Hello,

I am looking into buying some supplies to get started with fondant and am just wondering if you could shed some light on what rolling pin works best for fondant. I see the acrylic ones seem to be non-stick but it seems the pins without handles would be hard to use than the pins with handles. Do you guys find the wide pins without handles work just fine?

Also, what about silicone mats. Are they worth it? It seems anything that helps fondant from stciking while rolling would be most helpful. Just looking for opinions on this. Is it just as fine to use a granite countertop with cornstarch or confectioners sugar to help with the sticking?

Thanks for the advice,

lsienna

I use a regular wooden pin, just rub it with some crisco and fondant will never stick.
As for the mat, I use Vinyl, someone suggested it around here and I love it!

I bought about a yard at Walmart for +/-$3.00!!! I cut it in three pieces...I didn't realized how huge a yard is...

I rub a bit of Crisco on the vinyl, roll the fondant and lift the entire thing on top of the cake and then flip it (I usually have my b/f to hold one end I I hold the orther) and just peel the vinyl, it comes out beeeeautifully...

I have a couple of small silicone mats that I use for flower making and other tiny details. I still have to use cornstarch or crisco or the fondant will stick to them. I also have some flexible, tough plastic sheets that walmart sells for $3 for a pack of 3...those are really just as good as the silicone, for me. When I roll fondant out for a cake, I've been using the wilton cake dividing wheel. I think I'm going to go get a piece of vinyl and try it out this weekend.

Rolling pins are another story I started with a wooden one. It was all right, not perfect. Then I bought a nonstick one from the grocery store. It was okay, but too narrow and left ridges in my fondant. Meanwhile, I bought the small white Wilton one with the pink and purple rings. It's perfect for small things. Then I found a Silpin (at Ross) and it's wonderful. It's heavy and has ball bearings to make it roll smoothly. Nothing sticks to it...and best of all it's bubble gum pink I've been wanting the big white Wilton rolling pin (either that or the silpin without handles) just for transferring the fondant to the cake. I keep taking my hobby lobby coupon and going to get the wilton pin, but they're always sold out.

I have an acrylic, with no handles. It's about 18 in long and works great! It's actually easier to me, without the handles, because I can push the pin with the palms of my hand and not have to grip small handles (<-does that make sense?).

For small things, like flowers and whatnot, I use a 9"x13" Kitchenaid silicone mat I found at Tuesday Morning. For bigger things, like rolling out fondant to cover a cake, I have the Ateco fondant mat.

http://www.intotheoven.com/product_info.php?products_id=1176

i also use a wooden rolling pin with handles for my fondant. I just rub some powdered sugar on it, it never stick and always looks nice.

I have an Ateco Silicone mat, I think it's 24x36...love it.

I start out with a regular wood rolling pin greased with shortening to get most of my fondant rolled out.

I then switch to my 32" silicone rolling pin with rings to finish off the fondant. I use 3/16" rings so my fondant is the exact same depth.

I used to wrap the fondant around my rolling pin and then unroll onto the cake, but for the first time on my last fondant wedding cake I tried the flip method (putting the mat over the cake and then peeling the fondant off), and it actually worked much better for me. I lightly greased the mat with Crisco first. It really did put the better side on the cake, I also had less air bubbles to deal with and no cracking at the edges.

1-1/2 dia PVC pipe. For a mat any "plastic" that is sturdy will work. I wouldn't go through the expense of silicone. You'll need a pretty big piece of silicone.

Mike