How Far In Advance Can Fondant Decorations Be Made?
Decorating By am2pm Updated 1 Sep 2007 , 2:21am by am2pm
Hi everyone,
Brand new to CC and to decorating. This website has already been a wealth of information for a newbie like me. Thank you all for sharing tips, ideas and your time. Have been reading morning to night since I found it.
I'm planning on doing 4 birhtday cakes for family members in September and would like to try fondant decorations on two of them. Can I start working on them now (it might take me a long time to get it right) and if so, how do I store them? Birthdays are all near the end of September.
Also, I read about painting fondant. Do you just use vodka and your regular icing colors?
Again, thanks for everything I have already tried to absorb. It is almost a little overwhelming.
Peggy
I just used fondant for the first time to make decorations for my M&M cake. I made his arms, legs and eyes out of fondant. The arms and legs were pretty thick. I made them Monday night and Thursday night they were dry, but not TOO firm. I could move it around a little bit, but it did crack. The eyes were thin, and they dried in a couple of days. I know there is a way to dry fondant decorations in the oven, set VERY low. I guess that's all my info! I hope I helped a little bit! 
Good luck with your cake!
Yes, you can start on them whenever you'd like. It actually might help if they have time to dry out a little. That is unless you want any of them to "form" around the cake (i.e. a border, you wouldn't do that in advance). I always start my fondant deco's well in advance, esp. since sometimes you want parts to dry before attaching other parts (like if you are making a little person, sometimes the weight of its head will smoosh the body if the body hasn't dried out a bit). As the pp mentioned, though: handle with care.
They will store just fine in a cupboard or somewhere away from heat, light and humidity. If they are not completely dry, they will not dry out if you place them in a tupperware...this could be good or bad - I've heard that for some, they get gummy because the sealed container just traps the moisture inside. But if you have any potential for pest issues, well they'll need to stay sealed up.
I've never painted fondant but your assumption is correct. The vodka evaporates quickly - if you used water the deco's would just get soggy since they'd absorb the water. You may have already read that you can do the same thing w/luster dust...brush it on dry or mix with vodka or an extract (lemon is popular because it's clear and has a high alcohol content) to get a real "paint" like consistency and much shinier tones. Everclear is actually the best but not available everywhere.
I have used my oven to dry fondant but not ON - if you have a gas oven, the tiny heat from the pilot light is enough to speed the process. Some even put the oven light on to generate extra heat.
If you're feeling really adventurous, use 50/50 gumpaste/fondant, which I used for the first time on my Ratatouille cake and WOW I loved using it, your deco's are SO much sturdier. However you can also just add Gumtex into fondant to speed up the drying time, this is a good solution too - sometimes fondant just doesn't want to dry without sagging (if you're making something 3d) and gumtex helps a lot.
Welcome to CC and HAVE FUN!!
Thank you abslu and ceshell! I am just making a few decorations for on top a cake, I don't think they will even be eaten. Thought this would be a way to start with getting a feel for fondant. I'll keep them out of an air- tight container! I'll get some gumtex to have on hand just in case. Thanks for the suggestions.
I'm also going to try the FBCT on one of them. I might be back with more questions when I get that far.
Peggy
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