I'm trying to make a sun, with fondant rays sticking out. I made the rays last week and thought they were dry, but now that I'm trying to insert them into the cake, they're going soft! Is there anyway I can get them hard, fast? I need this cake tomorrow, but I was really hoping to get it done today!

Fondant is design to never truly dry. You have to add gumpaste or tylose or CMC.

I did make some more with gumpaste powder. How long does that usually take to dry?

Depends on how much gumnpaste powder you used. I'd use enough that the sucker would dry in 20 minutes or so. If you only added a bit, give it at least a couple of hours.

You can dry them in your oven...
I've read where people have put fondant pieces in w/ the door open slightly & I guess the light is what does the drying...
Others turn the oven on really low.

I once dried bow loops in a 250 degree oven, on parchment paper...I can't recall how long they were in, but all the red loops melted...the other colored ones ended up rock hard though.
So if you try this, just pay close attention.

You can quickly strengthen your fondant pieces by spreading melted chocolate on the backs.

The fondant will definitely soften and/or melt if inserted directly into the cake. Ideally you should attach a stick (lollipop, toothpick, skewer, etc.) to the back of the piece to insert into the cake. You can attach it with melted chocolate.

The melted chocolate worked *perfectly*! Thanks so much!

Awesome cake! Glad it worked for you!

hi i made some fondant flowers with added tylose they set hard i stored them in a container but when i went to get them out to use them about 4 weesk later they was soft and sticky what went wrong is it the way i stored them thanks

A

Did you store them in a closed plastic container while it was drying? That would have been the culprit. Only store fondant pieces in a box.