I made my first purse cake last night. It has a strap which I'm hoping will extend upward. I made it with fondant and gumtex. It's hardened a little but not enough to hold itself up in an arch shape. How long will this take to occur? Will it even occur at all?
It will occur but it will take up to a week to harden enough. My tip is to make an extra one in case it snaps...in fact, when making straps or handles that I need to stand up by themselves I make a couple of extras just in case.
I drape mine over a 4 inch round cake pan and they're usually good to go by the next day, although I do let them dry at least 48 hrs or longer. The one in my pix, Bella's purse cake, I did on Sunday night for a Wednesday delivery.
I don't know.
What I do is knead a bunch of cornstarch into my fondant and then form the strap then 'cook' it in my warming drawer--I can hold the temperature at 150 degrees. And I can't touch it till it's cooled off. I usually cook it for two 2-hour sessions then let it cool in between--so the heat travels all the way through in a perfect world
Some folks use the light in thier oven to maintain the temp or thier pilot light will do it.
So assuming your formula will work--the heat thing--not over 150 though--should do it for yah.
Oh gosh, did I forget???... yep, I did -- I knead about 1/4 tsp Tylose powder in with about a pingpong ball size ball of fondant and that's what I use for the strap -- that's why it dries so hard so quickly. Sorry I forgot to mention that... 
Planet Cake book has a great way of making handles. Buy plastic tubing in the aquarium dept. (I bought mine at Walmarts) cut 4 lengths of wooden skewer to go in at each end of the tubing (must fit snugly) cut them about 4" long insert about 1" into each end of the tubing. poke each end of the skewer into syrafoam making the curve the length you require. Brush the tubes with piping gel. Roll out your paste to 1/8" & cut strips that will fit around the tubing using piping gel to smooth, cut off excess & smooth with fingers. leave to dry. It will not take too long to dry & of course will hold it's shape because of the tubing. Attach to you purse with the ends of the skewers & put some fancy trim around each one. I always add tylose to fondant & also cream of tartar. It dries really hard. Hope this helps.
Thank you guys for all the ideas. Some of them will be good for my next cake. This one is due Monday. Not a lot of time for me to buy supplies. I just made two more just in case. These ones I made with a fondant/gumpaste mix. Do you think that will help? I'm going to try and stick one in my oven warmer too. Do I put it on anything in the warmer?
...I'm going to try and stick one in my oven warmer too. Do I put it on anything in the warmer?
Are you sure the temperature in there is 150 or below? Mine has low, med and high--I can use the two lower temps only.
Yes I lay put mine on their side on a parchment on a pan
This purse handle was laying on the side closest to the camera--see the little extra rolled part on that edge where it like relaxed/melted more? If I had let it set up a while before I cooked it it would have been smooth but it did not detract from the design--that's all edible dried fondant no additional support.
>>>>>Wait till it cools before touching it. It has to cool off before it hardens.
Clicking on the little photo makes it bigger so you can see it better.
K8Memphis~~ I don't have an oven thermometer, but I did put it on low. I just took it out, and it's cooling. I only did it to one of the three straps I made, so if this doesn't work, maybe the other 2 will work out. I'll keep you posted.
K8Memphis~~ You're a genius!!! It worked. Now, how do I stick it to the purse so it doesn't fall off or break during transport?
I'm glad that worked out for yah!!! I mean this way you can pop out bows in just hours -or easily overnight with no worries. 
I make mine real thick --the Louis Vuitton style I just set it on top--the Coach purse handle I make it longer than what it needs to be & then just push it down in there.
It all depends on how I planned it--I think some of the Coach purse handles I've made have some bamboo skewers in there too to make the 'arms' to stick down in there.
Anchor it with chocolate? If you are delivering it, you could place it on after delivery.
I can't attach the purse strap at the site because it's coming to work with me as a surprise for a supervisor, and I don't work somewhere where I can do cake surgery. I attached it with some piping gel and put some crumpled paper towels under it for support. I'm hoping it makes it to the destination without falling. Otherwise, I guess it will be a clutch.
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