OK. I've made Toba Garrett's fondant recipe 3 times. To the letter. The first time it was great. The second time it was...sort of OK. This last time, it sucked. Completely fell apart, even in the mixer. Went from the texture of nice regular fondant, to ...um...more like cookie dough. I rested it overnight but it didn't improve.

So I added a bit of crisco. Then I added some more powdered sugar. I kneaded it till I was blue in the face. It never got more elastic than cookie dough, more or less. It seemed too sticky, and at the same time, it pulled apart in places instead of stretching.

I was able to cover a birthday cake with it, but if it had been a paying customer or a wedding, it would have been a disaster/major Do-Over, though at 1 a.m. the night before the party, there aren't many places to buy pink Petinice open!

What's the deal? Should I just say forget it and go back to PetinIce. I love the idea of making it fresh, and I like the taste better, but this is getting ridiculous.

Am I missing something? An ingredient I could add that would make a fail-proof fondant recipe? (yes, I've tried MMF--not looking for that).

I need some major help on this one. I've tried Colette's recipe too, and had the same results with that--too dry/sticky/non-elastic...

Is it me?

awww...I'm so sorry!!! Have ya ever tried MMF? Or just not interested in that kind of fondant?
I made some today. Turned out awesome. I have never tried Toba's recipe...so I can't help ya out there.

I got two words for you: SATIN ICE!

its so easy just to buy the commercially made fondant. There are better brands out there other than wilton brand. I keep wondering why you all still make it from scratch.

Well I make MMF because I don't think it tastes fake...and I haven't tried to buy it because I don't use it enough. (actually scared of fondant)

cause it's like 10 times cheaper!!!!! LOL

How do you measure your powdered sugar?

kjgjam...its way cheaper to make MMF than buy premade...I like satinice, pettinice and theres another I do like, cant remember the name...but geez, a bag of marshmallows and powdered sugar...ya cant beat the price!

I recommend MMF too! People are finally eating the fondant on my cakes instead of picking it off and it is sooo easy and cheap to make.

Oh I hear ya indigojods I tried mine today (for the first time, but not 1st time using) and I kept eating it...like a chewy marshmallow

Give me Fondx or Satin Ice any day of the week. Making your own fondant, especially MMF just doesn't do it for me. It is too tempermental, sometimes it's nice, other times it's a failure and I don't have the time or patience to take a chance with them anymore. The premade fondants are consistent, flavor is good (If you like fondant) and they roll out beautifully every time.

I like the taste of MMF but I don't like the inconsistency. I have got to learn the feel of the right consistency. When I needed to have it right, I didn't. In my photos, my beehive was a dream but the carousel for today was a tacky gooey mess. I wish I would have had more time because I wanted this cake to be very special.

darkchocolate

If I had to MAKE the fondant....I'd be done with decorating. It's bad enough that I have to MAKE THE CAKE ANNNNNNNND the icing!
I just want someone else to bake and make the icing......just let me decorate it!

k all you premade fans, don't get me wrong, I would love to try some of that stuff but for those of us who live in B.F.E. Paying for gas to drive 100 (one way) miles or paying 35 bucks shipping on one bucket of fondant just ain't feasable. So therefore, if it wasn't for MMF we wouldn't have ANY fondant at ALL!!!!!

I like to make my own because I decorate as a hobby and it is more economical to make my own. As for Toba's recipe -- the tips I use are measure my icing sugar by weight. I always measure out an extra half pound more than the recipe calls for in a seperate bowl. Sometimes I need to use it, sometimes I do not. I mix with a spoon until the dough pulls away from the bowl and then turn out onto a pile of icing sugar to knead. I go by feel and knead in sugar until the fondant has the texture of soft clay. Then I take a blob (approximately tsp) of crisco and knead it in lightly and rub a thin coating on the outside and wrap in plastic wrap, throw in a freezer bag and put in the fridge overnight. The next day I put a thin coating of crisco on my hands, grab the fondant and start kneading. I always use glycerin as well. I really find that it seems to be affeccted by humidity levels or something when you are making it so kneading by feel is the best way to know when to stop.
Hope that helps.

