I just got my Cricut Cake and have been playing with it a couple of hours. I think I'm going to be happy with it, but I must resolve this issue I'm having. The photo below shows better than I can describe. The cuts come up from the mat and get all squished and distorted while the cutting is still going on. What's causing this? Too much shortening? Too little shortening? Too much pressure? 'Fondant too dry? Fondant not dry enough? I don't think my fondant's too thick. I'm attaching a picture of the last roll-out. Maybe it's too thin? I tried it a little thicker and maybe got a LITTLE bit less of this mess...but not much. It worked much better on candy clay, but for this particular cake, I want fondant. Maybe I'll switch to gumpaste and give that a shot, too.

Anyway, I'd appreciate any thoughts you might have on the cause of this irritating little problem.

Thanks!

Looks like your fondant is not sticking to the mat. I roll the fondant/tylose mix out to the thiness of a dime on a grease circut mat then let it set up overnight so it gets firm, not hard. Then cutting out works great. The other tips are not to cut fonts smaller than 1 inch or intricate designs under 3 inches. HTH

Cat

I've been doing my rolling out on the greased mat..so I'm with you so far. I just rolled out another batch. It's a tad bit thicker than the fondant in the picture. I've got enough pieces that I can make the message I want, so it's just experimentation at this point. I'll leave this batch out tonight and cut it in the morning. I'll post the results of that experiment in the morning.

Thanks for the input!

Suzette

Do you have a pastry brush for putting the shortening on the mat? I also tilt my mat a bit in the light and see if I missed any spots where shortening should be. The brush really helps to get an even coat on the mat.

I used just plain MMF and froze it for about 15 minutes, worked great.

Well...letting it sit overnight didn't help. In fact, it cut less cleanly. (I think I must need to increase the pressure when it's left out over night.)

My problem seems to be that the fondant simply isn't sticking.

Yes, I do use a brush. But, I don't have to tilt my mat to see the Crisco. It's obvious. Maybe I'm using too much? And, I roll out directly onto the mat.

I've been using Wilton fondant for these experiments. It's easy and handy and several people have commented that it works well in the Cricut.

Going to try gumpaste (which I generally prefer to work with) over the weekend. This cake is for Monday. I've got enough bits and pieces that I can put the cake together, but the pieces aren't as pretty as I would like. And, this flying-off-the-mat thing has got to be conquered!

Maybe if I stick in the freezer just long enough to solidify the Crisco a little bit????

Sorry you are having problems! You are so close it won't be long before you get it. Freezing didn't work for me at all - it's just too hot and humid here. What do you have the settings on? Are you using straight fondant? (it will work just fine with that) Or are you mixing 50/50?

The other problem that I noticed is when you use Fonderific(or Duffs), and you Crisco the mat it is way too sticky! I have had the same problems, and have been experimenting.I have not mastered it yet either.

OH! I use MMF with tylose mixed in...quite a bit of tylose mixed in. About 1 tbs to 1/2 cup of MMF. Have never used wilton for this. Have used Duffs and just made up the same mix and it worked great.

I have tried the freezer thing and it just made a mess, tried gumpaste but that gets expensive so when I found that drying out the MMF/tylose mix overnight works I stopped looking for anything else.

Cat

I used plain MMF with no tylose or anything. Rolled it super-thing and froze it for 15 minutes. It came out perfect! Wish I had taken a picture of it.

I too rolled it on the mat and actually used A LOT of shortening..maybe thats the key? I'm feeling bad for anyone who is having trouble with this expensive machine. I was so hesitant about buying it, but hubby got tired of listening to me on the fence and bought it for my bday. All I want to do is play with it!!