So, I bought "The Mat" for rolling out fondant/transferring it to cakes. And I've used it a few times and honestly it wasn't AS phenomenal as I'd hoped, but I don't necessarily think the mat is totally the issue.
My primary concern with the mat is that when I used it last time I ended up with a lot of tiny little indentations in the fondant- basically I think from tiny air bubbles between the fondant and the mat (not in the fondant itself)- that did not smooth out once applied to the cake.
I think my fondant ended up a little soft in the coloring process from adding maybe too much shortening to keep it from drying out and maybe this had something to do with it. I used fondarific.
Any thoughts or suggestions on this? Or on using the mat in general? I definitely want to continue using it because I think the pros outweight the cons of it by far, but there are some kinks I need to work out!
I love the mat. I have tried all kinds of fondant and nothing sticks to that thing. I have never noticed bubbles forming until this last time when I used Carma Massa. I had 2-3 huge bubbles form but I was able to pop them and roll them out. I have never notices lots of little bubble like you describe. What kind of fondant are you using?
Carol
I was wrong- I used Fondx, not fondarific.
It's not that there were bubbles IN the fondant, but I think there must have been tiny air pockets in between the fondant and the mat or something, because it created tiny indentations. Almost as if there had been an air bubble that was then popped and when it was smoothed out it left the indent. Does that make sense? Maybe that's what happened except I didn't pop any bubbles.
Do you think I could peel away the mat, smooth it out, and stick the mat back on, and then take the mat off the other side to apply it so the smoothed side goes face up, rather than against the cake? (Sorry if that's confusing, I'll elaborate if I have to...)
Also, have you used MMF? I tried that the first time and honestly it stuck a teensy bit in one spot -_- but again I think it was probably a little too soft.
I’ve used both Elite (Fondx) and Fondarific in the past and I don’t remember any problems. I do remember that the Fondarific was a little sticky, but a little cornstarch helped.
One thing I do find myself doing when I use The Mat is that I don’t actually roll the rolling pin. I use more of a pushing motion. I put the pin in the center of The Mat and push down and out toward the edge. I then rotate The Mat and repeat the process. I always move from the center to the edge. Maybe this technique pushes all the air bubbles to the edge.
I have also removed the top layer of The Mat and re-positioned it without cause any problems with the fondant and air bubbles.
And I think you could peel off either side. I always peel off the top sheet and then position with the fondant still stuck to the bottom sheet, but I think you could do it the other way too. Honestly I never noticed that one side of the fondant was smoother than the other. I will have to check it out on my next cake.
On the MMF – I’ve never used. I tried making it once but it wasn’t a pleasant experience. Recently my favorite fondant has been Via Roma Bakery, but the last tub I bought was a little dried out – I got the dreaded Elephant Skin on my cake. I used Carma Massa on my last few cakes. It is tasty and easy to work with, but it is a little expensive and you have to buy it in a 15 lbs bucket.
Thanks for all of your help Carol. I think it's possible that I over kneaded when coloring and maybe created some bubbles too :(
This reminded me- do you find rolling out large pieces of fondant using the mat to be really hard? Th actual rolling, once it gets pretty big/thinned out I find it gets really hard, literally physically challenging, to get it to stretch out more. I feel like it's kind of because the mat blocks it in a way? But I've also learned using some extra fondant just for rolling will help with that.
Yes, it does get very challenging when rolling out a big piece of fondant. Last week I had to roll out a 24” round, and about half way through I started to sweat and had to turn the AC on. I kept thinking that I really need one of those big pasta/fondant rolling machines, but finally I got it rolled out and transferred it to the cake without any problems. But I should use the word “roll”. I find that it takes much more effort to roll the pin across the fondant than to just put my weight on the pin and push/slide the rolling pin across the fondant. When I push from the center out, the rolling pin almost acts like a squeegee and the extra fondant gets pushed out in front of it.
The only thing I have trouble with is figuring out how thick the fondant is.
I bought the mat a year or two ago, and the first few times I used it, I loved it. I took very good care of it, never bent or folded it, kept it rolled up in the tube, but I started to get indentations ( "pockmarks" I call them) in my fondant. Sounds just like what Cincakes describes. I could see that the plastic was warped and irregular. After a few bad experiences I eventually threw it out. I had not changed anything else. I use Massa grischuna neutral which is wonderful BTW. now I just use my big Silpat mats.
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