I was given a cake cricut for Christmas, and every time I use it the cuts are very jagged and makes the object which was cut out unusable. Does anyone else have this issue with their cricut?

I got one for Christmas, too - and, after much trial and error, I now love it.

It works best if you use gumpaste, or a mixture of gumpaste and fondant, rolled very thin. You need to brush your mat GENEROUSLY with Crisco, so that you have a clear layer without visible white ridges. Then put your rolled out gumpaste on the mat and roll over it again to eliminate any trapped air or wrinkles. Then trim the excess gumpaste to fit within the margins of the mat. Then FREEZE the mat/gumpaste for 5 minutes or so to solifify everything. While this is going on, I program my cuts and get the machine all ready to go. Then take your mat out of the freezer, quickly load it into the machine, and start your cut. I get about 95% yield on my cuts doing this.

Don't try to cut series of lettering that is very small. I don't do letters less than 1 1/4." When I do have to go smaller, I generally choose block letters and the "backup" or "silouette" versions on the cartridges because they're less fragile.

Once you cut, pull off the excess gumpaste from the mat and let the cut figures/characters sit for a few minutes before you try to remove from the mat. This lets the shortening warm up and the top of the figure dry/setup a bit. Then very carefully remove from the mat, place on wax paper to dry. After a few more minutes you can go ahead and place the figures on your cake.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have questions I can help with. Good luck!

Freezing is the key!