Hello!

I am new to the baking and cake decorating world. I have practiced a lot but for some reason, no matter what fondant recipe I try - it always dries and cracks! I decided to buy some Satin Ice fondant and start decorating my cakes with that. I was wondering with members of this site, is that a common practice? I see all the beautiful cakes here and wonder if I am the only one copping out and not making my own ;/

Let me know

Do you know that your poll isn't exactly a yes or no question. Would yes mean I make my own or I purchase?

I have done both. I purchase bright colors and make mmf when I need a lot of a pale color. I also prefer wilton for figures.

Thanks so much for your quick response!

And Woops yes...Fixed the mistake. Thank you!

If your fondant is drying and cracking you probably added too much powdered sugar to it. You can add some shortening to it to moisten it back up also.

I love MMF. I always make my own. I cannot justify paying the higher prices for ready made fondant and the smell of some of it is not even pleasing much like the taste.

I use Michele Foster's Fondant, and it turns out awesome every time. Here's the link to her recipe.

http://cakecentral.com/recipe/michele-fosters-fondant

I've even made this dairy free and it still works quite well. However, I do prefer using the regular ingredients. I find I get more elephant skin when it's dairy free.

I love making it and everyone loves eating it. =)

But no worries about buying it. Totally not a cop out. Each person has to do what works best for them. Some can make their own, but prefer not to due to time, energy, etc. And like others have said, a lot make their own but buy the red and black colors. =)

I'm am no expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I have made MMF twice now and have had good luck with it. I find it easy to make, easy to work with, it's definitely cheaper, and people actually like the taste. The Wilton stuff gets peeled off and trashed. Most people say "Don't put any nasty fondant on my cake. But I flavor my MMF with butter flavor, vanilla and almond. It's actually yummy, and smells good. I covered a really big cake with it today and it came out great, in spite of my lack of experience. Like some other posters, I buy deep colors like black. I've bought Satin Ice for that.

do you have the recipe for the marsh mallow fondant would like to try it, thanks

I've done both. I love to use already made fondant because it's easy...after spending hours making the cake,icing,decorations, etc...the thought of spending even more time making fondant when it can be purchased drives me crazy. That being said, It is much cheaper to make MMF and it does taste very good. I have mixed Wilton and Satin Ice to cover cakes... Satin Ice makes the Wilton taste better and Wilton gives the Satin Ice more body ( I personally find satin Ice too soft). I always use Wilton for making decorations.

andreakeers, I use Mac's mom's butter cream flavored fondant. It's in the most saved recipes section on this site. I usually make it on a day when I don't have a cake to bake or decorate, so I'm not already tired, then I wrap it well and I have it when I need it. As to the problem of having to knead it for a long time, I always microwave it for about 30 - 40 seconds and it drastically speeds up the softening process and saves your wrists! Whoever said Satin Ice is soft - I agree. I've cut shapes from it (zebra stripes or circles, etc.) and when I pick them up they stretch out of shape or tear.

I also make Michelle Foster's fondant, adding CoffeeMate hazelnut coffee creamer for the liquid. (Coffee Mate is pure white.) In addition, I add white chocolate candy clay to the finished fondant on day 2 as mentioned in Jennifer Dontz's video. It is sooooo manageable and delicious!

I make my own MMF. I use the recipe that is in one of the tutorials on here, I'm not sure which one it is. It always comes out just perfect. I normally mix up a couple of batches when I'm making a cake that will require it and then put the extra in the freezer. It keeps for months (I've heard some say a year or longer but mine never sticks around that long). When I have extra of a color, even if it's just a tiny bit (you never know when you'll need just a smidge of a color) I make sure to knead it really well, wrap it up in plastic wrap and put it in a ziplock bag and put it on my fondant shelf in the freezer. When I need it I take it out of the freezer the night before and if it's still kind of hard the next day I pop it in the microwave for a few seconds and that softens it up enough to work with.

You can only do that for so long though. I HATE making black or red fondant so when I do make it I am sure to save every tiny scrap of it for future use. After a while of freezing, un-freezing, microwaving, re-freezing etc it becomes crumbly. When it starts to do that I know it's time to throw it out.