Okay, I have been a user and supporter of Satin Ice since I started decorating. If you go thru my posts you will probably read how I love it and recommended it. NO LONGER! If you haven't heard Satin Ice had some bad batches come out this summer (the start of my terror). I wrote them and complained. They sent me a 20lb white bucket, free of charge, and told me they had implemented new equipment which in turn made them have to change the recipe a bit. This is what caused my bad buckets (the fondant was cracking, tearing and getting elephant skin). But, they told me they had the problem under control. I used that bucket... the fondant still cracked, tore, elephant skin... So, I complained on here. Guess what? Another free bucket arrived! Okay, tried this bucket yesterday. BAD. Actually, I think its worst than the other buckets I had. Huge cracks. The elephant skin is horrible. I cant even make bows, stripes or dots with it. I don't have time to remake this cake so I'm doing the best I can with it. I'm not going to accept the rest of money due on cake when I deliver. I'm sick to my stomach. Here's the best part. I called Satin Ice this afternoon. The woman tells me the problem has been resolved. She says there were on a couple of bad buckets anyway and they replaced everyone's bad stock. I told her I was not asking for any freebies I was just trying to see if the bad fondant problem had been fixed because I'm a Satin Ice user and if I continue to have problems and going to have to find another brand. She tells me that I must be using it wrong (laughing to myself now) and she would have the owner call me and instruct me how to use Satin Ice. I told her I know how to use fondant and I'm using it correctly. I loved Satin Ice and never had any problems until this summer. I again told her I just wanted to know if problem has been fixed or do I have change brands. She hangs up on me! If it was a bad connection or accident she could have called me back! BAD Satin Ice!!!

~Kim

Sorry you had such poor customer care. That would be enough for me to take my business elsewhere, IMHO.

Wow, well I am so glad to hear that there is an actual problem, I truly thought it was just me and I lost my mojo! Well at least I thought that until I went through 5 buckets and they were all crap, and then used some of my massa brand and had no problems whatsoever.

I started to make my own this fall and I am NOT going back. At least if I make a bad batch I know it and haven't paid $60 plus shipping only to open a tub and be in tears 3 hours later!

Thanks for informing us what was actually happening. I had heard some rumors but its good to know that my fondant mojo is still in tact!

I was actually going to post about my recent experience. I'm new to cake decorating so I've only covered one cake before in fondant, but it was Wilton for the class. I needed black fondant so I got a batch of Satin Ice since everyone raves about it. It was horrible! It cracked and even ripped. Thankfully, I had already planned for something to drape down on that area so it was covered. I still have another container, but I won't be buying any more any time soon.

I've changed to FondX. I can't risk running up to when I have to use it for a wedding cake and have it not perform. I've made a few batches of my own, too, but it's not dependable enough yet to risk using it on a wedding cake, either.

I am scared I ordered a bucket last month for my niece sweet sixteen party and if there are bad batches with my luck I will have this issue. I will be switching to another brand

Here I thought my problem with the satin ice was just me. I don't use satin ice usually, I have made my own or purchased pettenice and never have had the problem I had when using satin ice for my granddaughters birthday cake. Thank goodness the decorating of the cake allowed to hide the flaws.

I know, I used Satin Ice for several years but no more...I use FondX now and like it better, and it tastes better too...and its less expensive than the more "upscale" brands.

i just received a 20lb bucket of Satin Ice last Wednesday...i had a cake to do for this past saturday, and i "thought" that it seemed a little bit harder than normal. It seemed as though i had to kneed it much longer than ever before to make it pliable before i could roll it out. I just attributed this to the fact that the UPS guy just put it on my doorstep...I'm in illinois and its been snowy and COLD here. BUT It was in my toasting house for 3 days before I had to use it though. and, it DID tear in one spot (which i was able to cover) and did get some elephant skin on the corners (which i was covering anyway). and it didnt take me overly long to get it the cake covered--no longer than normal....so now it makes me think....hmmmmm? This sucks if they're product has gone to cr*p cuz i did really like using it, the taste was good too - and the price was reasonable. dang!

I use fondarific. I love it. No problems with it yet, just a little operator error every now and then. I just recently bought some Loki Lou Fantastically Fun Fondant from cake supplies for you .com and I cant wait to try it. They were running a special and I got 20lbs for $60 including shipping! I usually pay about 70 for 10lbs of fondarific at a local supply store!

The main reason I do not like fondarific is because sometimes I need to airbrush color or shading onto my cakes, and the airbrushing tends to bead up on it because of the higher fat content. Even mixed with other fondant, it does not take airbrushing as well.

so i'm not the only one! about a month ago i was using the satin ice i recieved in september and nothing i did would make it work! i ended up making my own fondant and throwing the batch out. i was so frustrated =/ i'm going to send in a complaint, i thought it maybe was just the weather or that i was having an off day. thanks for letting us know!

ok...so now I am scared. I have a bucket of Satin Ice Dark Chocolate that I ordered a couple weeks ago. We don't have a cake supply store in my area, so I can't just go out and replace it. (not to mention the money, Christmas is just around the corner) I have to use it on a cake for the 18th...guess there will be lots of prayers over that cake.
When you say "elephant skin"...are you talking about the wrinkle/tearing effect on the edges???
I had that happen on a baby shower cake. It of course was Satin Ice. But I figured it was just me, since it was the first cake I had ever covered using fondant...but now I am thinking maybe not?

