Fondant Melting??

[rv1129]

Hi everyone i'm a new here and i've been looking around for a place like this its awesome...i live in texas and i have this problem with the fondant i start to place the fondant on the cake and after a few minutes it starts to sweat and then it melts when i place it in the refrigerator...help?? should i use a different brand of fondant, right now i use satin ice...

[trulys]

I've never used satin ice, i make my own, but the properties are the same with all. The biggest problem you have is that your putting it in the fridge. don't do that! Fondant is designed for cakes that need no refridgeration it was especially used for intracate designs that would take along time to do, so it would keep the cake fresh till the decorating was completed,like days. If your filling or type of cake inside does need refrideration, then change your cake or use buttercream instead. If your fondant is sweating even before you've put it into the fridge, then you are probably working on a cold cake, which causes the icing sugar inside the fondant to have condensation happening which causes the sugar to melt. With fondant, everything needs to be at room temperature, fondant, cake even the buttercream layer underneath and dry. Your fondant your using should be dry to the touch, but moist(not dried out) it should be like real nice pastry, flexable, smooth and moist inside but dry on the outside. if it's cracking its too dry, there should be a gentle pulling ability when placed on the cake so the weight of it gently pulls down the sides of the cake so your able to smooth it all down without crackes forming. I have found using cornstarch dried my fondant out way too easily even when using a little. Dusting with icing sugar was better, but i found the best was a light spray to the table and my pin of flavourless cooking spray it didn't stick and didn't dry out and wasn't messy. I hope this answers your questions.

[ChefRAZ]

Are you keeping your fondant in the refrig before you work with it?
I've never had a problem with fondant on cakes in the refrig for 12 hours at a time. is the fondant dry or moist?

[trulys]

Chef Raz, you say you've never had a problem when it's been in the fridge? I do or did one time, i made a cake with too much filling and needed to keep it chilled as to not slide around and the fondant got all sweaty and sticky. so i dabbed it with paper towel to remove as much moisture as i could and left it out to dry and it did and turned out alright in the end, but what a scare. so i've never put my fondant in the fridge again. have you ever experienced that?

[ChefRAZ]

OK time to detail. We Put fondant in our refrig At work all the time it is usually in the frig for 4 to 12 hours in some cases. to work with our fondant it is dusted with cornstarch before it is rolled out. it is not homemade, we get it from a vender here in vegas. it is called Pettinice White 15 lb. THe longest I have let it set in the fridge is overnight. its a big refrig, and the temp is usually 35- 39° f The problem could have been too much filling . If it was mousse or cream it could have caused the fondant to sweat, I find that if your putting cream or mousse on a fondant cake you should pipe a buttercream border around each layer edge. when making the cake to give it more support.
hope this helps.

[rv1129]

oh ok i see....most of our cakes are filled with mousse or cream cheese fillings...but i spread a layer of buttercream on before i place the fondant on top...for us to be able to place a ring of buttercream on before adding the mousse would mean that we would have to fill each one individually...we usually just cut out the cakes out of a whole sheet...someone once told me that the humidity inside the refrigerator also had a lot to do with it...so what do ya'll suggest should i not use as much filling and leave outside overnight for the next day to be picked up??

[ChefRAZ]

this link tells the do's and don't of fondant. scroll down to where it says storage.

decorating_cakes_fondant

hope this helps you in your cake making experences. have fun !

[rv1129]

thank you for the link it's a helpful website

[tessa]

a little bit of white fat like chriscos rubbed on your hands or rolling pin or board even works quite well too if you dont want to use cornstarch

Originally Posted by trulys

I've never used satin ice, i make my own, but the properties are the same with all. The biggest problem you have is that your putting it in the fridge. don't do that! Fondant is designed for cakes that need no refridgeration it was especially used for intracate designs that would take along time to do, so it would keep the cake fresh till the decorating was completed,like days. If your filling or type of cake inside does need refrideration, then change your cake or use buttercream instead. If your fondant is sweating even before you've put it into the fridge, then you are probably working on a cold cake, which causes the icing sugar inside the fondant to have condensation happening which causes the sugar to melt. With fondant, everything needs to be at room temperature, fondant, cake even the buttercream layer underneath and dry. Your fondant your using should be dry to the touch, but moist(not dried out) it should be like real nice pastry, flexable, smooth and moist inside but dry on the outside. if it's cracking its too dry, there should be a gentle pulling ability when placed on the cake so the weight of it gently pulls down the sides of the cake so your able to smooth it all down without crackes forming. I have found using cornstarch dried my fondant out way too easily even when using a little. Dusting with icing sugar was better, but i found the best was a light spray to the table and my pin of flavourless cooking spray it didn't stick and didn't dry out and wasn't messy. I hope this answers your questions.

[chefpeon]

I have a lot of experience with fondant, and I've worked with a friend who has a lot of fondant experience too, and this is what I've found:
The relative humidity in your area has a lot to do with whether you are successful with fondant or not. I live in the Pacific Northwest. Humidity is not a problem here, and I can refrigerate fondant cakes for days. The worst that happens is that it will sweat a little but it's never bad, and if leave the cake out at room temp for a while it will dry out (that is, if it's not humid).

My friend used to decorate cakes for a shop in Virginia Beach. She said in many cases it was too hot or humid for them to even THINK of using fondant. Their buttercreams were all shortening.....they couldn't even get away with using butter......it would just all turn to goo.

I have also found that if you freeze a fondant covered cake, you have to bring it out of it's frozen state slowly in refrigeration. If you bring the cake to room temp AT room temp straight from the freezer, the fondant will sweat so bad it will drip and look melty.

Vegas is hot, but it is dry there, so I can imagine there's no problem using fondant there (especially because of the air conditioned hotels!).

In high humidity areas, I just plain wouldn't recommend using fondant.

[lizbakes]

Hi - I am in Houston,TX (HIGH heat & humidity), and have no problem with using fondant on all of my cake sculptures and refrigerating it. I have had bad luck with satin ice. It isn't stiff enough and doesn't handle the humidity well at all. Use a different brand or make your own fondant. It will sweat, and get sticky if put in the fridge, but left alone, it will dry and be fine once it equalizes it's temperature. (Try taking an egg out of the fridge and leaving it on the counter in a warm room - it will get water beads on it, but if you leave it alone, the water will evaporate and the egg's surface will be dry again. Same thing with fondant.)

If you're refrigerating, also make sure you are using a bleed-resistant food coloring like Americolor or Spectrum, so when the cake sweats, it won't bleed your colors.

Hope this helps!

[chefpeon]

I suppose you probably don't have to worry about this much, because who in Houston has an outdoor summer wedding right? They probably don't I'm guessing.
But, what if a fondant covered cake had to sit outside, or was in a non air conditioned room in that heat and humidity? Wouldn't the fondant just turn to goo?
That's what happened to my friend in Virginia Beach.
Do you have a rule that when you do fondant cakes, they MUST be displayed in an air conditioned room out of the sun?

[chefpeon]

Liz.....I suppose you probably don't have to worry about this much, because who in Houston has an outdoor summer wedding right? They probably don't I'm guessing.
But, what if a fondant covered cake had to sit outside, or was in a non air conditioned room in that heat and humidity? Wouldn't the fondant just turn to goo?
That's what happened to my friend in Virginia Beach.
Do you have a rule that when you do fondant cakes, they MUST be displayed in an air conditioned room out of the sun?

[lizbakes]

Hi, Peon - You're right, not too many people want to get married outside in Houston! That would be nuts! I do have a printout for customers that has all sorts of common-sense warnings on it - like when taking the cake in the car, don't set it on a seat, don't slam on your brakes, don't put it in a car with no air conditioning, don't leave it in the car while you go in to a store, and don't leave it in the heat during the event! Because it will turn to goo! :-)

[sarinxr]

I reckon humidity does not make Fondant sticky or even melt it. I personally come from a country with humidity beating most provers. I use Fondant on doughnuts. I discovered that I couldn't apply fondant to hot products. And if too much water is added, the fondant does not set. Hope it helps. Ta!