Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

I was always told you had to use icing sugar when rolling out marzipan in case of fermentation, now I see some decorators are using cornflower, have things changed?

Thank you,
nicky223

Hi nicky223

Nothing has changed. Cornflour reacts with marzipan by fermenting to form mould. It can also dry the oils out in marzipan to cause cracks in an enrobed cake. Some icing sugars do contain a certain amount of cornflour to stop clumping so best to use pure icing sugar. A lot of decorators are using cornflour to roll out icing as it helps to absorb moisture. Unlike icing sugar which is hygroscopic and attracts moisture, cornflour helps to absorb it in icing, prevents stickiness and expedites the drying process if enviromental conditions are hot or humid.

Thank you, I will continue using icing sugar.

nicky223