I have made a couple of cakes in the height of Summer with the heat greatly effecting their ability to stay looking good. They have been fondant covered cakes, but when left out on display they sag and become shiny and sticky. Thankfully they have been for close friends and they have been able to overlook these flaws, but it has made me reluctant to do any more cakes. Does anyone have any suggestions? Does the amount of drying time greatly effect fondants ability to withstand heat? I have only been able to leave the icing to dry for a day at most. Any help or suggestions are gratefully received.

Can you provide a few more details?

What are you using under the fondant?
What type of fondant?
Do you refridgerate at any point?
Are you dealing with high humidity?

I always though fondant was great with the heat.

I have used both marzipan and butter cream under the fondant. The cakes have always been refigerated for a period. They seem to be hard and "set" but when left out on display (a hot and humid day, but in the shade) the fondant loses it's shape. It begins to sag and wrinkle, and no longer sticks to the cake. The fondant also seems to sweat and become extreemly sticky.

Fondant HATES humidity. Fridges are humid places and if you then bring them out of the fridge into more humidity that's what's going to happen. If I ever absolutely have to refrigerate a fondant cake (because of a perishable filling coupled with a super hot day) then I bring it back up to room temp with a fan pointed directly at it.
Hope this helps.

Thanks for the help. I'll invest in a fan for the future!

Try using ganache under your fondant - it holds its shape better. On a super humid day, there is not much you can do about it if it is out in the humidity. My niece just had her birthday on a ridiculously humid day and the cake my sister and I made for her became so tacky when it was sitting outside, on the deck, undercover because of the humidity (we don't put them in the fridge). When we got it back inside to cut it up, it came back to not being sticky quite quickly.

I believe most Aussie's use ganache under fondant because of our hot humid weather - or so someone told me once!

I have the same problem without ever refrigerating the cake once covered in fondant. 85 - 95% humidity here lately. I had to cake in our study one day with a makeshift airconditioner set up outside the window. Not much to be done but keep the cake in a airconditioned room.

Even my faux cakes suffer from the humidity. The fondant is on styrofoam and they have completely dried out, yet they will become sticky if the weather is too humid and they are not in an air conditioned environment. Is there a homemade fondant that can withstand humidity?

Ganache ( the firm setting kind, not the soft piping/pouring kind), is definitely better than buttercream under cakes, and marzipan should be OK too - do you let that dry out for a day or two before covering with fondant? I use thinned down corn syrup between my ganache/marzipan and the fondant and it sticks like glue! Never put a fondant cake in the fridge if you can help it though!

All fondants are not created equal though - what brand are you using? I find Pettinice & Ballina give me the best rest in the heat. My favourite ever was Icecraft, but they've stopped producing it as they had issues with mould growing on it in storage (had to dump 7.5kg myself just before Xmas due to mould growth - grrrrr!) - once on the cake it set beautifully and tasted divine (creamy almost). I hope they work on the mould issues and produce it again one day!

I used Satin Ice on a dummy and sat it in the shop window where it caught direct sunlight for half the day and it never melted, sagged, or did anything. You might give that a try.

Indydebi

Was your shop airconditioned? Fpndant is affected if in a humid non airconditioned environment. I can only buy Wilton or Virgin Ice brand here. Too expensive to have anything else shipped, therefore I make it. I make both MMF and a version of MFF depending on the final colour that I want. Is there another recipe that does not sweat in humid weather?

yes, it was A/C'd ... that could definitely be a factor.