Fondant Help! How Do I Get My Monkey To Stay Together?
Decorating By Liana Updated 15 Apr 2006 , 3:10am by SquirrellyCakes
First time fondant user here. I made a monkey out of MMF and it turned out great. I let it dry for a few days, and when I tried to move it, his legs and ear detached. How do you piece together your fondant pieces? Should I not let it dry, and just put the figure on once I've pieced it together?Also, is it ok to put a fondant figure on a buttercream frosted cake? Will the MMF soften or react to sitting on buttercream?
Did you glue the pieces together? You can use water or a glue from fondant and water mixed into a paste or even royal icing.
When dry, you will need to move it VERY carefully or else pieces can fall off, but you can just glue them back on if they are still okay or just make a new one and glue to the already dry figure. I make mine up on the cake as I don't like to repair them too much.
The mmf should be fine sitting on buttercream and shouldn't matter whether you dry it first or not.
Hope this helps
I always "glue" mine together with pure vanilla....Just be careful when moving it 
Nicole
So you folks are not making these so they can be removed and saved as decorations then? Just curious because I dry them first, use toothpicks to attach the legs and arms and heads and such so that they can be a little figurine afterwards. Also, if you use Royal Glue or royal icing, the arms won't fall off and such, the vanilla or water is not enough to keep heavier items stuck well.
I am not criticizing, I am just asking because I thought most people made these as keepsakes. In which case, if you set an undried item on buttercream it will absob the grease.
Hugs Squirrelly
Hi there Squirrelly!
I have to admit that I have only begun branching into adult cakes. until now I have only done young children's cakes and from experiences of being at the first few parties the kids ate the fondant figures, so I am afraid I don't make them as keepsakes yet, but will have to get organised for that for the adult cakes I guess!! I don't know how the kids could eat a big hunk of fondant like that, but that's toddlers for you! God love the sugar high afterwards 
Heehee, I can relate to the toddlers, I don't mind eating it either! Good point though, you would want it fairly soft for them.
Hugs Squirrelly
Squirrelly, when you say a soft figure will absorb the grease from the buttercream, what exactly happens to your figure? Does it get ruined or discolored? I am going to attempt the Curious George cake krissy_kze posted, sitting on a ball (but not the books, too hard for me). I am planning to make George from the MMF, but I don't think I can cover a ball cake with fondant, so I was going to do the ball in buttercream. George is going to be kind of heavy, so I'm a little worried he may sink a bit into the buttercream, thus the reason I want to know what happens when fondant meets buttercream. Do you think I should dry George out before placing him on the cake, or putting him on after shaping should be ok?
I didn't use toothpicks to hold George together, so I think that will help too.
Squirrelly, when you say a soft figure will absorb the grease from the buttercream, what exactly happens to your figure? Does it get ruined or discolored? I am going to attempt the Curious George cake krissy_kze posted, sitting on a ball (but not the books, too hard for me). I am planning to make George from the MMF, but I don't think I can cover a ball cake with fondant, so I was going to do the ball in buttercream. George is going to be kind of heavy, so I'm a little worried he may sink a bit into the buttercream, thus the reason I want to know what happens when fondant meets buttercream. Do you think I should dry George out before placing him on the cake, or putting him on after shaping should be ok?
I didn't use toothpicks to hold George together, so I think that will help too.
Hi Liana,
Well first of all, I don't use marshmallow fondant often, rarely for figures. I am just saying that with regular rolled fondant, not marshmallow, the fondant needs to be dried before sitting it on buttercream, because the buttercream tends to make it a bit slimey. So some things will fall over etc. or fall apart. I know that marshmallow fondant dries a bit differently, a bit more.
If you are asking if it will absorb colour from the buttercream, well it will if the buttercream is a bright red or such and a figure is white or pastel. A lot depends on the figure, how thick it is, how it is supported, if it is lying down or sitting up and such whether the grease from the buttercream will affect it. Much of the time it won't matter but with some decorations it will.
If the figure is supported somehow on the cake, it won't be a problem. If it is a flat item lying down on the cake, it won't be a problem. Personally I just prefer to dry any kind of figure if I am at all worried about it. The shape also comes into play, whether the bottom supports the top and such.
Hugs Squirrelly
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