Chemical Reaction Between Fondant And Cornstarch?? What?
Decorating By The_Sugar_Fairy Updated 5 Dec 2010 , 8:25pm by Bonnie151
late to the party but I use cornstarch. Norm may not use it but Colette and Nick Lodge sure do.
Yes they do.
I also agree with Texas_Rose that using cornstarch is a no no when marzipan is in the mix. I've always used cornstarch and probably always will. I never use marzipan so I don't have any issues with it.
Another thing about powdered sugar vs. cornstarch - powdered sugar helps mend any tiny tears that you get because the ps melts into your fondant. Cornstarch can cause the little tears or make them worse. But, I still use cornstarch most of the time. I have found that since using Fondarific fondant, I have less of either one and rarely ever get any tears or elephant skin.
I had never heard of this. Thanks for posting!
Fermentation is more likely to occur when covering fruitcakes.
Its not just when covering a marzipan covered cake with sugarpaste, but when using the cornflour to roll out the marzipan itself and then the cornflour comes in contact with the fruit cake, im not quite sure why this occurs with fruitcake in particular but i do know that there can be serious issues when doing it this way...
Althought I'm sure if you leave ANYTHING sit out for a week, it will taste "funny"! 
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very True!! lol 
Jodi
Very educational thread! I always like knowing the scientific reasoning behind things!
Althought I'm sure if you leave ANYTHING sit out for a week, it will taste "funny"!
I beg to differ - I've had my Christmas fruit cakes baked for weeks now, and they will taste nothing but fabulous in a few weeks time
Oh no not always true--we all leave stuff 'out' for weeks, gum paste work, fruit cakes are 'left out' for months. The last wedding I did I made hundreds of flowers with fondant plus <oh my oh my> cornstarch and we just snacked on the leftovers forever. They tasted like raspberry candies.
Now if a fondanted cake ferments that would be a pure tragedy, but it's never happened to me and I do not use cornstarch in my rolled fondant cakes.
I think it's a good thing to know and to watch out for but I'm not making any changes.
Very educational thread! I always like knowing the scientific reasoning behind things!
Althought I'm sure if you leave ANYTHING sit out for a week, it will taste "funny"!
I beg to differ - I've had my Christmas fruit cakes baked for weeks now, and they will taste nothing but fabulous in a few weeks time
Aggh, you reminded me that I didn't bake my fruitcakes yet! I'll have to do them the quick (and inferior) way with less soaking time.
My friend's mom was from England and she would start her fruitcakes the year before the Christmas they were for!
Aggh, you reminded me that I didn't bake my fruitcakes yet! I'll have to do them the quick (and inferior) way with less soaking time.
My friend's mom was from England and she would start her fruitcakes the year before the Christmas they were for!
We used to have UK members on here who baked their fruitcakes the day after Christmas.
Theresa 
Interesting thread. Obviously both work, or people wouldn't EVER use CS.... personally, I like PS because it tastes good I don't use matts, I just roll and pick up the chocolate fondant with both arms. I have the fancy metal fondant lifters (500.00 set) and they hang on my wall. Don't need them anymore I cover 18" cakes this way.... roll, lift and cover.
Jennifer
[quote="MikeRowesHunny]I beg to differ - I've had my Christmas fruit cakes baked for weeks now, and they will taste nothing but fabulous in a few weeks time [/quote]
Definitely! I won't do a fruit cake with less than 6 weeks notice.
Madiera cake is also much better when it gets to sit - many recipes for it have a two week shelf life and the cake only starts to taste really good at the one week mark!
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