It's Humid-Fondant Mortar Board (Grad Cap) Won't Dry, Help!
Decorating By eieio1234 Updated 11 Jun 2008 , 3:09am by lutie
Hello everyone, I have a graduation cake due tomorrow night. On it was to be a small (about 3-4") mortar board (gradution cap) The fondant w/gumtex will not dry. It's raining now, and the weather will turn to very humid for tomorrow and Saturday, the day of the party. Any ideas on what to do?? Should I just make it out of paper? Is there a way to dry it quickly and keep it dry? I *think* I have the ingredients for gumpaste, if I whip up a batch quickly will that dry in time with this weather?? I did fondant/gumtex decorations for my cake last weekend and they totally dried and then last minute they softened. I should have thought ahead and made it from gumpaste but it slipped my mind. Any ideas? I was thinking of making it out of paper, but I'm worried about grease absorbing in it. It's a buttercream cake. TIA!
I read somewhere someone used graham crackers and covered them in *Fondant* icing!! That would still be edible!!
Or, just cover some carboard in fondant or modeling chocolate. Or you can cut cardboard the same size as the board you have already made and use it under it as a support.
I had this exact same problem with mine!!
*Edited to say Fondant on the graham cracker!!*
Gumpaste dries really quickly in normal weather.
I read somewhere someone used graham crackers and covered them in icing!! That would still be edible!!
Or, just cover some carboard in fondant or modeling chocolate. Or you can cut cardboard the same size as the board you have already made and use it under it as a support.
I had this exact same problem with mine!!
I really like the idea of making it edible, with the graham cracker! Any ideas for the circle part it would sit on??
Cardboard under is an idea too..... the gears are turning now, thank you!
Which method did you use to firm yours up??
Thanks so much for your help!! 
Gumpaste dries really quickly in normal weather.
I have anything but normal weather in the forecast, unfortunately!! 
It's going to rain all of today, Fri and Sat (Sat is her party) it's going to be very very humid. Yuck!
I was just thinking I have a cupcake order due tomorrow (different order) I can use one of those under the graham cracker!! WooHoo! I love options!!!!
I was just telling my dh about the issue, and saying I can use cardboard in it and he said why not cut it out of cardboard and cover it with black satin instead of the fondant. That's a great idea as well!! Making a mini 'real' one. I wonder if I could find some black satin on short notice...
I read somewhere someone used graham crackers and covered them in icing!! That would still be edible!!
Or, just cover some carboard in fondant or modeling chocolate. Or you can cut cardboard the same size as the board you have already made and use it under it as a support.
I had this exact same problem with mine!!
I really like the idea of making it edible, with the graham cracker! Any ideas for the circle part it would sit on??
Cardboard under is an idea too..... the gears are turning now, thank you!
Which method did you use to firm yours up??
Thanks so much for your help!!
Unfortunetly mine was dried...well, I thought it was...then I put it on the cake and the moisture from the cake and humidity made it bend....I had to leave it like that...it' kept getting worse on the way to deliver. It's in my photos..if you want to see how bad it warped!!
For the 3d blue I made I could not get his ears to turn out in gumpaste so, I just cut cardboard to the shape I wanted adn covered it in modeling chocolate..it dries pretty fast too...I am sure fondant would work too...just haven't tried it yet!
Im afraid if you try to use a graham cracker it will soften also with the icing on it..
Try covering a cake board with the color of fondant that you need ... just cut your cake board the size of your mortar board and cover it with a little piping gel so the fondant has something to stick to. Then sort of wrap the fondant around the board like a package 
Well, you're not alone! I've just been swamped with rain (thankfully it's finally moved out) but the humidity is going to be killer through Saturday when my graduation cake is due. Plus I'm not using A/C because I'm awaiting the guys (come tomorrow) to clean the A/C coils (long story about previous owners of condo). Anyway, it was also the first time I did any gumpaste and I used the mix. It was a disaster from the beginning and then when I went to check on it last nigth (I made them Monday) they still weren't dry! and they cracked! So I added more 10x and redid it so hopefully they'll dry by Saturday. Otherwise, it's out with the foam board! 
Unfortunetly mine was dried...well, I thought it was...then I put it on the cake and the moisture from the cake and humidity made it bend....I had to leave it like that...it' kept getting worse on the way to deliver. It's in my photos..if you want to see how bad it warped!!
I have had that problem too - I made cupcakes with buttercream, and put a flower on the bc, it sort of melted into the bc, I wanted it to stand up, sort of. How do you keep the fondant from absorbing the grease from bc?
Unfortunetly mine was dried...well, I thought it was...then I put it on the cake and the moisture from the cake and humidity made it bend....I had to leave it like that...it' kept getting worse on the way to deliver. It's in my photos..if you want to see how bad it warped!!
I have had that problem too - I made cupcakes with buttercream, and put a flower on the bc, it sort of melted into the bc, I wanted it to stand up, sort of. How do you keep the fondant from absorbing the grease from bc?
What I do is dry the fondant deco. until it is really hard... that way when you put it on the icing it takes time to get soft...
For another edible solution to the mortarboard....depending on what size you need....reese has the BIG peanut butter cups and you can turn that upside down and it will really give you the look you want. I have done those with miniature cups and chocolate squares on top of cupcakes.
