Is candy clay the same as the candy melts made by Wilton, etc...??
You can make it with that, but you can also make it with real chocolate, so that tastes better. I have the recipes on the discussion tab on my facebook page. You have to click the arrow at the top of the page on the tabs to open it up, but it's there. http://www.facebook.com/acaketoremember
IMHO, choco-pan is a disaster to work with. It claims to not tear, but that is all I get. Maybe I just don't know how to use it right. I do love it for modeling though. I made the birds in my gallery with it.
I've never used it before because I just make my own fondant other than red and black. Now I won't buy any, thanks for the warning!
It could just be me costumeczar... I have had some issues with Satin Ice being extremely dry and cracking as well (and I roll out on shortening on a silicon mat).
If there are any chocopan experts out there, please enlighten me
It could just be me costumeczar... I have had some issues with being extremely dry and cracking as well (and I roll out on shortening on a silicon mat).
If there are any chocopan experts out there, please enlighten me
I just heard on good authority that Satin Ice has been straightening out their production facility and they've got the "recent troubles" sorted out. That could have been the trouble you had??
I saw that on here as well and I assume that it is the problem as well.
It was funny, I got a bucket of red and green at the same time... the red was beautiful... the green was drier than dry. Even my DH noticed how dry it was and it was the first time he ever touched fondant (he was assisting me with some molding). I will probably continue to use SI dark colors, but Fondx or Pettinice for white or chocolate.
I've been a pretty commited Satin Ice girl for a while with an occaisonal use of Duff's Fondarific. Duff's with a coupon is now cheaper per pound than the Satin Ice I get from a local source.
I needed a ton of different colors over the weekend and didn't want to spend $$$$ on a fondant. Tried Angela's (AngelFood4) method of adding melted candy melts to the marshmallow fondant recipe.
IT WAS AWESOME! I got great colors, good texture, no elephant skin, easy to work with.
Her recipe is on her blog:
http://sugarsweetcakesandtreats.blogspot.com/2010/11/recipe-red-marshmallow-fondant-mmf.html
The cake I made used 8 different color--7 of which were homemade. Only the black was Duff's. It's the bouncer in my gallery.
Kristy
I was pretty much an MMF girl for a couple of years, most cost efficient product for my hobby. Back in December I figured I'd broaden my "fondant horizons" and I made a recipe of Michele Foster's fondant, and my oh my, it'll be my go to from now on. It is more expensive to make than the MMF, but the taste is so much better, as is the texture. As far as figure molding, I use the Wilton.
I have made MMF and MFF in small batches, how do you bakers who need enough for a large cake or a tiered cake deal with the strain of kneading that much fondant?
I have made MMF and MFF in small batches, how do you bakers who need enough for a large cake or a tiered cake deal with the strain of kneading that much fondant?
I actually have made 4x the recipe at one time. What I did was split it in half and kneaded it that way and it worked pretty well. Yes my arms were tired but hey I got a good workout that day
I agree that Chocopan's a disaster to work with. It was June, in Cincinnati, so I didn't know if that was the problem, but it was almost melting when I tried to cover a cake.
I have made MMF and MFF in small batches, how do you bakers who need enough for a large cake or a tiered cake deal with the strain of kneading that much fondant?
I use the mixer to knead it.
I have had great results every time with Fondarific and Duff's, but as many people have noted, it is too soft for modeling.
Love love love Massa, but I now make my own. its just cheaper. I do add the white chocolate clay to it most of the time to guarantee flexibility.
Hated Satin Ice, White Chocolate Chocopan made me want to vomit. (no really, not being overdramatic- my husband even said it smelled awful and tasted worse.)
I still get SatinIce colors though, so I can have them on hand. They are extremely dry most of the the time, but for figures I can deal with it. .
There isn't anything available that is the perfect fondant. I use Satin Ice, and there continues to be problems with it. As others have already pointed out, the elephant skin effect is a problem. Lately it has been extremely sticky, which makes it almost impossible to work with at times. I have started putting the fondant in the fridge for a couple of minutes before using, and it works great. It takes away the stickiness, and I don't experience the elephant skin or tearing when I cover a cake. I'm not sure if it will work for you, but it does the trick for me.
