I have read something about using the kitchen aid pasta maker attachment for cake related things. What exactly does it get used for? I just found one in my cabinet (I'm an idiot, I know). We must have gotten as a wedding present (6.5 yrs ago). Now I need to know what I can do with it. Thanks!

You can roll your fondant and gumpaste flat with it. You need to make sure to NEVER get anything to thick in it cause ut will shear off the pin and be useless.

I think you can use it for fondant and maybe gumpaste. I have one also, that I got with my Kitchen aide a couple of months ago - haven't used it yet, though.

i love my pasta maker.
gumpaste comes out a uniform thickness and can be rolled quite thin.
amen to what donna said about putting anything thick through it.
i was wiping mine with a damp cloth while it was on (duh). it grabbed the cloth and died immediately.
i invested in another one because my rolling skills aren't very good.

aarrgh, why didn't I ask for that on my wedding registry???

I have one and I wasn't thrilled with it. My manual said setting #3 was for thick "noodles" thinking that would be a good setting for my fondant accents, but I think it is still too thin and leaves these shred-like marks. What's the secret to using this thing?

...........i was wiping mine with a damp cloth while it was on (duh). it grabbed the cloth and died............

Oh, I'm soooooo glad to see I'm not the only one who did this!

.......leaves these shred-like marks. What's the secret to using this thing?........

You have to keep putting a piece thru it until it stops turning it gray or no more marks. That can take what seems like an endless amount of time. Just keep using that same piece - it will turn gray & ugly but just keep feeding in thru.
As for the fondant being too thin - well I don't agree w/you

Take some advice from the people who use it for polymer clay. Feed your piece thru as many as 7 times on each setting - start w/the widest setting you can and put it thru 7 times; turn it one natch thinner and repeat; continue until it is as thin as you want. You will be surprised how thin gp can get and how much farther you gp will go for making flowers! Loved mine totally until I broke it

ddaigle, my KA pasta roller attachment also gets mine too thin. I don't use it on the thinnest setting. It would be thinner than newspaper, and I don't have any need for uber-brittle flowers.

OK, after messing around with this, are you guys talking about rolling out flat sheets? I dont' see any way this thing that I have can make anything other than spaghetti noodles, flat noodles, and lasagna-like noodles. Am I missing something ! Are there more than one kind of pasta attachment for the ka?

Yes, we are talking about rolling out flat sheets. Perfect for making any of a million uniform cut fondant and gumpaste pieces ~ circles, squares, diamonds, strips, flower petals, drapes, bow loops...just to name a few. The pasta roller allows you to effortlessly roll out flat sheets of fondant, gumpaste, or 50/50 with uniform thickness.

See the cake in my avatar? I used the pasta roller for all of the flower petals, leaves, bow loops, sugar side panels, and cut side embellishments. I also used a small texture mat on top of the gumpaste as I rolled it through the pasta roller to imprint a tiny diamond pattern on the side panels and bow loops. Easy peasy!!

You only have one attachment? KA sells a pasta set consisting of a roller, fettuccine cutter, and a spaghetti/linguini cutter (3 different attachments). Little less common to get just one. I've been researching this because I was considering buying it.

On http://www.kitchenaid.com they sell the set, or just the roller, or the 2 cutters.

I thought my KA pasta roller to be a pain in the ... I like mine that sits on my table better I think it is an atlas? Easier to get to .

sewsweet - you are lucky that your husband fixed yours, they are spendy. my husband is a duct tape freak and i don't think that would work.
confectionsofahousewife (great name!) i know of three types of pasta machines. one has rollers like the old wringer washing machines and it makes sheets. there are also cutters for larger and finer pasta making, they have teeth.

Cakepro....what setting # did you use?

By chance, would anyone out there want to sell their attachment (rollers that will make GP really thin)... hopefully cheap... I'm now unemployed (our store closed). I'd really like to try to make some flowers in between job hunting.

The pasta attachments for the KA are pretty expensive, but you can pick up a manual pasta roller for about 15 bucks.

ddaigle, I'm not sure what number I use...but I will try to remember tomorrow to get it out and look.

I got my pasta machine for my KA for $50 bucks. Compared to other places, I thought that was a steal! Don't know if the link will show up or not. http://www.boscovs.com/StoreFrontWeb/Product.bos?itemNumber=269. (and if I recall...free shipping)

Thanks Sherri! I appreciate it. I want to become friends with my pasta roller...right now, we are not! LOL

Aren't these pasta rollers only about 6" or so wide? I would love to use one but it seems like it's very limited in what it can be used for being so narrow. Does anyone know of any that are wider?

This previous thread mentions a 36" one:

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopic-638231-0-days0-orderasc-pasta.html

Mine is only about 6" wide, but then I only use it for occassional accents. It worked great when I had to make the yellow crime scene ribbon. It spit out a 16" long narrow piece for me that I cut down to the width I wanted. But.......again, I thought it was too thin.

i like it for ribbon too. i also use it to roll gumpaste for roses and other flowers.

if anyone is still looking, KitchenAid is offering a rebate on their attachments right now, including the pasta roller. I'm going to pick one up tonight! Here's the link:
http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/00/00/06/16/78/36/616783610._V227542646_.pdf