fondant bow emergency!!!
I am doing a colorful fondant bow for a birthday cake to celebrate several people's birthdays. YES, I know I shouldn't have done this project for this cake since I've never done it before, but it looked SO easy. Now a couple of my loops are falling down and cracking just a bit beyond the point where they are affixed to the base (or to each other). Is it because the heat/humidity is keeping them from drying? Did I use too much gum paste? How do I fix this for a cake due tomorrow night? HELP!!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Deah on
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Are you using a 50/50 gumpaste mix? More gumpaste will cause it to dry faster. I use straight gumpaste for bows for that reason. Did you stuff tissue, wax paper, etc in the loop to dry?
Take a look at these videos, they may help.
http://www.cakeswebake.com/video/how-to-make-a-bow
http://www.cakeswebake.com/video/how-to-make-a-bow-cake
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Cintron on
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No, I used fondant with a bit of gum-tex kneaded in. I didn't stuff with tissue because I stood the loops on their sides to dry. I did the loops on Tuesday evening and put the bow together this afternoon and it is not quite working out so I am FREAKING out! Do you think I can make a few more loops out of straight gumpaste to replace the 2 or 3 that are cracking?
Deah Aldridge said:Are you using a 50/50 gumpaste mix? More gumpaste will cause it to dry faster. I use straight gumpaste for bows for that reason. Did you stuff tissue, wax paper, etc in the loop to dry?
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No, they are not stiff. I can still bend them a bit but they are mostly dry.
Deah Aldridge said:Are your loops completely dry?
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That's the issue then. I haven't used gum-tex, is that the same a tylose? If so, you probably didn't have enough in your fondant to create the gumpaste.
Are you assembling with royal icing? That may help keep them together.
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No, I was assembling with gum glue (a teensy bit of gum paste mixed with about a tablespoon of water). I would try royal icing but the bow is multi-colored and I'm afraid I won't get the colors right in the royal. I am not sure what gum-tex is, but in the Wilton class when we made a bow (like a gift bow, but not a cake-topper multi-looped bow), the fondant had about 1/4 t of gum-tex kneaded in and the instructor said that would help it dry harder. I may have to scrap it as it's quite late in the game to consider redoing it. Thanks for trying! And I will check out the videos.
Deah Aldridge said:That's the issue then. I haven't used gum-tex, is that the same a tylose? If so, you probably didn't have enough in your fondant to create the gumpaste.
Are you assembling with royal icing? That may help keep them together.
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If you have gumpaste use that. It will dry rock hard overnight. You'll need to assemble with royal icing though because you can't use gum glue on 2 dry items.
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Well, I made a new set of loops with the gumpaste that I had left (which wasn't much). Unfortunately the humidity killed those too, and they didn't dry out properly so I had to make do with a store-bought topper. There was just nothing I could do with fondant or gum paste in this humid weather! You should have seen the original bow ... the cracking would have been the least of my problems ...the poor thing collapsed upon itself and melted back into one gummy strip rather than a folded-over loop! Now I know for the future - skip any fondant or gum paste decorations until the temp drops below 70!
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Permalink Reply by Lynne Salmon on
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Jennifer Cintron said:
I use more Gum-Tex than what you mentioned.- at least 2 or 3 times as much.... made a new set of loops with the gumpaste ... Unfortunately the humidity killed those too,....... Now I know for the future - skip any fondant or gum paste decorations until the temp drops below 70!
It is not the heat that is causing the problem. It is humidity. When I lived in CA we often had temps over 100 and it *helped* dry the loops because there was very low humidity. Now here in IN having to deal w/humidity is driving me nuts :) Good luck learning how to deal with it.
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Permalink Reply by Karen Marie on
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I had these issues when I made gingerbread houses last year..it had rained for 3 days straight and was about 80 degrees out...I live in FL...so silly me didnt want to turn on the a/c...BIG mistake....the humidity almost imploded my houses and needless to say I almost had a nervous breakdown....perhaps you can turn on your A/C to ge the humidity out of the house so you can finish your project?
Jennifer Cintron said:Well, I made a new set of loops with the gumpaste that I had left (which wasn't much). Unfortunately the humidity killed those too, and they didn't dry out properly so I had to make do with a store-bought topper. There was just nothing I could do with fondant or gum paste in this humid weather! You should have seen the original bow ... the cracking would have been the least of my problems ...the poor thing collapsed upon itself and melted back into one gummy strip rather than a folded-over loop! Now I know for the future - skip any fondant or gum paste decorations until the temp drops below 70!
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Lynne - for sure it is the humidity. I wasn't sure which was the culprit until yesterday. It was not terribly hot but it was pouring half the day and drizzling the other half. I left my iced cakes to crust and the gum paste loops to dry and went out for a bit - came back and the cakes, though covered, were practically sweating (strangely, this made them easier to smooth with the spatula if not with the parchment). The gum paste loops were still not dry, and the fondant loops had completely collapsed into a gummy mess. Gross!
Karen - I lived in south FL for 9 years so I understand exactly what you mean! I didn't do any decorating while down there though - otherwise I probably would have already been wise to the unfortunate relationship between fondant and humidity! Unfortunately we don't have a/c ... so I wound up taking the cakes and nearly all my supplies, along with the other fondant decorations that I'd already cut out (which, strangely enough did NOT melt - I had them on a glass board wrapped in plastic wrap) to my parents' house to finish the job in air conditioned comfort!
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Permalink Reply by Carla Pratt on
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I live in SOUTH WEST LOUISIANA !! where you can not get more HUMIDITY UNLESS YOUR IN A STEAM ROOM ! when i work with Fondant, i use a homemade recipe and mix it with almost half and half gum paste. KICK THE AIR CONDITIONER ON COOL and i place a fan near my work area. not blowing right on my cake or space but just to keep the air circulating in my little corner of the world. i also use a pasta roller or a (oh that craft clay stuff) roller it's a pasta roller with out the plates so its a little cheaper at craft stores. it helps to get the fondant thickness even. that will give you even drying and no heavy spots. GOOD LUCK!
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