Okay so I have a slight problem. I wanted to make cookies with rolled MMF for my boyfriend before he gets home in two days. I made fondant for the first time a few weeks ago. It tasted good, and was easy to use over various Christmas sugar cookies. After that experience, I had the idea to flavor the MMF with cinnamon, since in previous experiences cinnamon was the BF's favorite RI flavor for cookies. I also decided that the batch of cinnamon fondant, would be the red fondant, and used the last of my red gel coloring.

So my problems is this. The end result, tastes like the worst medicine I've ever had in my life. It tastes like plain MMF until it completely dissolves, then a massive medicine aftertaste swells up in your mouth for about 30 seconds. I am out of Red gel coloring and due to making heart shaped cookies.. red and pink were an important element! Can anyone think of options to salvage this fondant or my situation?

The resources I have left are enough marshmallows for one more batch of fondant (about 4-6 cups), red petal dust, corn syrup, extracts: vanilla, lemon, peppermint, and almond (cheap store brands). I do not own alcohol but purchased a small container of "lemon juice" while shopping earlier (water, concentrated lemon juice, sulphites, lemon oil), is it possible to use this with the petal dust to paint white fondant?


Method I used to make the MMF, in case anyone notices if that's how the flavor went wrong:

Microwave 4 cups of marshmallows with a sprits of water for 60 seconds in a Crisco coated bowl.
Stir marshmallows, adding 3 drops of cinnamon extract, 1 teaspoon of corn syrup, about 1/2+ teaspoon of red gel coloring (Wiltons).
I then proceeded to fold in a fresh bag of sifted powdered sugar, then knead in the last bit until it was the consistency I wanted. ( I did not measure out the powdered sugar, I'd guess about 3 cups)


Note: After tasting the fondant, I figured it couldn't get worse so I attempted to fix the flavor by kneading in 1-2 tablespoons of vanilla extract. Sadly it had no effect.

I have used a damp paint brush to paint dust colors on white fondant. Just be careful not get too much water on your brush. Sometimes this will work, it depends on how dark your red dust is.
Hope this helps!

Thank you! I will try that and the lemon juice, see which works better.. I so wish I hadn't spent my last dollar on butter, or that my cat hadn't decided to eat my butter (and the tinfoil around the butter!), then I could get on a bus to Micheals and just buy more coloring.

I haven't given my BF a present in years, we finally agree to make Christmas a present giving holiday and this happens! *sigh*

Was it the cinnamon or the red coloring that made it taste bad? I can't STAND the taste of red food coloring.

Was it the cinnamon or the red coloring that made it taste bad? I can't STAND the taste of red food coloring.

In the future, if you want a cinnamon flavor like red hot candies, then you should use cinnamon oil.. LorAnn makes this flavor and you can find it in cake stores. I think peppermint extract should work to brush on the fondant. I have also used almond before. Both these flavors go with a red/pink color. Good luck; I hope your BF likes them!

There's a recipe on here somewhere for an MMF that uses Jello for flavoring. I've made strawberry, raspberry, orange, and lemon that way. It also works with the instant puddings to do butterscotch (my boyfriend's favorite) MMF. It adopts the color of the Jello but as a pastel version so you don't have to add in as much coloring.

Oh wow, jello sounds awesome! (at least until I can afford the oils, curse you online shipping costs CURSE YOU) Going to add the oils to my must have Birthday wishlist and stock up on some jello.

As for the cookies, they turned out mehhhhhh. Ended up painting them with lemon juice and red Wilton petal dust. The color beaded up on the fondant if it was more than 10 hours old, and left little grainy specs on it to boot. Brush strokes galore and no even colors.... buuuut, you know boyfriends! He still loved them and coveted each one refusing to share, lol!

Thank you all for the help! I will have some good ideas to go with for next time. :3

I'm glad your boyfriend appreciated your efforts. I might make just one suggestion, however. So often people think of lemon juice when painting with dusts or thinning gels... I believe you'd have better luck using lemon extract rather than juice. Juice is essentially water which can cause problems. The alcohol in extracts, (or vodka which I prefer) evaporates quickly so that the color dries and doesn't bead up so badly or dissolve the sugar. I think that a lot of people just mix up the two.


Jan

I'm glad your boyfriend appreciated your efforts. I might make just one suggestion, however. So often people think of lemon juice when painting with dusts or thinning gels... I believe you'd have better luck using lemon extract rather than juice. Juice is essentially water which can cause problems. The alcohol in extracts, (or vodka which I prefer) evaporates quickly so that the color dries and doesn't bead up so badly or dissolve the sugar. I think that a lot of people just mix up the two.


Jan