Hi, I'm new to the forum and to cake decorating but I am enthusiastic!

However, my enthusiasm was dampened yesterday when I made white fondant icing, tried to make it purple (used liquid food colouring - a mistake?? What is the alternative?) got lilac after a bit of a nightmare - liquid blue and red running everywhere! It got a bit sticky so I threw on some more icing sugar which helped. I then tried to roll it out to make bows and it stuck a bit to the rolling pin but worse, when it didn't stick to the pin, it stuck to the (icing dusted and at one point, baking paper covered!) surface!

When I eventually managed to get some strips of icing off the counter, it was then too thin to stand in a bow shape on it's side so I hung it off a cylinder but it stuck to it overnight so I am back to square one. I am obviously not a natural at this!

Thanks for any advice!

Doodlydoo, First of all I'd like to say welcome to CC and how exciting it is to find something you can enjoy and do.

I'm sorry your having so many problems with your fondant. What type of fondant did you make? It sounds to me as if you did not let it cure or set up before trying to use it. Did you let it sit about 8 hrs before working with it? When making fondant if you can wait at least 24 hrs it will work beautifully.

When I make fondant, which is mmf, I put my coloring in the marshmellow mixture. That way I don't get too much color all over the place and can control the shade of color I want.

To get fondant stiff (like to make a bow) add some tylose powder to the fondant. It will stiffen it up and you can shape it to what you need. I do not wrap my loops over anything but rather lay them on their side if this makes sense.

Hope this helps, don't give up, we're all here to help you. Just give us a yell when you need advice.

Thanks for your advice!
I went back to it today, and it behaved much better! I had left it a couple of days to settle last time but tried to work with it immediately after colouring which was probably my first mistake. This time, it had been a day since I coloured it, I used a silicon mat, as well as dusting it with icing and i've rolled the icing a bit thicker so it can dry standing on it's side. I didn't have time to order any tylose powder but can look into it for next time.

I was using regular fondant icing too and i'd like to try marshmallow icing next time - because I like marshmallows mostly! Is there any other benefit to using marshmallow icing?

Glad to hear things got better for you. As far as the mmf, to me its just all about the taste. I haven't found a pre-made fondant that I or my customers really like.

Good luck!!