I do not like fondant...I think it tastes funny (at least the ones I have tasted) and I loathe to cover an entire cake in it.
Now I must admit----all of this may be fear talkin'. I really am new at cakes and am self teaching to boot.
Is there a good fondant? Are all fondants really bad? Do people work with them only for the benefit of amazing decoration?
I am willing to admit ignorance. Can you all help? Please.

which ones have you tried? Is it the actual taste or is it the texture you don't like? I ask because of my son's reaction. First time he tasted it, he made a face and said, "I don't like it." I asked, "What don't you like about it?" He finally figured out "It TASTES ok .... I just don't like the texture." But his first reaction was "I don't like it".

If the issue is flavor and not texture, give these brands a try: Choco-Pan or Fondarific. Choco-Pan is made from chocolate and does taste good and I've had very good success working with it. Fondarific comes in flavors from buttercream to various fruit flavors. Really delicious!

Have you tried MM fondant...Taste better and for my personnal opinion I like to work with it better..

Agree - MMF is good, too! And I've had good luck working with it as well. The chocolate MMF is REALLY yummy!

MMF (marshmallow fondant) can be flavored just about anyway you want, you make it yourself so it's cheaper too.

I'm guessing that your issue is a texture one. Unless you are actually tasting Wilton fondant, that stuff tastes like cardboard smells (IMHO). I completely understand the texture issue, my hubby and daughter have texture issues with their food.

I have only tried Satin Ice and it tasted fine to me, but I would prefer to make my own, based solely on price and easy of aquisition. And this is coming from someone that previously had zero luck with it. One day everything clicked with me and fondant.

Same question, which have you tried?

Personally, I like the taste and texture of Satin Ice. It's easy to work with and comes in a variety of colors.

Ok, to be honest I have only tasted my own home-made. It's the shortening. I can't get past the greasy, icky feel of the shortening. When I make buttercream frosting I use real butter and some shortening....not so gross...but the fondant is so greasy so I add more and more conf. sugar..ook. All your posts have made me think though. It truly is because of what I 'think' about the fondant. I will try the others starting with the Satin Ice and then MMF. But I admit that I can feel my resistance. Maybe once I do it, fondant will 'click' for me too. I thank you all for your thoughts and useful advise. And I also ask...do clients ever dislike the fondant? I have never had anyone ask me specifically for a fondant covered/decorated cake.

Try Chocopan and you will start loving fondant--seriously. I also think Fondx taste good and Chocolate Satin Ice. As for vanilla Satin Ice, it's ok.

MMF does not have to be greasy, but I know where you are coming from, the first few times I made it I had that problem. I only use enough crisco to lightly coat the bowl I melt the marshmallows in and the bowl of my mixer, that's it. The rest of the liquid is flavoring and water, a total of maybe 3 tablespoons.

Chocolate mmf is great! Fondx tastes really good.

If you are going to make your own, I would highly suggest Michele Foster's fondant (MFF). You don't add any shortening to it, just a couple tablespoons of butter. You can use a tiny amount while kneading it, but other than that, it's just sugar, gelatin, corn syrup and butter all melted together and mixed with powdered sugar. And it is delicious, really. It melts in your mouth, much better than Marshmallow fondant (in my opinion).

while I think homemade fondant is best, my problem is that it's never consistent, sometimes it rolls out nice, other times it doesn't. I've had some major issues at critical times with my homemade fondant that has made me decide to use Fondarific for covering cakes and MMF for accents.

Thank you all so much for your answers and advise. I think I have learned something critical in my cake decorating experience. After posting here and reading sevral books on fondant decorating, I came to see that for me the attraction to cake decorating is the 'drawing' part. I have always liked drawing/coloring/writing. I have never enjoyed sculpting. It occured to me that much, yet not all, fondant use is likened to sculpting with the hands. So my conclusion is that I am a buttercream girl until something changes (Although I think the fondant cakes that you all make are absolutely incredible!!)