I'm going to give a shout out for Fondarific. It tastes great, can be rolled really thin and Never, EVER gets elephant skin. It doesn't crack at the corners which Satin Ice does regardless of what I do. Fondarific isn't great for modeling but it also doesn't dry out and make your cake hard.
My customers love the taste of Fondarifc, even if they say they don't like fondant. Last week, I had a lady ordering a cake and wasn't sure about fondant, so I just gave her a taste. Her response was just, "mmmmmmm, I want fondant!".
If I make a bow, Fondarific will get stiff after about a week, but I usually just keep some Satin Ice or Fondx around for modeling.
Ok, here is my 2 cents worth, lol. I have tried Satin ice, Fondarific, McCalls, MMF and MFF.
IMHO...
Satin Ice...dries extememly fast. And yes Cake Boss uses it and if you look closely at some of their cakes I have noticed the elephant skin. I noticed it last week on Next great baker...on the piping competition.
Fondarific...loved it but expensive! Only buy red and black and dk brown for small projects.
McCalls....way too soft! But loved the taste.
MMF...depends if you get it just right but doesn't dry well
MFF...is the one I'm sticking with. It fits my budget and it tastes good, pretty easy to work with and dries good (at medium pace).
So there ya have it!
I have tried Duff and the taste was not good at all. I made Rhonda's MMF and it had a great taste to it. It did not harden as I thought it would for a bow that I made on top of a cake but I am going to stick with it and add some gumpaste to it next time to harden it.
Everyone has weighed in on their favorite fondant for covering cakes....I'd like to know what's the best fondant for modeling figures etc. and making flowers?
Everyone has weighed in on their favorite fondant for covering cakes....I'd like to know what's the best fondant for modeling figures etc. and making flowers?
I didn't elaborate before - but two primary reasons that I like MFF better than MMF.... its a lot less mess to make, and (2) it "dries" slowly, but does get fairly firm/hard after it sits a bit. The MMF stays soft forever and I had more problems with bulging/rippling at the layer-joins on a tier and at the top edge. I actually tipped a two-tiered cake when delivering recently. A few of the decorations broke, but the MFF covering survived the tip!
I haven't found that I like the taste of any fondant, but I do buy ready-made fondant in the darker colors because it's so difficult to get true, dark colors.
For figures, I use my MFF plus gum-tex. For larger figures, I use a 50/50 MFF/gumpaste mix. For critical pieces and detailed flowers, I use straight gumpaste.
Where can I find Michelle Foster's fondant recipe and does she have a gumpaste recipe as well?
Where can I find Michelle Foster's fondant recipe and does she have a gumpaste recipe as well?
Here's the CC link to Michele Foster's recipe:
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/7446/michele-fosters-fondant
I put one bag of powdered sugar in my mixer bowl, then pour the gelatin mixture into the center and mix, adding the rest of the powdered sugar gradually. This way you don't even have a really yucky bowl to clean up and that saves time. Be sure to strain the gelatin mixture as you pour it into the mixer bowl. There are almost always a few undissolved gelatin lumps that you don't want in your finished fondant. Good luck with it!
I haven't made homemade gumpaste, but there was a recipe posted recently. Just search the forum, or maybe some one will reply with it?
There are loads of recipes for gumpaste. I have a couple on my facebook page on the discussions tab, and if you do a google search you'll come up with a lot more, I'm sure.
I mix candy clay with my homemade fondant, and it works really well. You can do it in different proportions and it gives the fondant a little more body. It works really well for modelling figures, and for covering cakes it makes the fondant taste a little better, IMO.
There's also a brand of fondant that has modelling chocolate in it, is it Choco-Pan?
I do the same thing...make some modeling chocolate up and add one part mod choco to two parts mmf. Makes a wonderful consistency!!!
This thread inspired me to try MFF today. Easy to make, but the proof will be in the rolling and application tomorrow. It seems to dry really firmly (on the dough hook), but is still soft when kneading (??) - I hope I haven't wrecked it somehow :-/
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