I have a chocolate mold that I make my mortarboards out of...not sure if you have a cake/candy supply shop that you can get one at, but that works very nicely too.
Gumpaste is your best option, but not the mixes.. they don't dry as fast as the Nic Lodge recipe. If you have some Tylose you can make it really easily. It dries in no time if you roll it thin. 1/8-3/16 of an inch would dry in time. I am afraid that even if you do dry out the fondant so it's hard, the humidity will make it sag in time. the only thing I will use straight fondant for is to cover cakes, and that gumtex stuff is worthless if you ask me. For the future, get yourself some Tylose and your stuff will behave much nicer for you.
I just did one and I used a cake circle for the mortar board and used a 1/2 ball cake for the "cap". I really worked well. I had trouble with the fondant sticking on the bottom and my hubby screwed a small piece of board that we painted black to the bottom ( it did not touch the cake) and worked wonderfully. I have not uploaded the cake yet...Hope it helps.
Im afraid if you try to use a graham cracker it will soften also with the icing on it..
Try covering a cake board with the color of fondant that you need ... just cut your cake board the size of your mortar board and cover it with a little piping gel so the fondant has something to stick to. Then sort of wrap the fondant around the board like a package
I use a vey dry hi ratio based buttercream that isn't very wet at all, I may be ok if I make it right before she picks it up. She's picking it up Friday at 5, the party is like 18 hours later.Crud... it probably will soften, won't it...
After it's made place in your oven with just the light on. I did this this past weekend and it dryed over night. Just make sure you do NOT turn the oven on!
I have an electric oven, and tried that trick once, it didn't do a thing. 
Well, you're not alone! .... Otherwise, it's out with the foam board!
Oh no!! I was thinking foam board as well, but thinking the sheen/shine wouldn't be right. But if I can't come up with something else I will be making something inedible, that's for sure!
For another edible solution to the mortarboard....depending on what size you need....reese has the BIG peanut butter cups and you can turn that upside down and it will really give you the look you want. I have done those with miniature cups and chocolate squares on top of cupcakes.
I have a chocolate mold that I make my mortarboards out of...not sure if you have a cake/candy supply shop that you can get one at, but that works very nicely too.
I never thought to get a chocolate mold for a mortarboard, I will definitely put that on my 'to get' list for the future. I don't have a cake store near me, so I can't run and get one. I NEVER get grad cake orders, this year I have 3!
The reeses cup is an idea.... how did you get it black? Black frosting?
Gumpaste is your best option, but not the mixes.. they don't dry as fast as the Nic Lodge recipe. If you have some Tylose you can make it really easily. It dries in no time if you roll it thin. 1/8-3/16 of an inch would dry in time. I am afraid that even if you do dry out the fondant so it's hard, the humidity will make it sag in time. the only thing I will use straight fondant for is to cover cakes, and that gumtex stuff is worthless if you ask me. For the future, get yourself some Tylose and your stuff will behave much nicer for you.
I checked, I dohave Tylose, YAYAYAY! You're right, it probably does have a good shot at drying, since it will be thin.
Does the gp really need to cure 24 hours in the fridge? (I saw that on some instructions, don't know if they were N.L's or not. I do have that much time, so will follow the directions as they are, I'm just curious. I've never made it from scratch before, only the mixes.
I just did one and I used a cake circle for the mortar board and used a 1/2 ball cake for the "cap". I really worked well. I had trouble with the fondant sticking on the bottom and my hubby screwed a small piece of board that we painted black to the bottom ( it did not touch the cake) and worked wonderfully. I have not uploaded the cake yet...Hope it helps.
I'm not following, what did you screw the board to??
After I covered the mortar board, the fondant on the bottom wanted to sag, so we put a screw in the middle through a piece of wood to hold the fondant tight. It didn't show but did the trick. I covered the screw with fondant "button". Take a look at the picture in my pics! I know it sounds confusing, but the top was fine, it just was sagging a bit on bottom (I cover top and bottom of the mortar board)
it doesn't NEED to cure over night. A few hours will be more than fine. The tylose just needs a little time to absorb the liquid. It will feel a little grainy if it doesn't sit out for a bit. And don't worry about the fridge.. you can store it in there if you aren't going to use all of it right away.. but it'll be fine out of the fridge for a while.
http://www.nicholaslodge.com/gumpaste.htm
You can also knead some tylose into your fondant and that will make it into mock gumpaste. It will dry much faster then straight fondant. But if you want something that will dry nice and hard and quick.. gumpaste is the way to go. Good luck!
The problem with getting your piece to harden quickly in this weather, is that the minute you step outside, it will reabsorb the moisture!
I second commercial fondant *with tylose* - holds up better than commercial gumpaste. where i live it's always humid. I have yet to try Nic Lodge's recipe, but it was created for a humid climate!
Hi!
This same weather thing happened to me this past week-end on a graduation mortar for the big graduation party I did for a daughter of a very recognizable member of our community (It had to be just perfect or everyone in town would have know who made the horrible mistake... I cannot afford that)... so, I took a cardboard cake round and covered it with fondant and Fixodent mixed in it. It dried in about 8 hours sitting on my dining room table under a ceiling fan. To make sure the black would stay on, I took the Wilton's black icing I had in a tube and edged the whole thing in it. Fabulous, it was fabulous! ... and everyone said it was, too! Whew! I was really stressed on that one!
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