I'm working on my first life size 3-D football helmet tonight. Due tomorrow. Everything was going fine till I went to put the fondant on and it tore beyond repair. It seemed kinda dry after I mixed the color in so I was afraid something was going to happen. The team is St. Louis Rams so the color is a really dark blue. I mixed regular blue with black and was happy with the color but It probably took me half an hour to get the color right or at least where I was happy with it. It took a lot of color and of course I was mixing powder sugar in as I go. What dried my fondant out like this? Was it the amount of color, the extra powdered sugar or what? I'm about to try again, I dont have an air brush. Any advice you can give me would be great. I'm running out of fondant and its getting late. HELP!!!! Sorry so long.

is the fondant savable? could you take it off without getting too much frosting in it and re-nead it? if it is dry you would want to add some shortening to it and try and roll it again..maybe you rolled it too thin also?

Not savable. It fell apart as I was taking it off the cake and had lots of icing on it. I'm sure it was not to thin but maybe it was to thick. I was trying to keep it on the thick side so it would stretch better. As soon as I layed it on the top of the cake, it began to rip all over.

Sounds like it needed some shortening due to all the extra powdered sugar that was added.

Are you making MMF....if so when I need a dark color I add the color to the melted marshmallows first before mixing in the PS, I also end up using the entire 2lb bag of PS and add about 2 T of shortening to the mixing process.

HTH and good luck with your next batch!

yea...you don't want to stretch your fondant as you put it over the cake. You have to think of it as just putting a blanket over your cake and then smoothing it out.

if you have enough fondant for another try make sure that you knead in a little bit of color at a time. while you are doing your color don't add powdered sugar. if after you color your fondant and you think your fondant is too sticky then add a little PS at a time until you get the desired consistency. then roll it out to about 1/4 inch thick and lay over your cake. you cake should just have a thick crumb coat over it instead of the cake being totally frosted as if it was a final frosting. this will also help for when you smooth out the fondant you won't get frosting pushing out all over the place.

Of course, given how the Rams are playing this season, a little roughed up is probably appropriate!!!

No help, just had to comment. And I do live in the St. Louis area..

Well, I just covered this cake for the 4th time tonight. I am worn out. I was able to salvage some of the fondant from the first try and added shortening to it. The same thing happened. The 3rd time, I used some of the same salvaged fondant and added some new. Tried not to mix much PS in and still it tore. And they say third times charm. LOL! Threw it all away and opened another box, added the color and it was looking pretty good at first but then once again, it tore in the back but I've decided i'll just have to deal with it and hope the cake turns out half decent. I'm really thinking that it has something to do with adding so much color to the fondant. Maybe Santa will bring me an airbrush for Christmas this year. Thank you to everyone who responded to my late night cry for help! Now for the face mask........... If I never do this cake again, it will be to soon.