There is a story behind this question. First I prefer to make my own fondant (Michelle Fosters receipe) make it it always came out perfect. super easy to roll out, great taste, love it.

Well the past two (make that five because last week I made three batches, one red, one white, one blue) and they all seemed ok when I wrapped them to let them sit.

I was doing a retirement cake for a friend, Chief Warrant Officer 4 in the USMC. Cake baked up like a dream. (Well had one layer crack but I just cut it down to use for a different layer). Butter cream came out great, a little light and fluffy, but I could deal with that.

One to the fondant. Felt a little soft after kneding, but I went on. I started using cornstarch a while ago because I read somewhere that powedered sugar can cause elepahnt skin, and I did have issues with that.

Got it rolled out and RIP! Ok, started all over, RIP!! Kneded more powdered sugar in, RIP, rolled out on powdered sugar, RIP. It was either ripping or sticking to the counter. I had that thing covered in either powdered sugar or corn starch. Ok, I moved on to trying to use shortening. Yeah you guessed it.

Now this is Thursday, I needed it by Friday, and mind you I took vacation days to do this. It is now 4:15, and I decide I needed to get store bought fondant. My daughter has my car. So I con a frieinds boyfriend into giving me a ride to Fredricksburg in rush hour traffic, get some Satin Ice, buy two tubs just in case (66.00 two 5 pound pails) go back. I don't like the way it smells, smells like paste to me, but tastes ok. Take out some kned it, roll it out, and get the cake covered, elephant skin appearing, tried the shortening thing in the spots with the elephant skin.

Start to try to make the flag and continuted with the problems. About 9 PM I sat down just about in tears lookin at a blank cake I hated. My son tells me it is only sugar and corn syrup, don't get upset. What he doesn't know is at 9AM Friday I was looking at a blank cake in tears.

I made sure the air conditioner was on so the house wouldn't be humid (trust me this past couple of weeks it has been warmer and humid). I measure carefully when I make the fondant.

The only difference is I used fat free milk, and didn't add white chocolate to it. (Makes it taste yummy). But the first time I made it I didn't know you could add the white chocolate and it worked great.

This one was so bad I am about ready to just walk away from cakes totally. And I don't really do it for a "business". I'd like to run my own bakery, but not just with cakes. But that will happend when I win the lottery.

In the mean time, any ideas of what I did wrong?

I had a similar problem with MFF one time and I think I added too much powdered sugar when I made it. No amount of shortening or glycerin would make that stuff knead nicely and not rip. To answer your question about what to use when rolling out, I use a 50/50 mix of powdered sugar and corn starch. Too much corn starch can dry out the fondant, and too much PS can make it sticky in my climate, so I find the 50/50 mix works really well and was recommended by my pastry chef.

I can't help you because I have only made fondant once. It worked, but I didn't enjoy making it. Plus it wears out even a KA mixer.

I bought all brands of fondant when I opened to find which one I liked. I got elephant skin from Satin Ice too, so it wasn't you.

I'm sure this was a one time glitch for you, but in the future, Michael's sells Fondarific under the name of Duff's. It is easy to use except it doesn't dry hard for figures. It smells and tastes good.

Sorry about your issue. Can you just re-make your recipe exactly as you have done before? Hopefully you got it resolved.