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asked July 9th 2015

Preserving fondant squares

Hello all,
Back in June I was asked to make a Minecraft cake. It’s the second Minecraft cake I was to make (first was a disaster. Didn’t make the squares ahead of time and a.c. Stopped working – we live in Saudi- so the whole thing just kept melting on me

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Hello all,
Back in June I was asked to make a Minecraft cake. It’s the second Minecraft cake I was to make (first was a disaster. Didn’t make the squares ahead of time and a.c. Stopped working – we live in Saudi- so the whole thing just kept melting on me

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Hi Rahaf

It’s really difficult to keep sugarpaste in good working condition in hot humid climate. The AC is a must to keep humidity down. If you have a fan that too can help. I would also suggest that you use corn flour/cornstarch when rolling out rather than confectioners sugar. Corn starch will absorb a lot of the moisture in the sugarpaste and keep it in better condition. You haven’t actually said how you would like me or anyone else to help. Is it just for the fondant squares? If you use the corn starch that will help keep the squares drier. Adding a gum strengther such as tylose, CMC powder or gum tragacanth to your fondant will also help it from melting. Add approximately one teaspoon to 500g of fondant, knead it in and allow the fondant to rest overnight to activate the strengthner. Please don’t overdo the gum as you could end up with gumpaste. CMC and tylose in normal conditions do not need resting, gum tragacanth does because it is a much stronger substance. At all cost avoid using the refrigerator to store anything made with fondant because when fondant comes into contact with air at room temperature it becomes gloopy and sticky. In a climate which is already humid it would be extremely difficult to dry the fondant out. The are some fondant available on the market for hot humid climates. The most popular is Carmas Massa which you may be able to source locally in Saudi. To learn a little more about this fondant take a peek here:

Carma’s Massa Ticino Tropic Sugarpaste

There are many online discussions on how to cope with hot humid conditions when cake decorating. To see the forums and discussions, google ‘cake decorating in hot humid climate’.
Hope this helps, post again if you need more assistance.

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