Hi all,

I'm troubleshooting here as I've run out of ideas.

A while back I bought a fondant/clay extruder to help me so that I didn't have to keep rolling out long strings of fondant and spend ages getting them the same thickness.  It's one of the green metal ones with the screw handle so in theory it should be the easiest thing on the planet to use.  I've watched numerous tutorials on YouTube and no one else seems to struggle...

The issue I have is that when I put the fondant in I end up having to turn the screw so hard to get the fondant to come out that it hurts my hands!  The fondant then dries out before I have a chance to use it as it comes out soooo slowly!

I've tried warming the extruder up, warming the fondant up to soften it (and a mixture of both) but nothing seems to solve the problem.

Any suggestions please?

Work a little bit of fat into your fondant first before you put it in your extruder. In Australia I use Copha - in the states i guess Crisco would do the job. Make sure it's well incorporated and then try it out. Don't add too much as the fondant will get very soft. Try a little first and if you're still having trouble add a little more. I probably use 1/4-1/2 tsp fat for enough fondant to fill the extruder.

It's life changing believe me!

I had tried that option too but maybe I'm just not adding enough.  In the UK we have Trex. I'll try more of that and see if that helps. 

Thank you! :)

If that's not working there's a problem either with your fondant (unlikely if you can roll it out to cover a cake) or the extruder itself. Has it ever worked easily? Maybe try taking it apart and scrubbing all the parts including the screw thread. Does it turn ok without fondant in it?

The fondant itself is really good stuff, I use it all the time for decorating cakes.  The Extruder works absolutely fine without fondant in it too. It's just as soon as the pressure hits the fondant in the tube it starts to struggle.

I'm so confused....

Try microwaving it more.
Make it super soft, too soft to work with it for anything else...quickly put it in the extruder and go.
Once the snake is out, don't touch it right away or it'll stretch.

I've made mine too soft accidentally before...normally I just warm it, then quickly knead in some Wilton brand glycerin (which looks and feels just like baby oil).
I  do this so the snakes come out completely smooth...no marks, not because it's hard to extrude...mine is so easy I do it w/ one finger. It's the Makin's green one that you have.

(I tried kneading the glycerin into the fondant first, then warming it, then extruding...it didn't seem the same. That may just be in my head though)

try to grease the inside of the extruder with Crisco, I use my pinky finger to grease the whole tube and that seems to work for me.

FlourPots - I'll give that a go.  I did accidentally overheat the fondant when trying this once but didn't put it in the Extruder that way because I thought it would get stuck because it was so gooey.   I'll give it a go and let it cool once it comes out before trying to handle it. 

Ann-Jannae - I'll also try greasing the whole inner tube.  I did grease the disc where the fondant comes out in the hope that would help but that didn't either.  Maybe the whole tube needs it.

I suspect I'm doing something wrong in all areas but I'm hoping I get there in the end - rolling ropes with the smoothers is such a chore!   :)