So I picked up one of his bucket of red fondant. Of course opened it at 2am one night and it was dried out and ROCK HARD. Fortunately I had enough Satin Ice red left to do the mermaid hair.

So I took it back to Michaels, exchanged it for a pink one (out of red). Checked it while I was there...this time almost rock hard. The fondant on the bottom of the bucket had a slight give but the rest was rock hard. The manager told me...."Well it's fondant!" Really, what the heck? I just got my money back.

Has anyone else found it to be rock hard. I was hoping to use Duff's fondant in a pinch, but now....my source had dried up....literally.

It is hard in the bucket, but you just need to microwave it for about 10 seconds and it softens right up.

Instructions on back of tub:

"For best results:
Soften in the microwave at 10 seconds per pound on level 3, being careful not to overheat."


I find the above is dependent on the temperature it's at to start with. It took me a little longer than that to soften up a tub I'd been keeping in an air conditioned room...a little less than one I had in a non-AC room when it was in the high eighties. So start at less time and add if you need to. Then, of course, knead it a little to get it to a nice smooth consistency.

It goes from rock hard to perfectly workable when you do this.

Mine's always rock hard too. Just throw it in the microwave and it works perfectly.

I ordered some samples directly from Fondarific so I could taste test Duff's in 5 different flavors. (the Michael's retail product by Duff is Fondarific)

It arrived on a 90+ degree day and was super oily (especially the chocolate and the coffee) and too soft. I didn't work with it until a few days later. My house has the a/c on always and those samples were fairly hard for sure. I would have worn my hands out trying to knead them if it was a larger size! I just zapped them a few seconds in the microwave and they became nice and pliable.

Give it another whirl!

I've read on this site that his fondant is made with candy melts as a base, so when it's cool, it hardens like candy.

Mine was hard hard when I bougt it but like the above people said microwave it and it works perfect. U could leave that stuff out all night and pop it In the microwave and it will get right back soft. I was playing with some just as practice ended up leaving it out on the counted and the next morning when I went to throw it away i decided to see how soft I could get it and put it up for play use when I wanna practice something and the microwave worked great

We had gotten 3 of the black and were so upset when we opened the first and it was rock. Then I opened the 2nd one, and it too was rock hard. I couldn't imagine driving a half hour back to Michael's to exchange. For some reason I looked for directions on the container and sure enough read about microwaving it. You do want to be careful because it could be made too soft. If you are making something and want it a bit stiffer, just don't microwave it as long. I did a couple 6 second spurts to get the consistency we wanted.

Now, black is hard enough to work with and wants to dry and crack so fast. I have to say, this was an absolute dream to work with. We covered two tires (in our photos) with it. It rolled out so nice and easy, worked with us... Then had to cut out the tread and apply it on the sides of the cake. We didn't have to cover one bit of it, we were able to cut a dozen or more of the center pieces and just leave them and put them on the cake as we went along rolling a cutting the other pieces. It wasn't until morning that I first noticed any change in the setup of the fondant on the cake.

I checked just earlier today and what we have left in the bag is still soft and just as pliable as it was 2 weeks ago.

i have purchased all the different colours of the duff fondant (love working with it) - it is supposed to be hard, and the directions to microwave take care of that! so easy to work with, tastes great, good coverage. doesn't harden up like other fondants, but i like that about it!

give it a try, follow the instructions (and advise on here) and you might be pleasantly surprised

Ahhh...directions what a concept. lol...ok, I'll give it another shot. I am so used to Satin Ice, which is nice and pliable from the bucket I just assumed it was dried out. Didn't know it was made with candy melts that makes more sense, because it has the consistency of hard modeling chocolate.