thanks so much Michele

I want to circle back now that the cake is complete and say THANK YOU to Michele and those that responded to my initial post!

While the cake was a total disaster the fondant was perfect after a little tweeking last night and this morning. I ended up having to add gobs of glycerin to make it pliable, some Crisco (I read the warning on it thinning out the fondant) and some corn starch (I read about that too LOL) - the result was a perfectly pliable, satin smooth finished fondant on the wreck of a cake we made .

Thankfully it was a practice cake that another cake fanatic and I did attempting to understand the topsy turvy method (which we obviously need MUCH more practice at). She used Satin Ice on 1 tier while I used MFF on the other two. Result - Satin Ice cracked and tore, the MFF was beyond perfect.

We also learned that it was the conditions in my home that has been making the fondant tacky despite lowering the humidity to 42% and working in about 70 degree temperature. The Satin Ice became sweaty and tacky like all my fondant experiences which tells me its not something I'm doing wrong, its just the inside conditions.

Sorry to ramble but again, THANK YOU for the time and effort you have put into helping all those like me not throw in the towel and sell off our baking gear. YOU ROCK!

PS... she wants to start using the MFF and pitch the Satin Ice now

I am so glad that the recipe worked for you and converted your friend. What a huge compliment!

Just to let you know, I have to tweak my fondant every time I make it. The weather conditions here and Oklahoma (where I started) change rapidly. It's normally very humid and hot. Right now it's just very hot. Once the temperature starts staying below 100F, then it will be humid again. When it rains it's crazy humid for days.

Once you learn how it's suppose to look on the bowl and then right before wrapping, you will be tweaking without even knowing it.

Congrats on your cake. My first topsy turvy looked great until it was moved!

Thank you for the update.

Michele

Hi Michele,

Thanks for sharing you recipe, tips and following up with all the questions and concerns!!! I will be trying your recipe in a couple of days. This will be my second time making fondant, but I can't really count the first one since I was just getting started baking and didn't really follow instructions to the t!

I'm in Florida and the humidity is pretty bad. A few weeks ago, for my daughter's bday, the fondant (satin ice) became completely glossy after an hour I'll be working on mostly dummy cakes for styled dessert tables and was wondering how long should I let them dry before I can bring them outside? Also, for an actual cake, would 24 hours be enough time for it to harden and avoid the sticky glossy nightmare?

Thanks again!
Elizabeth

I have converted soooo many people! No more using commercial fondant! I have your book. I love your recipe! Everyone loves your recipe!

Thanks for sharing!

Elizabeth, sometimes adding 2-3 tsps. of tylose to the fondant with help it stand up to high humidity.

If you are wanting to add it to a batch in progress, then mix it with the powdered sugar to prevent slimy lumps. If you have already made the fondant, knead the tylose into the rested fondant. Working in small batches, then kneading all of them together is much easier. Let it rest for several hours before using. It will be firmer and still have flexibility.

Thanks for trying my recipe. I wish I could get it commercialized.

Michele

Michele-

Thank you for sharing your recipe. There are 2 versions of it in the recipes section- which is the correct version?

Thanks again!

Erin

Thanks Michele! Have a great weekend

i have a question regarding the gelatin im from the uk and can only get leaf gelatin how many sheets of gelatin would i need for this recipe?

Just finished the recipe; tastes delicious!!! Used abou 2tbsp and 1tsp of gelatin since that's the contents of three packets of gelatin. Let's see if it works out. I think I didn't add enough sugar since the fondant was pretty stuck to the bowl, but I'll just wait until this evening and add any additional powdered sugar once I'm kneading it. Figured it's easier to fix soft fondant than too firm.

Oh, the recipe yielded 4lbs of fondant (saw the question somewhere) Hope this helps.

Thanks again Michele!

Here's a good article about gelatin.

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2009/04/how-to-use-gelatin/

First MFF test; My fondant felt grainy and didn't stretch out very well. It would shrink back a bit with each rolling. It wasn't sticky or too soft, so I didn't really add much more PS. I covered a dummy cake and it tore a bit.

I still have more than half of the fondant left. Should I knead in more PS or glycerin? I looked through this and other forums and didn't see anything mentioned about the graininess. Also, for some reason, the recipe pages can't be found. I was trying to read the comments to see if anyone else had the same outcome.

Thanks for any advice or feedback!

Elizabeth

Add more glycerin and a small amount of tylose. Use very small amounts, kneading in small batche, then knead all pieces together. Let it rest over night and try again.

I can't give you precise measurements because I don't know exactly how much you have. It sounds like not enough glycerin, too much powdered sugar, and possibly climate problems. Be sure to knead until your arms are putty. Fondant is a workout and an experiment.

Check your corn syrup. If its thinner than honey, make a new batch, use more gelatin, and remember to let the heated mixture cool. It's almost impossible to repair fondant when the syrup mixture is too hot. This adds almost two extra cups of sugar to make it look right - until the next day.

If nothing else, freeze what you have and mix with new fondant as needed for decorations.

HTH

Michele

You're right! The recipe pages disappeared! Thankfully, I have them via Michelle's Book on my ipad.

Maybe someone will chime in soon!

Yippee!!! Success! Had to wait a few days since I ordered the glycerin through amazon. Took the 2lbs of fondant left and broke it into 4pcs. Added a few drops of glycerin to each piece and kneaded on a silicone mat until soft. I had only used about 3.25lbs of sugar for the recipe and left the liquid mixture cool down to 100 degrees so I had a hunch that the extra glycerin would do the job. I skipped the tylose, since I realized that what I actually have is super gum and the fondant's for a dummy cake. It won't be taken outside until completely dried in over a week.