HUMIDITY!! That can alter everything! If you saw Ace of cakes when the team made the Super Bowl cake, they mentioned being upset at how the humidity affected their fondant.

I agree with some of the others....I don't use enough fondant to make it feasable to buy a big tub of SatinIce or any of the other different types of fondanat....Thats awful expensive for just a hobby. That's why I make my MMF (the tub would be like a big vat of Play dough for the kiddos )

I bought a big tub of Satin Ice last July for an anniversary cake......and have so much left over. It's been kept in it's wrapping and container and today is STILL as good as the first day. In fact, I used it for a cake yesterday. So the stuff lasts!

yeah, ya know I have some hot pink stuff from over a year ago...can't seem to use the stuff up, but I keep tasting it and it tastes just the same as it did when I bought it AND the color is still there...hot pink

I would definitely give MMF a shot. I am a brand new baker and so far it hasn't failed me. I think it is about kneading it by hand to get a feel of exactly what works for you. I have decided that instead of letting the fondant set over night to use it as soon as I make it and it rolls and lays over the cake like a dream. I guess all of this baking stuff is chalked up to personal preference. I know that it is completely NOT feasible to order SatinIce etc. only because I live in the middle of nowhere CANADA, so it costs an arm and a leg to get things here.

Amber....I use mine right away as well. Most people will tell you, as a rule, to let it set overnight...but why? Its just harder to work with.

I still have mine sitting in a baggie cause I thought I couldn't use it till today (made yesterday)

What is mmf and how do you make it? This is my first post. I am BRAND NEW at cake decorating. My son wants to make a cake for a hawaiian themed carnival at school. He wants ocean on one side and beach on the other. We plan to do blue frosting on one side and crushed graham crackers on the other. Then he wants surfboards. Can I make fondant in different colors and have him make the surfboards out of it, like he might make them out of play-doh? I really want to be "hands-off" so I don't want it to be too hard. Any ideas?

I only have MMF, Wilton and Toba's fondant to compare but I don't think I'll ever do anything other than Toba's recipe anymore. The ingredients are inexpensive and it tastes so much better than Wilton's that it's amazing. I like it better than the MMF as well, not to mention that I can brag to customers that I make my fondant from scratch like everything else I make. It's a good selling point

I'm another one who lives way out in the boonies and gas is expensive, as well as shipping for those big tubs of fondant. I can get a big bottle of glycerin pretty cheaply when I order icing colors/dusts, etc and the rest of the ingredients are found just about anywhere.

I was very surprised at how easy it was to make fondant when I tried Toba's recipe. Just remember to do it by feel. Don't start out with all the sugar at once or it might end up too dry. Just add more sugar as you need it and do it by feel. Just like bread dough or pie dough, it'll be slightly different every time. The fondant can be made up way ahead of time...months in advance really so the commercial fondant really isn't better in that respect either.

That's just my thoughts on it. Everyone has their own preferences and you're just feeling out what works best for you. Good luck

gabesmomma - I think for a newbie and a kid I would go to your craft store and get the multi pack of colors from wilton. especially since it is for the boards. it is the easiest to work with and comes in lots of brght colors. I think the multi-pack is red, blue and yellow....but I am not sure! Have fun!

I agree completely!!! I teach a certificate course in cake decorating here and the first time my student use fondant, I make them buy a box of Wilton....just so they know how it is supposed to look and feel when they make MMF. This seemed to help them along and they weren't so afraid to try making the MMF.

Perfect. I will do just that. After that, however, if I wanted to make MMF, where would I find a recipe? Or the Toba recipe? I think fondant looks great and I plan to try working with it. Which one tastes better, btw, MMF or Toba's?

Here is arecipe for mmf

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-1949-Marshmallow-Fondant-MMF.html

Here is a recipe for a fondant with a jello "base"

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-1949-Marshmallow-Fondant-MMF.html

I haven't tried either of these but plan too!