ACan someone please help have cake to be finished by six this evening. I am making a black and white loopy bow cake. I made the loops on Wednesday and by Thursday evening the white ones had set and gone hard but the black loops were stil a bit droopy but I thought they would be ok. Yesterday they were pretty much set and quite hard. I was certain they would be done by today. When I got up this morning they have gone soft again. I made them out of half flower paste and half fondant. I even added some gum trag to it just in case(this has happened to me before). Is there anything I can do about it. And does anyone know why this is happening. Also I used the same ball of icing for the black and white ones just colured half of it black myself with black extra

Hiya,

I am no expert so maybe someone else with more expertise will reply.

I have found that because you often need more gel to make black (or red), it often makes the gums paste more "tacky".

You can try putting them in the oven.  Every oven is different, with mine I put it on the lowest possible setting with the fan on, turn the heat off to cool and then put the gum paste creations in.  Use a silpat mat (or similar).  I keep the door open. Never had a problem with that but you need to keep your eye on them.

Remember that you are drying them, not cooking them so the oven needs to be very very cool and breezy.  Some people suggest just putting on the fan and the light.

You could also try a proper fan, keep it some distance away from the gum paste as you don't want the surface to crack, just get a gentle breeze going.

I hope that helps.

AHi thanks have got them in front of a fan now they do seem to be setting a little more now