I still didn't get a perfectly covered cake. I definitely need to practice, and improve my covering skills. And it seemed that covering a dummy cake is a bit harder than cake, or is it me?

Once again, thank you so much Michele for being so resourceful and amazing! For the first time, I find myself eating little pieces of fondant while working on a cake!

Michelle or anyone else!

I tried this recipe for the first time tonight... well I started to try it. I got as far as letting the heated mixture cool to lukewarm and I have trouble. Even though I would consider the mixture barely lukewarm it practically solidified. There is no way I'm going to be able to strain this. Did I overhear something? Did I let it cool too much? Is there anything I can do to fix it, or to avoid this happening again?

Thanks!

First of all, thank you very much for sharing this recipe Michele! I'll be giving it my first try this weekend and all the rave reviews I've read have me VERY excited about it

When you color an entire batch, I know you mentioned that it can be colored during the "cooking" stage. I assume if I were to use liquid color (not the grocery store stuff, but proper strength liquid color) that I would decrease the amount of milk or other liquid accordingly. If I were to use powder color instead and sifted it in with the powdered sugar, would the color end up darkening as the fondant rested overnight? I did search the forums and wasn't able to find if someone else had tried this yet and how it worked out for them... but I'm also new to the forums and may have missed it.

Thanks in advance!

I usually color it while its soft right after kneading. I divide the fondant into batches and color them that way.

I colored w gel colors and added it to the liquid. I didn't compensate by removing any other liquids, but I'm sure at the end it evens out w the amount of powdered sugar that you use.

I just wanted to come back and say I finally made this today and it is delicious! I love the texture and the flavor is so much better than premade fondant. It literally melts in my mouth when I eat it. This was very easy to make and feels like it handles well. I cant wait to work with this tomorrow

I do have a question regarding flavor though. Maybe I am just sensitive to the taste, but I can strongly taste the powdered sugar in this fondant. Has anyone come up with a good flavoring combination that would overpower the "powdered sugar" taste?

I've made several flavor variations but always come back to my favorite. I make the recipe, adding 6 oz of white chocolate chips melted with the hot ingredients. Then for flavoring, I use Vanilla and Lorann's cheesecake flavoring. I could just eat it by the spoonful! Give it a try and see if you don't love it, too.

Jan

I tried this recipe for the first time today, as I am making a baby bump cake and it turned out wonderful! I followed the ingredients exact, however I used the old version because it said "updated" and did the 3TBSP of the glycerin, butter and am rolling out the fondant tomorrow. I read many reviews off of that recipe so I'm thinking it'll still be okay that I'm just finding this. 

Just wanted to say I've never made fondant before or tasted it but have heard it tasted crappy but this one was awesome! and I do not have a stand mixture but followed the directions to a T (that I had anyway lol) and it the consistency turned out just as described. Hope tomorrow goes as well 

I got white, blue and black. Side question; I'm hoping my black turns deeper from the dark grey it was after I put it in the plastic to rest, is there an easier way to color fondant to deep black then using a alot of the gel color? with butter cream I know if you start with a chocolate frosting an add black it should darker easier.

Thanks Michele for the awesome fondant recipe!

-Courtney

N.Y.

When I make a dark color, I add powdered food color along with the powdered sugar. Then if it needs tweaking, it is easy to do with just a minimum of gel, added to small balls of the fondant then blended all together to a uniform color.
 

Thank you! I love how everyone helps eachother out on this site. It's really a great thing to be able to answer all your little questions all in one spot :)

The link to the recipe on the first page seems to be broken. I have noticed that I have trouble with some links when I use Chrome, so I tried it using Explorer as well, but no luck. I did send in a feeback form to CC. I was able to find the updated version on a different thread and that link worked.

I've made two batches of this fondant so far, and I agree with everyone that the taste is fabulous. The first batch I flavored with vanilla and LorAnn's Cream Cheese flavoring. The second I did vanilla and added the white chocolate. I generally don't like white chocolate, but this was fabulous. I did have a few issues with the texture, so I probably need to try it again since everyone else seems to be figuring it out. My first batch I cooled to lukewarm using a water bath (not cold, room temp) because it seemed to be taking forever. That may have been the issue ( I also thought it could be that the cream was cold when I added the gelatine so on the second batch I warmed it to room temp). It turned out almost crumbly. Not that dry, but almost reminded me a a crusted buttercream. I ended up using that batch to make quick gum paste for figure modeling.  The second batch I did not use a water bath. I left it a bit soft coming out of the mixer trying to avoid the dryness of the first batch. After resting, it very much had a gelatin type texture. I kneaded in loads of powdered sugar after it had rested for a couple of days and it stayed soft. It seemed no matter how much sugar I added it was still sticky. I did use it to cover the bottom tier of my Owl and Lovebird cake, but it was sooo soft that it really couldn't be effectively smoothed and it really highlighted the imperfections. On the top tier of the cake I kneaded together the remainder of the WC MFF with some Fondarific and that gave me a firmer texture. I'm going to have to give it another go because it just tastes so much better (and less expensive, too). If I can't get it right, the next step will probably be trying the recipe I saw for the combined MFF/MMF. I'd really like to avoid that because a) more ingredients to buy and b) MMF is messy to clean up I hear. Wish me luck.