I have a brand new 20 lb bucket of Satin Ice and am having a terrible time with it. It is like it is too dry or old. I have added buttercream to it and I tried adding Crisco but this makes it tear too easily. I thought about calling them because I really think it is a bad batch but I have had several cakes over the past two weekends and had to use it. When I take it out to knead it I see cracking along the folds so its not like I have left it out too long its dry straight from the bucket. The plastic was wrapped tightly but when I tried to lift it out of the bucket the plastic tore into a bunch of pieces. Thank goodness for Sugarshack because taking some Crisco and rubbing it on after I have the cakes have helped some. Luckily the cakes have had either lots of stripes or polkadots on them to cover all the cracking. I have bought Satin Ice in 20 lb buckets many many times and have NEVER had a problem like this. Has anyone had this happen to them recently? Any ideas of what to do? I hate to waste 8-10 lbs of fondant and I cant return it because I had to use so much from the bucket.

I really dont know if I can help you much...but I have heard that there are times people just get a bad batch. I always use fondx for the white fondant and satin ice in red and black . I recently ordered a 20 pound bucket and I am scared to get the results like you did.

I know that rubbing it with crisco will help some minor stretching....I wouldnt add buttercream to the fondant. How about if you knead it, rub it with a lot of crisco, roll it into a ball, wrap it in saran wrap overnight. But I also know that if you add too much shortening it will soften the fondant. Maybe it will get better overnight. Sorry, I dont know the answer. Hopefully, someone with more experience can offer more suggestions

My first experience with satin ice was just like that, it kept cracking and was just too stiff for me no matter what I did, I still remember I cried lol !!!

People love Satin Ice but for some reason it did not cooperate with me and honestly I will never buy it again, I got traumatized lol !!!

No offense to anyone who loves SI.

My first experience with SI was awful too! But I subsequently learned to use Crisco on my hands and a little on the SI and I warmed it in the microwave. Then rolled it out on a very large mat and then flipped it over like Sugarshack shows on her DVD's. That way the bottom becomes the top. Since then, no problems at all. I love it now and don't like to use anything else. I have purchased 20 lb buckets with no problems at all.

We use SI almost exclusively and had issues twice before - both times I suspect the distributor rather than SI itself, when comparing the batch numbers of good and bad buckets, they were the same. I suspected our warehouse at first, but they were basically dry right off the pallet.

We try not to microwave fondant or GP as it deteriorates the material in my opinion - with GP more so than fondant.

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Normita - There is a decorator I have seen at several shows her name is Ruth (sorry forgot her last name) and she is the one that suggested adding a little buttercream to your fondant.

Tobias what would the distributor do to the fondant?

My guess at the time was storage problems - storing improperly for extended period of time. If I remember correctly, we had a problem with like 3 buckets out of 10 with the same batch number.