Hi Im new at cake decorating but am having soooo much fun with it! I have experiemented with the store bought wilton fondant and have also made the marshmallow creme fondant. I like the way the store bought fondant looked but it seemed to taste funny and rubbery? I love the way I could flavor the marshmallow fondant, but it wast kind of shiny and a little more melted look. Does anyone have any suggesstions or recipes?

I really think the Wilton fondant is the best to work with--it has a great texture and consistency. Unfortunately, it does lack in the tasting good department so I reserve it only for making non-edible things. MMF is good, but the texture of it bothers me--not quite sure what it is. Maybe it is too dry for me. I like Satin Ice--that is at the top of my list. It tastes good and very easy to work with. The only problem I find with it is that it is a little too much on the soft side. But I deal with that.

I love satinice fondant. I've used MMF and I agree, it's kinda shiny. But it tastes ok. I've heard great things about fondx and chocopan, but haven't tried them yet.

I like the taste of Satinice however Wilton is easier to work with. I haven't tried any other ones yet.

I've made Toba Garrett's recipe and found it didn't stretch very well, but tasted good. Wilton is good for making bows as it dries better than MMF, which is better tasting.
I also think MMF and Wilton both cover cakes well.

So the satin ice is obviously the favorite but how difficult is it to work with? I have been tasked with making my grandmothers 75th birthday cake for her party and I am scared to screw it up! No pressure! My first attempt with fondant resulted in a tear or 2 so I am a little nervous and I am leaning toward buttercream -I know - Chicken!!!! Any advice?

SatinIce is not hard to work with at all. I roll it on a silicone mat, but others roll it between two sheets of vinyl. It is my ready-to-roll fondant of choice.

Shortening works better than cornstarch for rolling out fondant, as it does not make it dry out the way cornstarch does. Powdered sugar also contains cornstarch, so I stay away from that, too.

Theresa

I wasn't thrilled with FondX although many like it. Too chemical-tasting for me.

Satinice and Pettinice taste better.

MMF is too grainy for my tastes.

It is a matter of personal taste and expectations. I worked with FondX for the first time two weeks ago, while taking advanced lessons. It did not handle all that well, as it took a long time to knead it soft enough to work with. I have been told on many occasions that it holds up well in hot weather. I believe that, because I have very hot hands, and even I could not get it to soften easily.

I was not happy with the taste or smell, either. It was much sweeter than SatinIce, with a very strong scent of vanilla - so much it was annoying.

Until I find a recipe I like, I will stick with SatinIce.

Theresa

If I were covering a cake I would use MMF. I have had good luck with and like the taste. I haven't tried Satin Ice though. I figured since I like MMF and the costs is MUCH less, I'll go ahead and keep using that.

Just bought 10kg of Pettinice, tried a little blob, and it tastes as good as the stuff I make myself (which is very pleasant). I don't know how it is to handle yet though! I've only been able to get my hands on Renshaws Regalice up to now, and that stuff maks me want to vomit - it has a really nasty taste IMO!

I just tried FonX for the first time last week and I love it! I thought the taste was good--neutral sweet and no chemical taste. (Though it did have an artificial vanilla smell, it didn't taste that way to me) I love that it can be refrigerated, too. It had a nice, matte finish.
It's interesting that someone earlier mentioned it being too stiff. I thought, if anything, it was a little on the soft side. We must have received different batches.

I still haven't tried Satin Ice, but I've mostly heard great things about it.

I tried Pettinice once and I will never use it again. The taste was OK, though not great. I had terrible problems with it tearing and stretching, though, and was up all night trying to cover a 3-tier cake with it. I had never had fondant problems before like I had with it.

MMF tastes fine and is cheap, but I don't like the finish as much as that of commercial fondants. I also have trouble getting the right consistency.

I've tried MMF, FondX, White Chocolate fondant, and Wiltons. I find the white chocolate fondant the best tasting, but not the best to work with. It gets really soft really quick and it tears. Wiltons works well but tastes icky. I liked the taste of Fondx but it kind of has this elephant skin texture. So the winner hands down until I test other fondant is MMF. It tastes great, and it covers really well. Of course you have to make it yourself, but on the upside, you can develop your byceps! So with MMF, you win all the way!

MMF tastes good and is very inexpensive to make... as far as drying, it doesn't dry well, so if you're making bows or other things that need to hold a shape, use Wilton. It's great for that kind of stuff, it just tastes terrible... I've used Satin Ice and the taste is wonderful; however, the price isn't so wonderful lol ... it's fairly expensive... I've use pettinice, it also taste wonderful, but it is also expensive... it and SatinIce tend to stretch rather easily too; however, they're nice to work with...

