Fondant and the refrigerator- Friends or Foes?

Fondant sweats once refrigerated which causes it to become tacky and colors tend to smear, spread, bleed, etc. You can keep it in a cool dry place, just not a fridge. There may be a recipe out there that is okay to put in the fridge, I am just not aware of any. I use MMF, but I believe Satin Ice and others are the same.

I generally use fillings that don't require chilling. Search fondant filled cakes and I am sure you will get recipes to try.

Good luck.

Trish

I've refrigerated fondant cakes plenty of times with no problems. Yes, it does sweat. But if you keep it out at room temp and don't touch it, the condensation sinks back into the fondant proper making it pliable again. If you touch the fondant while it's sweating you will leave fingerprints. So the moral of the story is -- don't touch the fondant!

Along this same line, how long will a carved, fondant-covered cake retain its shape when sitting out in that "cool, dry area"? I'm going to have to complete a cake four days before delivery because I'll be out of town. I've heard two polar opposites: one, that the fondant will harden and may crack in transport; the other, that the fondant will soften due to the icing underneath it, and the shape could sag.

I haven't posted any in my pix but I've made purse cakes on Tuesday for Saturday or Sunday deliveries with no problem. Yes the fondant can get hard. However if you give it a Crisco rub it will stay pliable. Yes the fondant will soften due to the icing underneath, but not so much that the shape will sag. Remember a carved cake gets its structural integrity from the carved shape and interior supports, not from the fondant overlay. It's like saying that a house stands based on the siding -- it doesn't make sense. The house stands because of the skeletal superstructure not the siding. Same with a cake. If you have a good carved design with proper supports, you won't have any problem with a cake falling apart in transport or otherwise.

"bob"--did you refrigerate this purse? If so, home 'frig or commercial? Covered or uncovered? I'm concerned about "bleeding" in the frig. I've had fondant decor melt and bleed color a bit on chocolate covered petit fours. I haven't experimented yet with fondant on fondant. There will be assorted colors, including black, next to each other and I want them to all mind their own business!

If you use the sleeved filling you wont have to refrigerate.

Bob--Is it better to transport a chilled fondant (Satin Ice) cake or unchilled? Will a chilled one crack easier? I'm transporting a 3 tier Satin Ice cake just 30-40 minutes on Saturday, but thought chilling it first might make transport easier. What do you think?

Oh my! I didn't mean to portray myself as any sort of authority on the subject. I'm merely sharing my experience. Okay, here goes:

Handymama -- I've made a red with black trim purse and I've made a light green and white purse. I put the black one in the frig only one night and had no problem with bleeding -- it did condensate but I didn't touch it and there was no bleeding. If I had touched it I would have had an Alice Cooper thing going on with that purse (which thankfully didn't happen -- not that Alice isn't totally cool!) I always cover the fondant cakes loosely with plastic wrap in the frig. I've had fondant overlays bleed onto buttercream before but that's because buttercream is considered a liquid and that can be a big problem if using the darker colored fondants. I also use both Satin Ice, Pettinice, homemade marshmallow fondant and a white chocolate fondant (recipe from Jennifer Dontz.) I've had no problems with any of them. If your black fondant is touching anything that will create a problem with bleeding, make sure it's not touching anything and you should be fine. Hope that helps some!

Tinygoose (what a cute name by the way!) -- If you look in my pix, the towering inferno cake, Edie's shoe cake and the Gilda's Club 10th anniversary cake -- all three of those were transported chilled and the pix are taken onsite after setup. I prefer to transport them chilled to reduce slipping but that's a personal preference. If you give the cake a Crisco rub and then chill it, it won't crack when it comes to room temp and again don't touch it while it's sweating. This also makes the fondant pliable when they go to cut it and eat it. Hope that helps!