I too use the vinyl that you get in the fabric dept. to roll my fondant out on. I've been using MMF and using a tiny bit of shortening on the vinyl and my rolling pin. No sticking! I can just pick up the vinyl with the fondant on it and flip it over on my cake. Just peel the vinyl off and smooth your fondant on your cake! With larger cakes I usually enlist an extra pair of hands!

I got this tip on coloring fondant from Doug here on cc. It works like a charm, you can see my dark red & blue came out really nice on the Twins cake I did. He is amazing! Thanks for all the tips, love them!

do it like pulling taffy.

1) flatten ball.

2) add drops of color

3) fold ball so color in center.

4) roll out into long rope

5) fold rope over on itself in thirds (or if more talented than I, on itself in half TWICE -- so that would be fourths?)

6) twist

Repeat steps 4-6 over and over until color is smooth.

much easier than kneading.

and can add little drops of color to make darker at step 5

Everyone talks about kneading to the right consistency. Should that be like a can of fresh playdoh and not stick to your hands? Wouldn't it be nice if we could have these discussions over a cup of coffee!!!!!
Thanks for all the information.
Lilybird

mm.. what is MMF?

Its Marshmallow fondant!

what is a good trick to get even thickness after rolling out fondant if you cant find the rings for your big fondant roller??? Anybody have any suggestions?

This has been great! I think I knead to roll on over to the grocery store and grease the palms of the cashier with some dough to get the ingredients for some fondant! hmmmm this could become a great "couples" exercise getting the fondant to "feel right" Thanks to all who have responded to this post. What a great support group!
Have a happy cake day!

My best tips are to smooth the fondant with a smoother before I pick it up with the rolling pin..
My second bit of advice would be to touch it as little as possible with hands...use a tool/smoother when possible..
I use PS to roll out with...I use McCalls brand fondant (Canada)

I seem to get alot of air bubbles in my fondant I believe it's from kneading it. Any ways to avoid them?

using too much crisco can ruin your fondant! If using crisco to roll out... use spairingly!

Keep fingernails very short!

I hardly ever use MMF due to the fact that I get tiny hard pieces of something in the dough. It must be hardened sugar, but I don't know what I am doing wrong. The first time I made MMF it came out perfect. Haven't been successful with it since... keep getting these little hardended pieces in it. They seem like the sugar has crystallized. Anybody know what I am doing to cause this? I now buy the fondant, but it really cuts into the profits. Help, anyone???

foots2 - on the bottles, the sugar will keep cooking a bit when you take it out of the microwave, so watch the color closely and wear some kind of heatproof gloves if you can so you don't burn yourself!

Can't wait to see the pictures!

Oh - and with fondant I always wear gloves - no color on my hands and keeps me from getting figerprints in the fondant!

Suzian -- that baby cake is just darling. Did you design that yourself or did you find a pattern somewhere? The color is just perfect. Thanks for sharing the picture.
Lilybird

Also, I was wondering if maybe you kept it in the microwave just a little too long? Someone pointed out earlier it keeps cooking a little after it's taken out..

I don't really work with fondant yet, so I'm not positive, that's just a little guess.


Good luck! I hope you can start using it again.

I sometimes roll mine out on a piece acetate or vinyl from the fabric department. It's clear so I mark on the counter the size I need and place the sheet over it. Then I just flip it onto the cake.

I use the shiny side of freezer paper to roll out my fondant. I have to use very little crisco and if I don't want any distortion, I use a rotary cutter (with a self-healing mat under the freezer paper!) to cut my pieces and then brush a tiny bit of water on the fondant, apply to cake and peel off the paper. This has saved me a ton on headaches!! Also, I only use Wilton fondant for figures and dummy cakes (it's cheaper at 40% off) and I use Satin Ice on real cakes!

I am so thrilled to see this post this morning!!! Because I actually had a fondant type question to post...
What type of surface have you found (or do you use) to roll your fondant out on? My countertops are all textured just a little, but it makes rolling out (and lifting off) a nightmare!!

I have a tip that I found out the hard way this past weekend...the weather here in AR is so unpredictable, that you never know how things are going to turn out. So when making my MMF, I think that I overcompensated for the rainy weather by adding too much ps. and I kneaded for 1 1/2 hours, adding small amount of shortening and nothing helped. I put the MMF in my KA, added a tad of water and some corn syrup and let the machine knead away!! It helped, not perfect but well enough to be able to cover Lightning McQueen in my photos....whew, what a save!!

I roll my fondant out on one of those flexible pie dough rolling mats (not sure of the techinical term for it). Had it for years and I think I bought it through current. Believe my mom had one years ago from tupperware. I also use powdered sugar to roll out the fondant. If I get a minor tear or need to mend a seam, I use a little of Wilton's clear vanilla and rub my finger over the area to blend - usually works well for me.

Haven't tried making MMF yet. I have bought both Choco-Pan and Satin Ice fondant with very little problems.

Questions to others: When placing fondant accents on fondant, I use the vanilla again - works great. But what do you use when placing fondant on buttercream? The first time I did this I just used buttercream as the "paste" but didn't get the effect I wanted.

Great posts! Thanks for all the advice!

thanks for keeping this thread going! I have a question: what is the best way to determine the amount of fondant needed?? http://www.wilton.com/wedding/makecake/fondant/fondantamounts.cfm
The Wilton chart states ounces - how do I translate to a recipe? Is there a way to roughly say using 2 lbs of PS will give you X ounces of fondant? Does this make any sense to anyone? If I wanted to cover a 14, 10, and a 6 that is 4 inches each tier, how many recipes of MMF or Toba Garrett's would I need???? Which of the 2 is easier? After all the posts about the MMF, I am afraid of it.

mjpbmf - I just use a little bit of water on the back of my fondant decorations to stick them on buttercream.

DCHall - Thanks! I will try that next time!

Okay...

Who can tell me how to get perfectly cut/smooth edges when trimming fodant aroud the base of the cake? I ALWAYS have to use a border to cover my flaws

thank you Mia so much!!!! I remember that show now!!!