Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Hi, I usually use Tesco’s own make of fondant and have done for a couple of years with no complaints. However, they have now made an ‘improvement’ to the recipe to make it ‘easier to roll’. Unfortunately this also means easier to rip and tear! I have emailed about this and they say that they will inform their suppliers. In the meantime I have a few cakes to do and cannot use this fondant as it’s become a nightmare to work with. I don’t want to go to the bother of adding any ‘hardeners’.

I realise everyone’s taste if different but I would like you all to please tell me which one you swear by for use of handling and taste.

Thanks everyone.

Hi Susan

I use Renshaws Regal ice for regular cakes and Satin ice for very special cakes. Renshaws is soft and easy to roll out, it will tear if too thin, but on the whole I find it’s good to work with. Satin ice is my favourite, it can be rolled out very thin, doesn’t tear very easily and has a yummy vanilla taste. Satin ice also do others flavours and their own gumpaste. I mention gumpaste because the fondant has a habit of crumbling if you add colour to it and is best to buy the ready coloured. I have made my own in the past, added colours and flavours to suit. I’ve got lazy now and just buy it, so much easier! I know other members will chime in with their preferences.

Hi Susan

I’ve probably left it too late to add that the Asda fondant is very good. It costs £2.00 for 1kg. I use it a lot for children’s cakes and for making gum paste, it has never given me any problems. Paul uses Renshaw’s, if you look here http://www.cakeflix.com/online-cake-decorating-courses/free/suppliers you’ll see Paul mentioning that brand and he mentions it frequently during the tutorials. He has also tried this http://www.cakeflix.com/blog/sugarpaste-that-doesnt-tear and this http://www.cakeflix.com/questions?s=carmas+massa+ticino+tropic. The last two are very expensive but if you’re interested in the Carmas I do have a direct contact here on the site which I’d have to search for. I think quite a few of the suppliers are changing their recipes and starting to add gum tracg. You’ve mentioned Cova paste, I believe that is good, many of our members mention it’s virtues, I’ve yet to try it and will probably get some at the show next week. Sugar Shack does do some sampler packs but it’s worth asking other suppliers by emailing them. Try http://www.cake-stuff.com/, they were doing samples for ‘The Paste’ for modelling and they may well do fondant samples too. If you fancy making your own I’ve posted three recipes from the International Sugar Craft school book http://www.cakeflix.com/questions?s=how+to+make+sugar+paste+from+scratch and if you want to add colour you can see this question and answer http://www.cakeflix.com/questions/coloured-fondant. Hope some of this information helps. x

Hi miwl,

Thanks for that. I usually use Renshaws coloured paste when I need a good strong or specific colour and it works quite well, but I am not too keen on the taste. I’m trying to remember what paste it was that Paul used, will need to ask him I think. I would love to use satin ice but it is expensive, so really for special cakes – weddings etc. I have heard that Covapaste is good and Sugar Shack do a ‘tasting’ pack of all their fondants, so might try that as well. For this week though I might try Sainbury’s own make. Im so gutted that Tesco suppliers have changed their recipe as I never had any problems with tearing, elephant skin or cracking at all.

Well, thank you for that miwl. I did always wonder what Asda’s fondant is like so I’ll will give that a try this week. It is for my sister-in-law’s birthday, so when I’m doing cakes for family etc. I do like to try out different brands. Wouldn’t do that though if I was charging someone. I have seen the recipes for fondant etc. but, honestly, I think life is too short! lol. So I will try Asda – does it tend to tear easily?

I don’t find it tears and it makes good gum paste. In fact I’ve had more tears with the Regal ice than the Asda. Sometimes it depends on humidity and the fondant gets very slack. I like kneading my fondant up the day before I want to use it. That allows it to rest and settle. Obviously everyone has their own way of doing things and it will be great to get some more feed back from other members and what they do to try and prevent tears. I hope you’ll like the Asda icing. Has to be worth a try at two quid! x

Absolutely. I’ll let you know, thank you again.

Hi miwl, I used Asda’s fondant and I am quite pleased with it. I will be using it again in a couple of weeks for a few cakes so I will let you know if it stands up to the test!!

Got to say thank you again as you were the only person who contributed!!

Well, I succumbed to buying Satin Ice this week. I got it from
http://www.thegreatcakewarehouse.co.uk/10kg-satin-ice-whitevanilla-532-p.asp
as it worked out at quite a good price compared to other stores. However, I am not pleased with it at all. I removed some from the tub and noticed lots of air-holes through the paste. I lightly kneaded and rolled it out – it was a mass of air bubbles. I know that the odd air bubble sometimes comes up, but I have never experienced this before – ever! Although it did not crack or tear covering it did have “elephant skin”, again not something that I get a lot of bother with.

I am gutted as I bought a 10kg tub – stupidly – so I will try mixing it 50/50 with Tesco’s and see how that works. One of the reasons I bought the large tub was because the store states that it has an up to one year shelf life. The tub I received expires in Aug this year!! I have sent off an email to the company so we’ll see what happens.

Has anyone tried Sattina?

Hi Susan

I’m sorry you’ve had this bad experience with Satin Ice, I use it as my special fondant and havn’t had any problems. I haven’t tried Sattina yet but if you look here http://www.cakeflix.com/questions/sattina you’ll see some positive comments. I’m going to be using it soon I have several cakes for this month so will try it out.

Hi MIWL,

I bought it as it had so many good reviews. So, you’ve never had any problems with air bubbles or elephant skin with it? After I did, I googled Satin Ice and air bubbles and there was quite a lot of reading, but mostly dated last year or before. I wonder if I have a faulty batch, also when they talk about a year’s shelf life I’m sure it should be my shelf and not theirs. Well, we’ll see what they say.

