i have a birthday cake for sunday afternoon.
i will have to bake and assemble with my 5 year old underfoot...
it has lots of complicated fondant cut-outs on it that i cannot do this weekend (no time, no ability to concentrate, lol).

i made them today but i want them to stay fresh and pliable until sunday when i will put them on the cake.
i sealed them in press-n-seal saran wrap (see photo).

do you think that will work? is there a better method?

thanks!
diane

Do they need to be bendable? If not then let them dry and don't worry about it. Thin dry fondant will get a little softer once on the cake and you can still eat them. I always make my fondant peices ahead of time if I can.

provided they are sealed in the wrap or zip loc baggies, I would lay a wet paper towel on top of the baggie to keep it moist (but do not let any moisture come in contact with your fondant)...

good luck...

they are going on a round cake...i am afraid if i let them air dry, they won't bend to the curves of the cake or they will get those nasty little cracks on the edges when i apply them.

i had a heck of a time getting the edges smooth as it was (an exacto knife is a tool from the darkside....) and i want them to stay that way .

Chances are they will dry out a bit and crack if you try to bend them later. Could you kind of fold up/roll a few paper towels to mimic the curve of the outside of your cake pan to lay them on till you need them? I have kept fondant peices wet by really coating them with shortning both sides and pressing clingwrap right on the shortning so there is no air contact but the edges still stiffened and became brittle after only one day.

Let them dry on the on the outside curve of the cake pan the cake was baked in.

I think the press and seal you have them should work, but it could also dry some. If they dry just put them in a air tight plastic container to get soft again.

Do you have a dummy or a n extra pan you can form them on?

How about letting them dry on the cake pan so they dry to the curve of the cake?

i have the heinously complicated ones already drying on the pan, lol.
the ones already on the pan, took me three hours to cut (bakugan logo).
but i am going to need those pans in the morning the bake the cake....

i dried something once on a curve that wasn't quite right and it was not pretty...

i wish i'd given them a rub with crisco! that sounds like a great idea for keeping them pliable in their "wrapper".

When I make roses, I usually cut out about 30 petals at a time. I would leave it in my marble pastry board and cover in plastic wrap. There was a time where I had to leave it so I put a damp paper towel on top of the plastic. An hour later it was still good.

I think yours will still be good since you are sealing both sides. Try putting a damp towel on top as well.

Let me know how everything works and which method you used.

Good luck.

just dont be tempted to touch them or have the press and seal too tight as the pattern of the press and seal will appear on the fondant, and you won't be able to smooth it off. I read on here once someone said they stored cakes in the microwave, so since then I usually do my fondant way in advance and light cover it with plastic wrap put it in the microwave and it has stayed soft and doesn't crack

I did a cake a month ago with this SAME situation. I had A LOT of circle and square cut outs that needed to be done. I wanted to make them in advance. The night before I cut them all out and placed then in a Zip Lock bag (Glad Press and Seal will leave marks on your fondant, believe me I tried it on a test I did). After sealing them, I placed a damp towel over them. That next night (over 24 hours) they were still soft and pliable. I was able to place them on my ROUND cake with no problem.

F.Y.I

I did a test on this method before this cake. I sealed some fondant cut outs in zip lock bag and left it out (With NO DAMP TOWEL) for 3 DAYS. When I took the pieces out they were still pliable. I am not making this up. If you look at my past posts, I had this same question. I figured I better just find out on my own and do my own test. It worked.

Hope this helps you out.

=)

hi again,
just a quick post to let you know how it worked out.
the press and seal did not leave marks on the front of the cutouts because i did not press the wrap down on the fondant, just around it.
it didn't keep them fully pliable, as if they were freshly cut, but it did keep them pliable enough to curve on the round cake without breaking (after two days of storage)...but just barely.
i did not have a towel over it, because i couldn't figure out how the moisture from that was to permeate the plastic to help, but perhaps i should have!
next time i will try a sealed bag and see if that keeps them more airtight.
thanks everyone!
diane

Thanks for sharing your experiences with the pre-cut out shapes. It's good info to have on hand in case we ever need to do the same thing!

I like to cut and store fondant and gum paste, especially when I have to drag out the KA Pasta roller for lots of uniform thickness items.

My trick for keeping things pliable is to use those thin, flexible smooth plastic cutting boards (I get several for a buck at the Dollar Store). I place the items on a sheet and then place the sheet on top of a barely damp paper towel inside of a 2 gallon ziploc bag.

The sheets fit perfectly inside the bags. I stack up to 4 sheets on top of each other. I zip the bag closed and, if storing for more than a few hours, I place another barely damp paper towel over the zipper.

I've had fondant and gum paste cut outs stay soft and pliable for over a week doing this.

For one, very large cake, I had 8 full plastic sheets--2 bags--of pieces and didn't lose one. The key is to keep them out of heat & light and to be certain that the paper towel under the bottom sheet is only lightly damp--too wet and you'll have gooey/melted pieces.

HTH
Rae