I know this seems silly but my fondant experience is a little limited.
I know fondant should cover a cake right after it is rolled to keep it pliable etc, the cake/BC then adds moisture to it so it does not crack, get very hard if it sits for a day. Right???
OK, how about embellishments, how long should they dry so that they are not floppy and maintain their shape, but not hard/brittle either. The stacked flower cake I did in my photos with the grass around the bottom, well, I got the look I want but the grass was so floppy putting on it ripped several times. I want the embellishments to be firm enough to handle, but not so dry I cant continue to reshape them as needed, or they are so dry they "taste" dry. Am I making sense here or just running amok???
Does it matter???? Does anyone eat the embellishments??? Sigh,
so many questions.
Heather
the longer it sits, the harder it gets....to point it will be so hard and dry it will break and taste yucky.
as Peg818 suggested fondant/gumpaste mix gives firm yet flexible -- BUT will dry up faster than just fondant alone and slower than just gumpaste alone.
as for eating the embellishments -- well depends upon person. If it looks dry/firm/hard --- kids might, most adults won't. If "awwww -- too cute" just might end up a keepsake (calling packrats anonymous!)..
find what works for you in terms of workability....
and don't worry about the eating -- there's no accounting for taste (like kids loving to eat those candy dots or necklaces after they've worn them all day -- or my nephew who ate the fondant and threw the chocolate cake away!!!, the little heathen!)
For embellishments, I mix the fondant with gum tex so that it hardens. To cover a cake I don't mix it with gum tex, because it doesn't need to get super hard.
I make a lot of figures, flowers, etc. and they get very hard. Like another poster said, the longer it sits out the harder it gets. But I also found that it's a good idea to keep your embellishments in an airtight container once it is dried. They will keep longer.
HTH,
Alex
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