Cleaning up isn't fun. I wonder if anybody has any tips on how to properly clean stuff up after cake time.
First of all, how do you clean your counter top (if you use it) to use for fondant making?
How do you clean up your tips? The smallest ones are hard to get into and 1 of mine still has old frosting in the very tip where I cannot reach.
How do you clean up your bowl after making a shortening included bc?
I can't remember who posted this tip before but I've used it ever since I read it. I cover my counter with saran wrap or wax paper. When it's time to clean up I just wad up everything and toss it in the trash. I also clean everything in Dawn and hot water. I don't know why it makes clean up easier but I've tried other brands and go back to that one every time. I also start a large boel with hot water and Dawn and toss tools in as I use them so they are soaking while I'm doing other things. HTH!
You can use a toothpic to clean out your tips if something is stuck in it.. I agree on the dawn and hot water.. sometimes I add a little bit of bleach to try and cut the grease.. Not a lot to harm just a capful
I use one of those baby bottle nipple scrubbers to clean out inside my tips. You know the ones - they have a bottle scrubber on one side and a small nipple scrubber on the other? They work quite awesome. For the shortening problem - I'm with the Dawn and hot water club. As hot as you can handle. Plus Lysol kitchen cleaner works wonders. The best thing I've found for getting my kitchen good and clean after finishing a cake, though, is my husband. Sorry, he's not for sale or rent 
This thread has amazing tips & advice in regards to cleaning up after caking...
http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-706838-.html&sid=e3807d4c6a8fe1f6e06325161bf02a62
HtH
I put my tips in a coffee cup withe water and microwave them for 2 minutes. The grease dissolves in the hot water then I rinse them with soapy water.
Ooh indydebi have just read you tips and you make me feel so much better about using disposable where you can I always felt guilty about it, I won't anymore 
awesome awesome!
The only thing that stuck out to me, was using saran or parchment on my counter when rolling fondant. How does the fondant not stick to it where you're fighting it the whole time because it won't let go of the fondant?
Also, what type of cleaning products do you use to sanitize your counter beforehand?
I empty my dishwasher ahead of time so every dirty bowl, spatula, etc, can be tossed in the dishwasher and I don't have to clutter up precious counter/sink space (my kitchen is TINY). For hand wash things, I clean as I go and then put everything to dry on a dishtowel on the kitchen table. Everything gets wiped down at the end with Dawn, then a swipe with Clorox wipe. I did find that those disposable handi-wipes are awesome for cleaning up buttercream or shortening. My sponge would always get yucky and I could never get the greasy feel out of it. The handi-wipes seems to rinse out easier. And disposable bags....love 'em!
My best cleaning tip: I have been blessed with three boys 10,13,16. They are fantastic helpers. The youngest vaccums and dusts. The middle sweeps and mops. The oldest Washes dishes and counters.
They love being helpers. the do get paid. It makes them such a part of our business. When they go to school the tell evetyone to come to thier cake shop.
I hope I am starting a family traidtion.
So I have limited kitchen space too, and I have become obssessed with my silicon baking mats, I use one for tools, one to decorate over, one to put blah blah blah. Usually with each cake I have a different mat station, but resting dirty stuff on that instead saves my kitchen from looking like a cake bomb went off at 3am! =) I am also a firm believer that dawn and hot water is actually miracle solution! I have a wonderful caker friend who spends time scrubbing each tip, and she is so thorough...not me! hot water to dishwasher bag, to dishwasher, they come out clean! Using my silpat is also wonderful for making MMF, a little crisco on there before I kneed and on I go! No stickies on my counter or kitchen table! I am also a stickler for an empty dishwasher before my process starts!
I'm another hot water & dawn person. Clorox wipes before and after I use the counter for fondant. I use a scrape to getting all the corn starch, sticky, or dried pieces of fondant off the counter. Then I wipe it clean. Wilton sells a small brush for the tips, never thought about it till now but a q-tip might work in the tips.
whew, just read all of the threads, great ideas. I've not tried all of them, but I will try to utilize them all because they make such good sense. My best tip would be to clean as you go. I cannot cook or bake in a dirty kitchen, it drives me nuts.
Christy
I read on here once to place a sheet on the floor under where you are working. That way when powdered sugar goes everywhere, you don't have to clean it off the floor. Just toss the sheet in the wash. I'm also a firm believer of using those really thin flexible cutting boards (they come in a pack of 2 for $1 at the Dollar Tree here in SC) to make my fondant on. I usually tape it down to the countertop real good to make sure it doesn't slide around while I'm kneading. Then you just pull it up off the counter & put in the sink or dishwasher when you're done. I haven't figured out a good trick for the surface to actually roll the fondant out on yet though. For tips, I got one of those wilton tip brushes but I never seem to use it 
I find it's just as easy to use hot water & Dawn. 
I'm also a firm believer of using those really thin flexible cutting boards (they come in a pack of 2 for $1 at the Dollar Tree here in SC) to make my fondant on. I usually tape it down to the countertop real good to make sure it doesn't slide around while I'm kneading. Then you just pull it up off the counter & put in the sink or dishwasher when you're done. I haven't figured out a good trick for the surface to actually roll the fondant out on yet though. For tips, I got one of those wilton tip brushes but I never seem to use it
I find it's just as easy to use hot water & Dawn.
If you put a piece of rubber non skid shelf liner under those plastic mats, they don't move at all. I use that system when rolling out and cutting smaller pieces of gum paste and fondant.
Dawn and hot water is good to clean up after cake. But I use the Dawn Direct Foam because it has the best grease cutting action I have seen. I fill my sink or large bowl with hot water and squirts of Dawn Direct Foam and it will almost clean them on its own. I use to tell all my students about this. I use a tip brush on my small tips but on tips with larger openings, I can use the brush on the botton end of a baby bottle brush.
the best tip i have other than ones already stated, is i have a 20 qt mixer but it works for smaller mixers too, i have a table cloth i drape over my mixer while making icing so the powder sugar doesnt fly everywhere. makes such a difference, i have a large flour sack cloth i drape over my
KA when i am making smaller batches.
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