Cleaning Corn Starch Off Of Fondant?
Decorating By Debster287 Updated 19 Feb 2009 , 3:39am by Debster287
I am at a loss. I do not know how to clean the corn starch off of my fondant and make it look good before it goes on the cake so there is no residue left. I am wondering what technique everyone else uses to have that clean look before applying to the cake after working with the fondant.
hello fellow washingtonian,
I brush the fondant with a dry pastry brush, if it's colored fondant you could try a damp pastry brush, with vodka like mentioned above. Don't brush your fondant with vodka before you put it on the cake though, it would make a big mess if you were trying to smooth wet fondant onto a cake.
good luck
You can eliminate the issue altogether by rolling out on vinyl or silicone or countertop with a smear of crisco. No need for any powders, no extra drying (CS is a drying agent) so no elephant skin, no issue of possible fermentation of leftovers exposed to the CS, and no extra clean up.
Rae
I use a paintbrush dipped in lemon extract and brush the cake. It cleans the cake and then evaporates.
Does this leave the fondant with a matte finish? When I tried to clean the CS off black fondant the fondant ended up with a shine to it. It was ok for what I was doing, but I would like to be able to keep the shine down.
Lemon extract will leave a taste. Alcohol should not. I roll mine out on the blue Ateco mat lightly sprayed with Pam and have no residue to contend with.
Sounds like a good suggestion. I think I need to get one of these mats everyone is talking about. The sad thing is years ago I had one from tupperware to roll out pie crusts, but I never used it cause I had grown up using waxed paper so I got rid of it. Such a shame.
I've used Crisco for several months but it makes it a little to sticky because it adds some moisture.
Just this past weekend I made a cake and rolled it out on Corn Starch for the first time. I was THRILLED with how much easier it was to work with.
After covering the cake and trimming the fondant, I used a dry paper towel and brushed it off. If there were any small little spots that had corn starch in them, I used a little paint brush to brush it out and then swiped it away with my paper towel. If you look in my photos, you'll see the cake. No corn starch. 
More and more lately, I've noticed decorators using a steamer to lightly go over the entire cake when finished. The first person I saw do this was "Buddy" on Food Network Challenge about a year ago... since then I have seen other professionals do it as well. I imagine you would have to incorporate extra drying time to the finished cake once it has been steamed.
I've used Crisco for several months but it makes it a little to sticky because it adds some moisture.
The amount of crisco that I use to smear on my mat is little more than enough to coat two fingertips well. It's not enough to add moisture, only enough to put a thin film between the vinyl and the fondant.
I never turn my fondant over once it's rolled out, either, so the rolled top is the finished surface.
As for steaming, it can set any powders used to dry dust, and it also "melts" the top surface a bit, making the cake mildly shiny. If it's done too close to the cake, or if the steamer spits, it will leave spots and can also pit the fondant.
Rae
I use a kneaded ball of scrap fondant in the same colour as the covered cake that will fit loosely into my cupped hand, and rub it over the finished cake fondant to bring up a nice lustre and remove any traces of corn starch.
that sounds like it would work nicely.
I roll my fondant in PS, but I thought I was a genius when I figured out the steamer trick. I've never seen anyone do it before lol. Oh well, it works like a char, but I'm not sure how well it would work with cornstarch, as I've only used it once, andI wasn't baking out of my own kitchen soI didn't have my steamer to try.
Thank you so much for all of your suggestions. I really appreciate all of the help I get on this website. It makes cake decorating so much more fun.
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