What can I use in place of a Fondant Mat? I'm looking for something inexpensive to serve the same purpose.

Buy a yard of clear vinyl, the kind that's sold on a giant roll in the fabric department. A yard costs about three dollars and makes several good-sized mats. You'll have to store it rolled rather than folded, but it's great for fondant work...nothing sticks to it.

I also buy the vinyl by the yard at Wal-Mart for $2.22 a yard. It also comes in different gauges..I like the thinner one so that I can flip the whole thing over onto my cake if it's a very large cake and prevent tearing. I've bought all three gauges but like the thinner one the best. If the vinyl gets creases or wrinkles in it you can heat it with a blow dryer and they fall right out.

Thanks for your response!

[quote="debbief"]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mamawrobin

I also buy the vinyl by the yard at Wal-Mart for $2.22 a yard. It also comes in different gauges..I like the thinner one so that I can flip the whole thing over onto my cake if it's a very large cake and prevent tearing. I've bought all three gauges but like the thinner one the best. If the vinyl gets creases or wrinkles in it you can heat it with a blow dryer and they fall right out.[/quote

I've seen you post about this before mamawrobbin and it sounded like a great idea. So I went out and bought some. LOVE IT! It's all I use now. Mine's on the thicker side though, so maybe I'll go buy some thinner stuff so I can try flipping it over on my cake. Thanks for the tip!!!

You're welcome

Really? It won't stick to the fondant? That's awesome. I've been using a silicon mat but it's got some slitls in it from my exacto knife when I cut out shapes and such so it needs to be replaced soon. The mat cost me $10 ( an only because I found one that was mismarked) so $3 is right up my alley !

I use shortening on my mat instead of powdered sugar or cornstarch, switching to vinyl should affect this right ?