Up until last year I had been using Renshaws for all my special cakes. At the London ExCel show 2012 I was tempted to try out the Satin Ice despite the not so good reviews here in the UK, the Americans all rave about it. Like you I had holes in the icing but on kneading it through it all smooth out and rolled beautifully. My first mistake with it was rolling out to the same thickness as the Renshaws which gave me lots of sagging and some very large air bubbles. Once I started to roll it out thinner it presented no more problem, I found resting the icing overnight after kneading relaxed it, thus eliminating the unusually large air bubbles. I like it because it can be rolled out so much thinner which makes for a better eating experience. I bought more at the NEC back in November and I have just one tub left. It may be that you’ve been unlucky with your batch and I agree with you about the shelf life, it should have been longer. Perhaps because of the short date the retailer put it on at the special price. As much as I like SI it is expensive, I’m just a hobbyist so don’t charge for any of my cakes, now I’m looking for something good but more economically priced. It’ll be interesting to see what SI have to say about your batch.

Thanks for that. I’ve looked at the cakes this morning and they have quite a few air bubbles – thought I’d got them all. So, I’m having to fix that and then then put another layer of fondant on.

I didn’t knead it for any great length of time because I thought that too much kneading gave it air bubbles but I did roll it out thinner than I would normally have done. I normally only rest it overnight when I have coloured it.

It wasn’t on at a ‘special price’ that is the normal price, but if it is that price because of the date then they should inform you of the shorter shelf life. I didn’t email SI, I emailed the company I bought it from. I’ll keep you up to date!

Hi
I live in Cyprus and our supplier has just stated stoving satin ice instead of renshaws.
I used it to ice five cakes and I am disappointed as there are lots of air bubbles and a little bit of elephant skin.
I never had as many problems with renshaws.

Hi Marinella

Since my original post on Satin Ice I have changed over to Carmas Mass Ticino. I have never had any problems with Satin Ice ivory. However last year I used the white paste and was appalled by how dreadful it was. I did complain to the Satin Ice rep at Cake International who wanted me to supply a sample of the batch I had used. Unfortunatly I used it all up but not after adding lots of gum trag to stabilise it. The remaider I turned into gumpaste and made models. I had endless problems with the Renshaw brand, as have many other members. See further comments here:

renshaws sugarpaste

Member reviews on other pastes here:

Best sugarpaste to use

Sorry to hear you’ve had so many problems. I can only go by my own experience, which at the time was a favourable one with Satin Ice ivory. Your feed back will certainly be very useful.

Hi Susan

I use Asda’s own (which I believe is made by Renshaw) for covering all my boards and also modelling work after adding Tylo because these are not going to be eaten. If kids eat the models then it doesn’t really matter.

For covering cakes definitely Satin Ice or Masso Ticino. Satin ice has a beautiful flavour and if kneaded well and rolled out thinly does not I believe work out that much dearer. I am making a cake with lovely ingredients so just feel it’s cover should match, although I appreciate it is all about personal taste. I get many comments about the fondant tasting so good.

Masso Ticino is really indestructible. You can roll it really thin. It doesn’t have that strong vanilla paste as SI does but nonetheless tastes good

I source from www.craftcompany.co.uk, especially when they have free delivery and www.thecakedecoratingcompany.co.uk. Their postage is the cheapest.

As I say it’s really all about personal taste but the quality of these products far exceeds the supermarket brands.

Hello miwl, could you please direct me with some good fondant recipes from scratch. Fondant is the single most expensive ingredient here in australia, and it is simply peeled off and thrown away when eating the cake, what a waste. Could you give me a gelatin free recipe as i have noticed that commercial fondants like satin ice do not use gelatin. I did try a gelatin one from planet cake book, after some days of storage tried to roll it out, but it went hard and crumbley.
Thanks

Hi, I am still confused! I will be making a four tier wedding cake for my daughter, having only made family birthday cakes, so far! The tiers will be 6″; 8″; 10″ and 12″ and all 4 to 4 1/2″ deep.. I want the icing to be ivory and taste nice! I still don`t know which sugarpaste to buy or how much! I have seen recommendations for Renshaws (who do three different ones!) and now have been reading, here, the pros and cons for Satin Ice and Maso Ticino. I don`t really want to pay double the price unless there is a good reason, but I will if it is worth it. I have also seen that Renshaws does a white chocolate flavour, that LOOKS ivory in the illustration, but is it? Has anyone tried this? I also will need to cover the bottom fruit tier ahead of the others, so if I get a bulk pack it may dry up. Please – how much will I need, including for the bottom board? How thick should I roll it? Which is the safest bet, to give me a great result? Thanks, in advance. I am in England, and the weather in August could be very hot or just the opposite!

Hi Tuppenjoy

This thread is very old and things have moved on considerably since the recommendations here.

I have switched over to massa ticino tropic and will never change unless something better comes along. On the market today are so many different brands that to test them all individually would take some time and expense.

As you will have read in this thread, massa is much favoured. The paste rolls out a lot thinner than the softer icings so, in effect it doesn’t really work out so expensive. There is a sugarpaste quantities guide on the site. Please take a look at our super calculators and select the sugarpaste here:

Cake Calculators

You can choose square or round shapes and the depth of cake and thickness of sugarpaste.

Finding which sugarpaste suit you best is by trying a few to see how they behave. The wedding is in August so it may be very warm. Personally, I would choose the Massa ticino tropic. It will save a lot of stress in the end.

There are further links in the following thread which discuss other pastes:

Which brand sugarpaste?

Again this is an old thread but the pastes are very much still relevant. Hope some of this information helps. If you’re still unsure about things just post back. You’re not on your own 🙂