I hope they get this problem fixed, as I love the taste of Satin Ice!

I use both PettinIce and SatinIce and I just don't have the problems others have reported. I've used both for years. I've found SatinIce needs to be rolled out on a thin film of veg shortening, but PettinIce which starts out softer needs to be rolled out on a dusting of ps/cs. Have the cake prepared and ready to go, roll the fondant to about 1/4" and pick it up and put it on the cake.

I'm with Leah on this one. I have been using it and haven't had any problems, especially since I started using a piece of vinyl. Once I stopped using ps/cs the elephant skin went away.

mom2twogrlz: Good to know. I just bought a plastic mat today! Can you please explain the "elephant skin" thing???

I'm with Leah too. I only use Satin Ice, and I LOVE it! Never have problems with elephant skin.

I just used Satin Ice last night for the first time. I had just ordered it a week ago from The bakers kitchen, and I thought it was the most amazing think since sliced cheese. It was awesome to work with. I didn't have to kneed it for six hours, It rolled out smooth, and sat nicely on the cake.

I also use crisco to roll it out, but I have a rubbermaid mat for doing pies, and it worked fine. I was so extatic about it, my mom was laughing at me.

I have used Satin Ice in the past and hated it. I now only use Fondarific.

I always have a tub of Satin Ice on hand to use for decorations, dots, stripes, etc. I was using it last night and found that it was drying out in like 4.2 seconds....but I really haven't had an issue with it otherwise. For covering my cakes I always use Choco-Pan...it is marvelous! I highly recommend it.

I just did a cake last night in Satin Ice and had no problems with it at all. the only time I have a problem is with the black sometimes.

I contacted them via email, with a nicely stated letter explaing my problems....
Let me just say, professionalism is NON EXISTING with the person who is replied to my letter!!
I got a reply that said.... "what is the batch"...... not so much as a professional comment, like we're sorry you're having problems etc...
what's worse, is that I didnt keep my BATCH number from either of the last buckets I bought... and they was the HUGE 20 pound buckets so I'm sure this lovely person who contacted me will be more rude when I tell her that I don't have the batch number!
Maybe it's time to learn how to make my own!!

I stopped using Satin Ice after so many problems with three separate cakes and having to redo them.

I've used Fondx and really like it. I also finally started making MMF. Totally loving it.

thank you mom2twogrlz. That is what I was kind of thinking, I had that happen on my first fondant covered cake. I just figured it was my inexperience that caused it. I think I may have had too much ps on it.

Update from yesterday's disaster:

After I finished the cake late last night it looked horrible. I could not sleep because I kept thinking of how I was going to fix it, there was no way I was going to even freely give that ugly thing away. Plus it was for an 11 yr old girls birthday who saw my brochure and begged her mom for one of my cakes. Her mom did not tell her she was buying her cake from me so her mom's idea was to make it look like a present (gift box) and she was going to give her it as one of her presents. This cake did not look like a real gift box. It was a square disaster. Its not easy covering a square to begin with but with fondant that starts drying out within a few minutes (I was working fast because I know how fast it dries), tears, cracks and gets elephant skin every time you move it, it was impossible to cover cake.
I decided @ 4am to start over with cake. I got up and ripped off all the gross fondant. Same thing happened with fondant. It would not stretch without tearing so on the corners of square I just cut fondant flush to corners with scissors. Luckily I was adding stripes. The cake was not up to my standards (I like perfect fondant) but it looked much better than the first. When I delivered cake the mother was excited and couldn't wait for her daughter's bday party so it must not have been as bad as I thought. I am my own worst critic though. I will be buying the Jennifer Dontz DVD because I hear all raves about it and most of my work is fondant covered. I will not go through this again.

~Kim

Last week, I had a 2 tiered cake to do. I had no problems at all with the yellow Satin Ice fondant rolling it out and placing on the square cake, however the black produced a nightmare for me. The cake store is about 45 mins away and I had no time to go get it....plus, I didn't want to just throw out expensive fondant. The black was cracking, tearing and wasn't cooperating....even rolling out on crisco. I was so frustrated after kneading and rolling out for 1.5 hours (which should only take like 20-30 mins. max.) straight and still no luck b/c it was falling apart on me! This happened to me with another batch of their fondant recently too.

So, I got on the phone and called Satin Ice....explained my problem and what the fondant was doing. At first, I thought it was something I was doing. The lady was extremely helpful and I told her I needed an immediate fix since the cake was due the next day. I saw that the ingredients included corn syrup and glycerin. Before I could even ask her about if I could add extra corn syrup to put some moisture back into the very dry fondant....she said to do just that. She suggested like 1 tsp. of corn syrup per 1 cup of fondant and to knead it in....wrap in saran wrap and put in the fridge for only 10 mins. I did this and it still needed more corn syrup...which I added. I also trusted my instincts and added just a little glycerine (the Wilton kind). I finally got my cake covered successfully.

Let me also add, that she sent me a new 5lb container of black fondant for free. She also mentioned that last year they got a new machine for making their fondant and they had cut back on the corn syrup. I was ready to give up on SI and switch but, the extremely helpful and nice customer service is keeping me so far.