I am in the UK and currently studying a NCFE level 2 course in cake decorating. To help develop my skills I have been baking cakes for pretty much any occasion I can find lately! This is great practice however I am noticing the costs of materials add up. 

Unfortunately I have expensive tastes when it comes to fondant! I really like Massa Ticino and Satin Ice but this is getting pretty expensive making a cake per week. I've made MMF which I quite like but do prefer MFF (although made a disaster batch of this today). These do work out cheaper however the finish is not as good. I found myself getting really frustrated as my MFF got way too soft today as I got carried away and added far too much Trex as I couldn't get the smooth finish I liked. I noticed a few grains too which I thought were little specks of gelatin... anyway I digress!

I'd be really interested to hear from anyone who is in a similar situation. What do you do to keep costs down? I appreciate any fondant I make at home will never have the finish of a commercially made fondant but perhaps there is a miracle fondant somewhere in a UK supermarket I don't know about?!  Am thinking about a MMF combination with a commercial fondant for my next experiment...

Try Liz Mareks recipe (LMF).  It's MMF but with either Wilton or Satin Ice added for stability.  Gives you the best of both worlds and is less expensive.

That's a brilliant idea, thanks. It will definitely reduce the costs and I can keep practicing. Am also considering making a batch of Veena Azmanov's fondant as I saw the recipe contains meringue powder. This may be my secret ingredient?! My next step is to sit down and really cost out how much everything costs.