for christmas i am going to be decorating a 10 inch fruit cake with a nativity scene (1 stable with star , 7pepole 1 with staff 3 with presents and 1 donkey and baby in manger) i will be useing fondant iceing. this will be my first time decorating a cake with figures/objects standing up from the cake. this cake is for family

the instructions i have say to make the parts for the stable and star and leave for 48 hours to dry then use icing to stick together.

I asked a local cake decorating shop (i live in uk) for advice and they suggested Using gum tragacanth in the iceing to make them stand.

i have heard that having gum tragacanth i icing makes it go harder faster.

i have made a figure already and it stands up fine ( with and without using a cockail stick in the middle) what would you do?

Fondant figures made in advance will usually dry just fine without having to use gum tragacanth. If you are making them now, I would think they would dry just fine.

If you are unsure about whether to put a dowel or skewer in them, you may want to think about if the cakes are going to be jostled or have to travel....but they will be more secure on the cake if you make them with a dowel or something in them and put that into the cake to help keep them in place.

HTH.