I haven't worked that much with fondant. A cake I am doing has some fondant pieces on it. I was wondering what I can use to make my fondant shiny and get rid of the powdered sugar that is on it... I know that you can use vodka, we aren't a drinking family and since I don't make that many cakes with a lot of fondant I would rather not buy a bottle.... And I have read you can steam it but I don't have a steamer..

Is there anything I can do that is quick and easy and use that I might already have?? Thanks!

You could likely get a mini bottle or 2 of vodka. I put it in a travel spray bottle & spray it on. It really gets rid of any PS or CS nicely.

As for shiny, not much is permanent except confectioner's glaze.

Rae

This is what I usually do - take your leftover pieces of fondant and roll it into a ball. Use this to rub your cake and it buffs away the powdered sugar. It's nice because the ball of fondant is soft enough to conform to your cake shape so it won't dent it accidentally. It'll get rid of your powdered sugar, but the fondant will still look matte, and not shiny.

I've heard of people using cooking oil spray (like Pam) to make a cake shiny, so you could try that.

I'm not doing the whole cake in fondant.. I only have a few accent pieces that I am putting on my cake.. My cake is buttercream.. I just need to know some easy way to get the powdered sugar off my fondant pieces...

I use a blush brush and brush it off. It does a pretty good job.

For a few small pieces, buy a sacrificial soft round paintbrush (use it exclusively for this purpose), and get it moistened with Crisco. Just dip it in. and then pat it off onto a paper towel so its not going to leave globs on your work. Then, simply brush the sugar or cornstarch off using this brush. Wipe the brush again with paper towel, apply more Crisco, dab onto paper towel again and brush or dab it into the fondant. It will leave a satin finish (not matt), but after a day or so, it will settle to more of a matt finish.

Perhaps you could roll your fondant with Pam or Crisco instead of powdered sugar and avoid the whole mess in the first place? (I do)

Also if you have an airbrush you can spray plain water on it to remove powdered sugar and make it shiny.