbcoat? How can I avoid seeing the layers through the fondant. I get this nearly every time I attempt this.

I pulled the fondant off the cake and mixed up some buttercream problem solved, no more stress. Im going to figure out this fondant thing one day.

How long did you melt the marshmallows? The only time I had a problem with bubbles, I melted the M longer than two minutes @ 30 second intervals. I read later that one should never melt longer than two minutes.

You may be rolling the fondant too thin, if you can see thru it. Fondant to cover a cake should be between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick, although I have rolled it thicker than this and it turned out fine.

I think it is the way you are kneading it.. try not to fold it over and over.. squish it more.. if that makes sense.. my sister does pottery and says "Think Ram's head" It should be in the shap of a Ram's Head and just roll and push not fold.. when kneading. Hope this makes sense.. it works for me, the only time I have issues with bubbles is when I catch my self folding the fondant over and over. Good luck.. don't stress.. use that pin.. and pop those bubbles..

I didnt roll it too thin. That's for sure. I used the largest rolling pin guides that I had because it was so stretchy that I was worried if it was too thin I would have that problem

I had a thought about what could have caused my problem with the elasticity of it.

I used Rhonda's Ultimate Fondant recipe, which uses corn syrup. Every recipe I have found has said to use a 16 oz bag of MM but for some reason all I can find in my area are 10oz bags. I think I forgot to adjust the corn syrup to accomodate the smaller bag of MMs. Could this be why this happened?

Another thing, I have read "do not use jet-puffed marshmallows.
I also use the mini and use the full 16 oz. My bags are 10 oz as well, so I just add a bit over 1/2 bag of the 2nd one.

I use Rhonda's Ultimate too, and this morning got a ton of tiny air bubbles in my fondant. I will be watching this topic. I have had this happen three times now, out of a handful of cakes I now have under my belt since I started seriously making them in October '09. I WISH I knew what was causing this, but my best guess tells me it is not enough PS, making the fondant too soft, allowing air to be trapped during kneading due to ease in consistency.

Please let me know if you solved your prob, JCE! I would love to know if you ever figured out the culprit.

You know what, I posted this a long time ago. I remember I ended up just doing the cakes in buttercream.

I have made MMF so many times since then. I think I found out a way that works for me. I have been able to get beautiful batches of fondant. Here is what I do.

I grease a large heat proof bowl, dump THREE 10 oz bags of marshmallows in. I sprinkle a little water on the top. Maybe about 2-3 teaspoons worth. I start off melting them for 1 minute. Stir. 30 seconds. Stir. 30 seconds. Stir. 20 seconds. Stir. 10 seconds. Stir. And additional 10 second intervals if needed until they are melted.

When its melted, I immediatly add about 2-3 teaspoons corn syrup and mix well. I dump the melted marshmallows into an already greased stand mixer bowl. I have a 6 qt. mixer now, but my 5 qt mixer worked just fine. I attach the dough hook and slowly add 1/4 cup of sifted PS at a time. Since this is technically a double batch, I will be using two bags of PS. Honestly, the directions say I should be able to use all of the sugar, but Ive never been able to. It gets too thick and dry it seems. If Im doing a double batch, I can usually add 3 lbs. Maybe a bit more. I keep adding until I know the consistency is correct. This took me LOTS of trial and error to figure out the proper consistency.

I add as much PS as I can until I can hear my mixer is not liking it very much. As soon as I hear the mixer start to struggle, I take the bowl off and knead the rest of the sugar in by hand.

Since I starting using my mixer and making my fondant this way, I have had VERY little bubbles, and it seems 90% of the time I get a great batch. Honestly I had so much trouble with this stuff but I was determined. I knew I'd get it one day.

The only time I have problems now is when I add any flavor or color. For some reason it makes my fondant crumble. When I roll it out to put it on a cake, I may see little cracks in the fondant, and when I go to put it on the cake it will crack where it rolls over the edge. Usually this only happens if Im trying to do black or red or some other dark color.

I dont add flavoring to my fondant anymore. Honestly I think it tastes fine without it anyway. And I just recently bought an airbrush so the next time I have to do red or black on fondant I think Ill just try spraying it.

Anyways, your hunch about not having enough PS could be correct as well. I think that was also part of my problem. I also noticed that if I roll out the fondant and I have bubbles, Ill ball it back up and roll it out again and there are less. I dont know if this is because of the extra kneading, or because when you roll it back up you are kneading more PS back into it. Could be both.

Its worth it to get it figured out though because it is soooo much cheaper than buying fondant, and tastes soooo much better. It will work out for you. Just keep practicing. I even posted videos on here of some of my fondant disasters at one point. No clue what thread it's in but it was quite sad. lol.

Good luck!


EDIT: I forgot to mention one more thing. I changed my brand of marshmallows. I ONLY use Aldi brand MM now. Well, actually I think it comes under the name of Baker's Choice. I dont know if you have Aldi where you live. They just recently came to FL like in the last year or so I believe. They are a german grocery store chain. The marshmallows are cheap, too. It's only .75 for a 10oz bag. I buy them in cases of 24 and everytime I go there they look at me like Im nuts when I pull up to the checkout with 3 cases of their marshmallows. This could be part of the good fondant as well. I would not use jet-puffed. I have got to look at the ingrediants between these Aldi marshmallows and other marshmallows. There has to be something different that makes some brands work beautifully and other brands make nasty fondant. It's weird. MMF truly is tempermental.

BTW the cake in my avatar is all MMF. You can make really beautiful cakes with it once you get it right.