Hey all!

I was wondering if anyone had tried using a dehumidifier to help dry your fondant/gumpaste decorations?

Any thoughts? I thought about getting one and possibly making a drying "box" with it

I have and constantly use an old dehydrator - but only for gum paste. Fondant melts - horrible mess. Mine is an old, round stacking unit with only about 1 1/2 inches between the trays, so DH made a couple of collars (from plastic laminate) to use as tall spacers so that I can dry bigger/taller items. Couldn't live in a coastal swamp and dry gum paste any other way LOL.

I'm sure the dehumidifier would help. I store thoroughly dried gum paste in air-tight boxes with a little container of Damp-rid - amazes me to see the moisture that collects even with the silicone seal on the boxes. Wish I had a dehumidifier to try in a confined area. Let us know how it works if you decide to try it.

I haven't tried it with fondant yet, but I just used one last night for buttercream. I had to thin it a lot because the cake was crumbling (carved cake) and after 4 hours it wasn't crusted. It was also stormy here last night (and the last few weeks, actually). Within an hour, it had crusted. Too much, of course, but it did crust. I'm hoping this is the answer to my summer fondant problem as I don't have central air and window air conditioners weren't enough last year.

The dehumidifier puts out a lot of heat. I used one before when I didn't have a decent air conditioner in my apartment. It cost almost $300 and we used it for the whole summer. Every day it took about 6 gallons of water out of the air which made it much more comfortable...but it constantly blows out hot air.

It did make it possible, barely, to do cakes with no air conditioning. Marshmallow fondant decorations (like bow loops) dried in a day when I was using it.

The heat that it generates and the expense of the machine itself are the real reasons for not using it. When I can't get a cake to crust now, I stick it in the fridge for a few minutes and that always does the trick.

Last week I had forgotten to make petals for some flowers I was putting on a cake, due the next day. I made them out of fondant instead of gumpaste (that's what I had handy and already in green!), and I knew they would take forever to dry out.

I had remembered reading a trick about turning the oven light on and putting your deco's in there, so that's exactly what I did. Once or twice I turned the oven on 350 for like 10 seconds, just enough to get SOME heat, then I shut it off (it was extremely hot and humid last weekend!). This worked absolutely perfectly and I was actually able to make some last minute gumpaste daisies and dry them the same way. ALL of them were perfectly dry and ready to use.

The problem is: when it comes out of the fridge, it melts again, and quickly. I haven't found a complete answer yet- other than to get central air. I tried putting gumpaste under a desk lamp in a window air conditioned room, putting it in just a window air-conditioned room without the desk lamp, and then tried the oven light. I could get it to harden last summer, but the moment I removed it from it's safe environment it started to soften again and within minutes was a floppy as when I made it.

Someone please convince my hubby that we need central air or I cannot cake for several months of the year!

I use a food dehydrator for gumpaste items when the weather is humid and I need things in a hurry! But for cakes I have a reverse cycle A/C in the room I work and this controls heat/cold/humidity perfectly. You can buy a unit for one room much cheaper than installing a ducted system through your whole house