Hello!
I'm new to decorating cakes, but am very anxious to work with fondant. My question is this: is it better to use it ready-made from a package, or from scratch? Is there much difference in quality or in price? If from scratch is better, does anyone have a good recipe?

Thanks!

You can try the marshmallow fondant recipe on this site, but I prefer to either buy Satin Ice (would never use Wilton) or make my own. I use Collette Peters recipe. It winds up costing about $2 for 2#.

2# pdr sugar
1 T gelatin
1/4 c cold water
1/2 c corn syrup or glucose
1 1/2 T glycerine
1 t flavoring (extract)

Sift the sugar into a large bowl. Make a well in the middle.

Sprinkle the gelatin over the water, let stand for 5 min. Heat until gelatin dissolves. DO NOT BOIL.

Add corn syrup, glycerine & flavoring to gelatin, mix well.
Stir into powdered sugar until combined, then knead until stiff.

Wrap in plastic wrap & store in an airtight container. Let stand 8 hrs, especially if humid.

Use the MMF recipe on from this site. It tastes really good and it is MUCH cheaper than premade. http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-864-Marshmallow-Icing.html

You can add flavorings to this recipe too. It is really easy to work with, I had put off using fondant until this summer. I had a bride that just had to have it. So I made the MMF. It was easy and really fast putting it on the cake.

Now I try to use it as much as I can, because of the ease an speed in putting it on a cake. Compared to spreading and smoothing the buttercream. I had all 4 layers of the wedding cake this summer iced and ready to decorate within 45 minutes. .

My personal fav is Satin Ice...tastes great and easy to work with! MMF is good but a little to sugary for me!

If I want people to eat the fondant, I use MMF. If it's just for decorations, I use the wilton premade. I stocked up on the stuff during a 50% off sale. Great for decorations...not for eating though

I would recommend you at least try a commercially made fondant first so you know what the texture is supposed to be like before you make it.

Personally I never make it anymore... I buy Mill Lane fondant from www.creativecutters.com ... the taste is very nice (unlike Wilton) and I like the texture and the way it rolls out better than any recipe I've tried.

MMF is very easy to work with and cheap. It tastes like taffy which is great, but too sweet to eat more than a few bites. Everyone raves over satin ice. So, I would suggest practicing with the mmf and then buying some satin ice. No sense in practicing with the pricey stuff.

I'm going to second MelC. I'd buy it premade atleast once, so that you have a good idea of what kind of texture you are looking for. After that you can try to make it, either with the recipe shown here, the mmf or Wilton even has a homemade recipe that I have heard is better than their premade stuff.

Thank you all for your suggestions!! Ali, you must have the recipe memorized you typed it up so quick!

Well it's a pretty easy recipe plus I had just made it not 30 minutes before.

I also have one that calls for agar agar instead of gelatin so it's vegan/vegetarian.

I have made the Wilton recipe, and I find it dries too hard. Maybe I'm lazy, but I would use the Wilton pre made over the Wilton homemade. I tried MMF first time last night and I agree with Mrs Missey, good taste, but sugary! I used Wilton raspberry flavouring in it. Works excellent. Have never tried anything else except Regal Ice and Tesco brand Fondant (Bought in England, and still cheaper than pre made here)

MMF it's the best!! So easy to work with! Someone else said to try the commercial kind first, I agree~ When I first made MMF I would have never known what it was supposed to look like if I hadn't used commercial fondant~ Good idea!! My pick is MMF