Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

I’m not too sure if it is because it has been over kneaded but last night I did the Round Bow cake. I coloured my own icing and had to kneed it 3 times to get the desired colour. But then when I rolled it out it started cracking. I tried my best with it but it got worse as I made the bow. It just cracked all around the edges. Is this down to it being over kneaded when I’m colouring it? I use the sugar flair gels and used a dusting of icing sugar on the worktop.
Thanks in advance,
Mandy x

Hi Mandy

I don’t think it’s so much the over kneading but the amount of colour which has changed the consistency of the icing. It’s better to knead some pre coloured icing to white first and then colour it up to get a darker shade. Too much icing sugar can also dry and crack fondant. Over kneading can sometimes cause drying and lots of air bubbles which lessen if the icing is left to rest over night. I’m sure other members will also add more comments. x

Thank you for your reply. I didn’t use that much colour really. I was after a pale pink so didn’t want to add too much at once, hence me doing it 3 times. It seemed a bit sticky while I was rolling it and I’m thinking that maybe it was the icing sugar that dried it out. Do I not need to add anything to fondant when making things like the bow? I’ve seen people mention gum tragacanth? I’m a novice so really have no idea :-/

Hi mandyeggz

Yes icing sugar can cause drying and cracking and may well have been the cause of your problem this time. You can add a little gum tragacanth to the amount of fondant required for the bow. Normally it is 1 teaspoon to 250g of sugarpaste kneaded in and rested for 12 -24 hours before using. There is also CMC powder and tylose powder, both use the same amount but these can be used straight away. All these powders are sugarpaste strengtheners and allow ornamental pieces to hold their shape. Once you’ve made the gumpaste it must be kept tightly wrapped in a plastic bag otherwise it will become very hard and unusable. Hope this helps, but if you need more information please post again.

Hi,
I used to always have a problem with my icing cracking, but since changing to a mix of 50/50 cornflour and icing sugar have never had cracked icing again.