First of all, I'm new to this site and I just wanted to say how much I appreciate the wealth of information here. I've learned so much just in the last few days. So thanks!

Anyway, I just made my first fondant cake for my son and when I had just started smoothing the fondant over the cake, my oldest son woke up from a bad dream (this was at 2 am the night before the birthday) and I had to stop right where I was and console him. When I came back about 20 minutes later, my fondant was dry in several places and VERY wrinkly. The party was the next day and I really didn't have time to start all over with the fondant (plus I was EXAUSTED!), so I finished it anyway. Most of the cracking was around the bottom, so I tried to cover it up with some lettering, but then I was afraid to attach it for fear that it might tear with the extra weight. I worked so hard on the dinosaur and to have it sitting on this wrinkly cake made me crazy!

I started reading here and thought that since you guys seem to know so many tricks, maybe there was one to fix dried out fondant while it was still on the cake?

In my limited experience, there is no way to fix it but start over. Other, more experienced fondant artists may have some ideas but it is hard to cover the cracks or make them close.

You could try rubbing a little shortening over the dry patches and see if that helps.

I tried that, KitchenKat, and it worked a little bit, but I think the extent of the damage was was just too much. For a small wrinkle it would have worked perfectly. I think Kathy might be right, that starting over would have been my only option. Thanks ladies!

Sometimes with a small or medium crack, you can pipe same colour icing directly into the crack and smooth it with your finger tip until it blends in. For the wrinkles and/or the cracks, you can also try to hide them by putting some kind design (like scrolls, lace, dots, fondant cutouts) on the cake especially in the trouble areas. The eye is then drawn to the design rather than the slight flaw.

Keep in mind that if your cake design is a tiered design, it is important to use supports for the upper tiers to avoid any weight pressure on the lower tiers. Unsupported weight will greatly increase the possibility of your lower tiers cracking from the pressure.

Good luck with your cake!

You can melt some fondant in the microwave let it cool slightly and "Spackle" the cracks that usually works for me. Also if it still doesn't look "perfect" think of adding some sort of embellishment to cover it. Good Luck