I'm in tears. It's almost midnight. I have a cake due tomorrow at 1pm. The stenciling alone will take me forever but I can't even get that far. My fondant keeps cracking. My first attempt, there were 2 big cracks. Since I'm stenciling, I couldn't really cover it up so I tore off that fondant and redid it. I've rolled out the second batch of fondant 4 times and it keeps cracking and tearing. It seemed so dry so I added shortening but it's not helping. This cake seemed cursed from baking day and this is the last straw!

If it matters, I'm using Wilton's fondant, which I've used tons of times before with no issue. I'm leaving it white so it's not the coloring.

Try adding some glycerin. This will soften it and add stretch. If you are rolling on powdered sugar or corn starch use as little as possible. Corn starch will absorb moisture very quickly and cause the fondant to be dry.

Good luck. If nothing else, make your buttercream look like fondant and decorate from there.

HTH

Michele

did it work?

I don't have any glycerin. Is there a substitute for it?

Maybe some cooking oil will work. You might try mixing some cooking oil with corn syrup. I have no idea if this will work. Just use very small amounts at a time.

Since your time us limited I suggest that you smooth the buttercream to look like fondant. Let the frosting crust and then smooth it with a Viva paper towel and a fondant smoother. It's very quick and looks good.

Relax, take a break, and then come back to it. It's amazing how a break can reset the brain and all kinds of ideas will come to mind.

Michele

I use MMF so I don't have cracking issues. Sorry this is happening to you. Have you ever used MMF before? It's easy to make and easy to work with. Plus it tastes really yummy.

Okay. I googled glycerin and it seems like people buy the food safe version at Walmart. I called my hubby, who is working a 13 hour night shift and he is running there now to check. I also told him to bring another box of fondant for me just in case. I have the BEST husband in the world.

Thank you for the glycerin tip. I will let you know how it goes. So strange that this box of fondant is acting so weird. I use it all the time and bought it at the same place as always.

Normally, I wouldn't mind buttercream but this is a royal icing stencil over fondant design. I've never tried BC stenciling before and something is telling me tonight is NOT the night to try it out! LOL!

Peetz - I have used MMF a few times before but to be honest, I can't seem to get it consistently right, which is why I fall back to store bought fondant for anything that is important - like this cake. I do like the taste of MMF!!! I just wish I could depend on me getting it right!

I'm sure it will work out - not sure exactly how, but it will. I won't be going to bed tonight though! Thank you for all your help!

U can use a little bit of crisco .. try kneeding it again with some crisco

Sorry you're having so much trouble with it

Hope everything works out for you and that darn fondant will get with the program!

Now once a few years ago when I had some drier fondant than i would've liked and as I am 2 hours from my nearest shop that sells it, and I didn't have enough icing sugar to make my own so out of desperation I nuked it to warm it up, and then I wet my hands, shook them and used what was on them to knead it in, have now done it like that a few times, sometimes twice and it works for me.
I will have to try the glycerin though for sure.

Hubby to the rescue with a new batch of fondant! Cake is covered. Puckered a little at the bottom, but that's all on my ability to work on square cakes, not the fondant. Cake will now have a wider border! LOL!

Still not sure what went wrong with the first two batches of fondant. The only thing I can think of is that I was trying to roll out my fondant on a foam core board. I normally wouldn't do that but I have a tiny counter and it was too small to roll out a piece of fondant this big. My dining room table has grooves in it so I put the foam core down. I think it was sucking up the shortening I was using and drying it out. Maybe I need to buy a piece of plexiglass for cakes bigger than 8 inches (yes, my counter is THAT tiny) Ah, who knows? Now I have to get to stenciling!

As always, thank you for the support. It helps so much to just have someone to talk you down from the roof at 1 am.

I'm so glad everything worked out for you. If you think it was the fondant...go to Wilton.com they will replace it for you. Some students had to do this. It's so hard to say how long the fondant sits on the shelf. However, they are coming out with a better system to let you know how old the fondant is.

Again, I'm glad everything worked out for you

Thanks again, everyone. I delivered the cake this afternoon and they were thrilled. I added the pic to my gallery. Ironically, the stenciling part went off without a hitch and that was the part giving me nightmares all week.