Please Help! Does anyone know if I can make my fondant cutouts, paint them and put them in an airtight container the day before I need them? I need to put them on the side of the cake so I want them to still be pliable enough to mold to the side of the cake. Thanks!!!

Yes you can!

I have made cutouts for the tops of cookies a few weeks in advance and frozen them, so they are still soft enough to form to the top of the cookies.

Thanks!!!!

I need to do the same thing! If I make the cutouts ahead of time and keep them covered in plastic wrap and in a sealed container, how many days ahead can I do them so they still stay pliable?

Thanks

yep, you can freeze them in an air tight container (or on a cake board inside a baggie) for months. Take them out & let them thaw for about 20 minutes, then put on cake!

Thanks! that is great to know!

I don't think there's an absolute number of days anyone can point to. It depends on which fondant recipe you use, how dry or wet you make your fondant, whether you use CS, PS or Crisco to roll it out, how well you wrap it, the humidity in your area at that time of year, etc., etc., etc.

But, in general, I'd avoid rolling them in CS or PS as that will leave the surface dry to begin with. You can probably still mold them to a curve later, but the surface will be dry enough to show the stress of bending with hairline cracking on the surface.

You can always dry them curved on the side of your cake pans. Then store them on little puffs of paper towel. This way you won't have to bend them later and can make then as far ahead as you need to.

Or, if you roll on Crisco and wrap them well in plastic (not just cover them with plastic,) I don't see why they wouldn't last a few weeks, stored flat. But that will give you a shinier look.

I get the freezing part and I understand when I store my unused fondant to keep it airtight to keep it soft and workable - however, I did a cake for new years and kept it unrefridgerated in a cake holder for a few hours and when I lifted off the fondant letters to cut the cake they were a melty mess. Wouldn't you have the same problem if you stored precut fondant decorations in an airtight container v. freezing then thawing? Or was it because of the BC - which was real buttercream not crusting. It seems like both ways are okay on this thread? Just curious - sorry if I read it wrong.