Hello, I haven't been doing cakes very long and I am going to be ding my first painted on fondant cake next week. I was wondering how to keep the fondant from drying out while I am applying the paint to the cake? I am using vodka with my color to help dry the paint faster, but I am concerned with the fondant drying out because I slow with the painting process. Any tips help would be appreciated!

I'm thinking that you would have to be painting for a looong time for it to dry out completely.  It'll dry on the outside but not inside where it's touching the cake.

ATha[quote name="cheeseball" url="/t/763310/softening-fondant-already-on-a-cake#post_7441153"]I'm thinking that you would have to be painting for a looong time for it to dry out completely.  It'll dry on the outside but not inside where it's touching the cake. Thank you. I was going to initially roll out the fondant, paint on the design since its the pattern then apply the fondant. I just didn't want the paint to smear when I applied.

Gotcha.  You're actually going to want to paint after you apply the fondant to the cake, or it will dry out on you.

Wait - unless you're talking about a plaque (that word looks weird if you look at it for too long) or something.  If you're talking about painting the entire surface of the cake, then yeah, apply the fondant first.