Hi everyone!!

I am needing to make some football goal posts (american football). Should I make them out of fondant or should I dip some pretzel rods in chocolate and glue them together? It seems like the pretzel rods would be the easiest, but lately my I have found that after sticking the pretzel rods in the cake, they seem to get soft and almost break. Do you think that if I use fondant, they would have time to harden enough for a cake due on Saturday?

Thank you all for any advice you can offer!!!

Leslie

If you're looking for something that'll get really hard, you might try using gumpaste. Fondant hardens after time, but it won't get as hard as gumpaste. Just an idea!

Thank you so much!!
I have the stuff to make the gum paste, but have not had a chance to work with it yet. If I stick the goal posts into the cake will the buttercream break down the gumpaste? I know it breaks down royal, but don't know about gumpaste.

I appreciate your great suggestion!!!

Leslie

I would go with gumpaste too! I have not have BC break down gumpaste yet and I stick it rigt into it. Just a suggestion if you are going to use gumpaste....... I would try to make the goal post in one big piece (roll out long tube of it, divide midway and then form into post) and sort of thick.
Also you can color them with the icing spray.
bj

I made gumpaste goal posts once and they got soft in the cake. I ended up sticking a straw in the cake and the goalpost in the straw.It was the cake not the frosting that made them break down.

Thank you all for your replies!!!

So, do you think that would happen with fondant as well? Breaking down in the cake? I made 2 goal posts today out of fondant and was planning on making more of them tomorrow out of gumpaste. I made the gumpaste tonight and it said to let it set up for at least 8 hours before using it. I have never worked with gumpaste before and very little with fondant (I have made figures, but nothing that I have inserted into the cake).

Now I am getting scared....all the little boy that I am doing the cake for talked about was a football cake with blue goal posts. I try to make everything that goes onto my cakes, but I am running out of ideas for the goal posts. I would hate to take the cake to them and have leaning or broken goal posts!!! Could I somehow wrap the gumpaste around some dowel rods or something???

Please help! Cake is due Saturday.

Thank you in advance

How about using lolipop sticks for the goalposts? I think that is the way Wilton has done them on cakes in one of their yearbooks.

I would have to agree, the fat in the buttercream and the moisture in the cake, will both breakdown fondant or gumpaste in time. The fondant would break down faster. For fondant or gumpaste things that will have contact with buttercream or be stuck into a cake, I airdry these decorations for at least a week.
I agree with Mrs. Missey, I would use straws, lollipop sticks, or wooden dowels and cover them with the fondant or gumpaste. Fondant and gumpaste items frequently need this as additional support in the centre in larger or thicker items. It is like working with concrete, it needs additional structural support in the centre.
But fondant or gumpaste on its own for this application, well you will likely have problems.
Hugs Squirrelly

Thank you Mrs Missey and Squirrely!!

I think I have come up with a solution to insert the dowel tubes into the cake and fill them with icing so all the mom has to do is insert the posts into the tubes when she sets the cake up. I will explain the situation to her. Hopefully it will be ok for 2 hours. LOL I might could fill the tubes with royal and go ahead and insert them myself. Man, I am so confused. She just didn't want anything plastic on the cake, so I was trying my best to make something.
Oh well....hopefully it will work.

Thank you both again for your wonderful suggestions!!!
Leslie

Hey Squirrelly!
That is a great idea!!! I never thought of stick candy. I thought of pretzel rods dipped in chocolate (but those broke down on my husband's cake last week), the Hard candy wouldn't at all!!! I am definitely going to get some while I am out today!!!!

THANKS SO MUCH!!! (You gals are extremely helpful!!!! )

Have a great day!!
Leslie

Hi Leslie,
we use them for dowels in smaller cakes and I have used them for carousels and also covered them to hold up fondant signs and such. Haha, just dawned on me after I had posted, why not for goal posts, duh, where is my brain, haha!
Let us know how it all works out, can't wait to see the cake!
Hugs Squirrelly

I think the dowels covered with either fondant or gumpaste would definitely work for you just fine .. on the plunger cake I made, I used a dowel stick in the center with fondant wrapped around it .. it worked beautifully and didn't break down at all .. good luck and remember to post those pics for us to see!!!!!

What about Pastillage? I've never worked with it myself, but if Margaret Braun can make a chalice out of it to house marzipan fruit, it must be pretty sturdy, no?

Interesting, in some books and at some periods in time, pastillage was considered the same things as gumpaste, just a different term and also it has been used as a term to cover all forms of sugar modelling materials. These days it more often refers to a type of modelling paste that uses gelatin and usually cornstarch and sugar and egg white to some degree, the recipes vary a bit.
Generally it has the same strength as gumpaste. Still, with a lot of these things depending on the size etc., quite often a screening reinforcing material or dowelling or such is used to give these items extra support or structure. Not always, but often as they are similar to making things out of modelling clay or plaster and such.
Though technically they are edible because of the ingredients, they are too hard to eat.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

Another thought just occurred to me...what about using a material such as fondant (as was originally suggested) or gumpaste, but make sure that the portion going into the cake itself is lollipop stick. In other words, wrap the edible bit around something that won't be effected by the cake and won't affect the appearance of the cake either.

Hay Ya'll!

Its funny you guys suggested Pastillage. I emailed Diane Shavkin a day or so ago (I didn't think she would reply, though, isn't she famous? I thought she may be too busy...she was VERY sweet). But this is the technique she suggested. She said to leave out the glucose. I wonder why? I am very new to the gumpaste medium and heard of pastillage once or twice....but never really knew what it was. She said there is a recipe for it on her site, I am going to check it out, but not for this project. It's just too late to start anything new. Cake is due tomorrow.

I do have an additional question that i am about to try out. Just thought i would ask. I haven't put arms on my little football players yet. Is it too late? Could they be glued on with the royal glue? I can't really stick anything in the players now, cause it would crack the fondant. Or do they need arms at all?

I truly appreciate all the wonderful ideas and suggestions you all have given me! I don't know what I would do without ya'll!!!

Thank you all!!!
Leslie

Definitely use royal icing/glue. It's the only way to go and will hold for certain.

Hi Irina,
Thank you for your reply! I was needing that little extra validation!!!

Leslie

Can't wait to see it!
I wouldn't use them for larger cakes, but for smaller ones or lightweight cakes that do not have a lot of tiers, they are fine. I am too paranoid to trust them to support the weight of the larger heavier cakes.
The hardwood dowels shouldn't present any splintering problems. I sand them after I cut them and then wash them. But I think we are always concerned about putting anyone at risk, this is normal.
There is an article on this site about using the plastic "bubble straws", special straws for drinking Asian bubble tea. Jackie brought that to my attention awhile back. They are fairly cheap for those folks that are in the U.S. or have access to a store carrying such items.
You can also purchase plastic dowels, these are used for lace wall hangings and such and are fairly cheap and can be cut easily. Haha, I had purchased some lace Christmas wall hangings one year that came with these. Went to make a stacked cake and realized I was out of wooden doweling and was desperate. Anyway, they worked really well.
Gosh, you have to be imaginative sometimes, haha!
Best of luck with your cake!
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

Shavkin's site is amazing and apparently she is every bit as nice as her site. That isn't the first time I have heard that she gets back to everyone, so obviously she is a wonderful person and an amazing decorator! She is also extremely knowledgable and shares the limelight well and enjoys having others post pictures and techniques and ideas on her site. I was always impressed with that. She is one special lady!
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes