Fondanct icng

[Tinypoppers]

Hi All I am fairly new to this so I have very basic question. I have to make a massive amount of cows out of fondant. The cake needs to be ready by 15th august. How far in advance can I make fondant cows and how would I store them. I have to make flowers and butterflies to. Please help x

[fairycakes1972]

You can make them as early as you want to and you should store them so they are dust free! So in a cake box, or something similar, just nothing air tight!!

With the weather we are having you would be better off making them from a modelling paste which sets harder than normal sugar paste (icing/fondant). You can buy either tylos powder, cmc powder, or gum tragacanth (spelling!) to add to your paste ( I think it's a teaspoon per 250grams of icing, but I just do it by eye!)

xx

[the card shark]

Just to clarify... fondant icing isn't the same as sugar paste / ready to roll icing but often people refer to it as 'fondant icing'. Waitrose call their ready to roll icing fondant icing when technically it should be called sugar paste. So no wonder there is confusion. True fondant icing is made from melted sugar with some liquid glucose add and then it is beaten and kneaded to a firm white paste. To use you can model it or dilute it with sugar syrup (sugar dissolved and then boiled in water) and pour it over your cakes.

I too recommend that you add gum tragacanth to your sugar paste. Though be warned, the gum tragacanth will affect the taste and it won't be quite as nice as without it. I'd say you want to start making them now if you want them to dry nice and firm for the cake.

Alternatively, you could make your own flower paste. You can roll this out thinner than sugar paste / modelling paste and it dries harder and quicker, and it doesn't taste that nice so you'd want to use it on items that will mostly be decorative rather than edible. I put the recipe for this on the forum somewhere.. I'll see if I can find it!

Found it... but it took a while so I will start a new thread so it will be easier to search next time!