FondX and Satin Ice are at the top of my list.

Wilton is such a poor quality product and it tastes just awful. You can use it to practice on dummy cakes but if you want to cover an actual cake for eating purposes I would suggest Fondx as a first choice, it smells and tastes good and is so nice to work with. Second would be Satinice, it comes in wonderful precolored form as well.
Many people make their own Marshmallow fondant and like it, I have never had much success with it. I find the consistency isn't the same each time.

Hey, Funnycakes --

Which MMF recipe did you use? I needed some fondant for decorations, so I used the MMF recipe that uses the marshmallow creme instead of the melted marshmallows. I found it to be too sweet for me to serve, but it was nice and smooth. After I mixed it with some gumpaste, it worked very well.

The nice part about it is, I only needed a small amount of fondant, so I just used 1 cup of MMCreme, and kneaded just enough PSugar into it to "make it work (thank you, Tim Gunn!)."

Here's the link to that recipe.

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipes_fileid-print-recipeid-2148.html

Theresa

I got a recipe from Country Magazine or something a year ago and I really like it. It is as follows.

1/2 c shortening (I have used Crisco)
7 1/2 c powdered sugar
10 tbsp light corn syrup

Beat crisco until light and fluffy. Add half the sugar and beat until crumbly. Add the corn syrup and mix. At this point I put my douh hook on my mixer and keep adding remaning sugar until I can't anymore. You may need to scrape down the sides in order to mix it well. Then when I am working with it I use the extra sugar I have.

Can anyone tell me where to purchase the FondX or SatinIce? I'm VERY new to cake decorating and have only used the Wilton and the first time I put some in my mouth and chewed it I almost gagged. It tastes like GLUE! It wasn't difficult to work with (but it's my only reference so far) but the taste is YUCKY. I'm a little scared to make my own MMF because I'm still SO new to this.

Been working with Pettinice - seems to be a bit cheaper, but everyone loves it and it works well.

Don't be scared to try MMF, it is so inexpensive to make, get the ingred, go be the recipe in the recipe section and play with it, I started by making cut out pieces and borders etc before I ever covered a cake with it to just get the feel of it.

Okay I've only used MMF and I LOVED it...+ the batch/rec. I made, made a ton of MMF. So I covered an 8" round, put ribbons and a big bow on a 8" square and 6" round stacked cake, and I still have enough left over to do another 8" round (I think). So, I love it, and it wasn't shiny or dry at all and I used corn starch to role it out...

I use Colette Peters' recipe that is in her books- it's not that difficult to make and tastes so much better than Wilton- I will never go back to that stuff!!

I am also very new to cake decorating. I started using the Wilton's Fondant. I like working with it but the taste is awful. I did try the MMF recipe from CC and loved it. I haven't used the others that people are commenting on but would like to know how the taste of the Satin Ice compares to the MMF.

Wow. All of you have been a huge help! I've decided, after your words of encouragement, to go ahead and make a batch of MMF from the recipe on here. I do have one more box of Wilton fondant so I'll use that to practice flowers. There's NO way I'd ever put that nasty-tasting on a cake that I planned on giving to someone. I'll let you guys know who I do w/ the homemade MMF!

I'm so glad to see this topic. I just worked with Satin Ice for the first time and found it to be kind of dry, and didn't taste that great to me. I've never used Wilton because I've heard it's icky.

So-- what about rolled buttercream? Any thoughts on that one? Also-- didn't have much luck with MMF-- maybe the recipe wasn't the best.

Any suggestions?


Melissa

I've ALSO been wondering about rolled buttercream. So far, just from what I've read on this site, it's pretty difficult to manage because it gets sticky very quickly. I bet it tastes great though, considering how delicious buttercream is. I made chocolate buttercream for the first time the past week and I've decided I want to be buried in it. It's heavenly!

I'm talking a Wilton class & my instructor gave me the tip of adding just a bit of either peppermint essential oil to the fondant and that makes a difference.

I've wondered about adding flavor as well. OK-- the Satin Ice is pretty pricy to me and that does factor into things. I've worked with the rolled buttercream for a long time now for my cookies and really like it. I've learned to handle it - just takes time. I do like the taste of it as well.

A lot to learn it seems.

Melissa

The thing to remember is that a little goes along way. The first time I did it I added way too much. I realize that I didn't explain the process: I was told to open the fondant and massage a little with some crisco & gum paste if the decoration needs it and that point you add the essential oil.

There is one brand sold in Oregon that tastes great but is very pricey.