I know it's a bit dramatic, but it got your attention didn't it?! I really do need help though. I am currently working on a cake in Wiltons 2006 yearbook on page 18 with the boat, fish and fisherman. I have made trees out of marshmallow fondant just an hour ago, even though I shouldve done it a couple days ago. The trees need to dry super fast and I have to deliver it to my stepmoms boss at 8:30 am. Will it harden within that 12 hours or is there a MUCH quicker way to harden it when I dont have gumpaste???? It is super floppy right now, and I am certain it will probably fall off in the state it is in now. And if it cant be saved, does anyone have any quick suggestions to use for trees????

I have no idea what your cake is supposed to look like, I don't have the yearbook.

However, these are trees:

http://www.cakecentral.com/article55-Ice-Cream-Cone-Trees-Great-for-Christmas-Cakes.html

HTH

Thankyou JanH, that is a great tutorial, however I dont have the cones, or anymore buttercream icing left! Any other suggestions are much needed.

You can try leaving a hair dryer blowing on them all night on low but marshmallow fondant dries extremely slowly...more so than commercial fondant. It's doubtful they'll dry very much in 12 hours.

maybe you could make sugar cookies and die the dough green and use that instead.

I don't have the book so not sure exactly what trees should look like but how about using a skewer or dowel as the interior support for the trees. Even a plastic straw might work.
.....don't have any other suggestions right now but if I think of any, I will send them.
HTH
Jane

i looked it up... cute cake! ok, if you used wilton fondant they should be hard enough to stand on their own by morning. if you made mmf (i understand it dries much slower) why not bake them in a low temp oven for an hour or two? be sure and post a pic when you are done!

If you have a fan, you could let it blow on them all night, turning every few hours to dry both sides (if it is laying down). Sorry, thats all the advice I have. I have made all of my fondant figures well in advance.

I don't think the oven is the answer. The heat will just make the marshmallow softer. IMO. Hope this helps.

Well, these are all good ideas. I am all out of everything right now. I had a halloween party yesterday and besides making all the appetizers, I also made cookies, cupcakes, and brownies and out of most supplies. I do have a dowel rod through them and I think I may have made them too thin and stretched by doing so. The book says to attach them with candy clay but I dont do that, so I definately need a back up plan fast! Can they be put in the oven? Or have I lost my mind?!!!!!!!

Did you buy tootsie rolls or starburst candy for Halloween.

You could flatten them and use them like fondant.

I know, I'm getting as desperate as you are!!!

Or how about Royal Icing trees?

Here's a link for fondant recipes:

http://www.sugarcraft.com/catalog/misc/homemadechoco-pan.htm

Do you have any veggies that might look like a tree...broccoli???

shoot, they are mmf. i wouldn't do the oven then. hmmm. freezer?

I just went back and read your post, and made sure it was marshmallow. I always warm my MMF to make it more plyable. If you put it in the oven you will only make your problem worse! Try the fan, unless someone else has a better idea, I think its your only hope.

Have any denture powder? You can add some to the MMF to aid in drying. Barring that, the hairdryer on low will help, as will the oven pilot and light.

Do you have a food dehydrator? Would they fit if you do? I used my dehydrator to dry some colorflow pieces I made and it worked very well.

You could try the oven. I would heat it to about 200, then turn it off and put the pieces in it. It might soften them at first, but I think eventually they would dry out.

Good luck!

You could run to the store and buy the big pretzel rods. that would definately work.

ya, i still think a low set oven might help dry them

Sorry to be the harbinger of bad news, but you can't put these in the oven because they'll just turn to liquid marshmallow.

If you have gum tex, you can re-make them with some of that added. Set under a fan, or in a microwave/oven with just the light on, they should be pretty dry in 12hrs.

The only other suggestion I have is to put two trees together--back to back-- on a skewer or pretzel rod--that's assuming that these are meant to stand up on the top of the cake.

Good Luck.
Rae

Ok I looked up the cake too. I have 2 ideas- first do you have a food dehydrator - now is the time to use it if you do Sitting in front of a dehumidifyer might also work. Also, have you ever noticed if you leave your bread on the top of the fridge it drys out really fast? In a pinch it could work.

OR

the best peanut butter cookie recipe


1 egg
1 cup white sugar
1 cup peanut butter

That is it no flour, no other ingredients. If you put green food color in it, it could work. They spread some so make them smaller than you want.

you could make royal icing trees; they would just be flat. Or royal icing a dowel rod or something like that; it would be dry in the morning if you made it thin enough.

Do you have color flow? It would work to.

There is a thread about this very topic, posted a few months ago.. MMF Does MELT in the oven. Maybe whoever wrote that thread is reading now and can offer advice? Also, Alchohol (vodka,etc) will help dry the mmf but probably not in this amount of time. Maybe if you have any Halloween candy around, you could use gummy bears or something? desperate times call for desperate measures

had another thought...you could cut out cardboard tree shapes, maybe out of cardboard cakeboard and then pipe over that and stick them in the cake...
Pretzels come to mind...if you have any, I am positive I saw some somewhere on CC made into a tree and you could stick fondant leaves on it...they are small and might dry before morning.

wow, you poor thing. i sure hope you figure something out from all this! be sure you let us know what happens!

I was once told to put them in the oven with the oven light ON and the oven OFF, this should help the trees dry faster, maybe they won't dry 100% but they will be much harder than if you leave them room temp. HTH and good luck!

Ok--I will retract my oven-drying idea since it's been confirmed by those with experience that melting will occur! lol

I'm wondering if the MMF would melt in a food dehydrator too? My dehydrator blows warm air. Maybe it isn't hot enough to melt it...I'll have to try it sometime.

ya, i am feeling bad for suggesting the oven too. darn!

Dehydrator works! If the blower is in the top don't use the top shelf. Things do get soft alittle first but I do my rose centers all the time. I have also done acorns and leaves.

I bet you all were wandering were I went!! I dont know you, but I have love for all of you, taking the time to stress over this with me! That is CC dedication!!! I think I have figured it out though. I made like a 1/4 batch of NFSC and put left over MMF on them when they came out of the oven and they are cooling now! I just hope they aren't top heavy, that is my next concern. I just used the christmas tree cookie cutter in that 101 pc. set and cut the base off, but they are pretty wide. I am not going to put them into the cake until the morning!!! Anyways, I must be a total slacker because I didn't have any of the things you all suggested! No dehydrator,no pretzels, no gum paste, no denture powder(not yet anyways, but after baking all this it is fast approaching!! HAHA!) I barely had the things to make a tiny batch of cookies! You all should see my kitchen, is there anyway you all would want to take care of that?!!!! I thought that cake would take me about 3 hours and what really bit was that I had the order for it a month ago, for my step mom's boss(works in child support) who turns 60 and they are having a big party for him. This was to be her gift to him. The first problem was I could not find a fisherman bobble head at Michaels, or Hobby Lobby. So I was going to order it from wilton but s/h would have made it over $11.00 NO WAY I was going there. So I found it on ebay for 5.00 including s/h. Then my stepmom cancelled the order because she had to take a leave of absence (her daughter, my step sister tried committing suicide and has three girls so we had to take them in, just a quick explanation!) and did not think she was going to make the party. So since things have cooled down she decided to go. Called me Saturday night(last night) to say she was going and wandered if I could still do the cake. So that is why I did not make the MMF figures in advance like I should have... That is my story and I am sticking to it! Have a good night Ladies! Thankyou and I will post tomorrow, hopefully.

wow. you get the sympathy award of the year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!