Hi everyone! This is my first post ever. I am making a toolbox cake for Saturday, and made my tools out of modeling chocolate yesterday. I left in the fridge overnight because it is supposed to be a heatwave here for the next two days. I wanted to finish up painting some of my figures today with silver spray, and noticed that some of my tools are very sticky and floppy.

If I leave them out of the fridge in open air from now until Saturday, do you think they will firm up? I'm just afraid that the warm weather will cause them to melt. I have AC, but just a wheel unit in my living room. But my apt seems pretty comfortable right now and it's 90 out.

Any suggestions for getting these figures to dry out and firm up?

Thanks so much!

Beth

Modeling chocolate will not firm up in 90 degree weather. is it possible to 'stabilize' them with straight melted chocolate? sort of like putting a layer of chocolate on the back or underside of the tools? you won't be able to paint it easily; but perhaps you can support them where it won't show? I can feel your frustration! the same happened to me with handles on a very large basket cake I made a while back; but I was able to fix it with the melted chocolate. HTH!!

Oh! a hint for next time...use the candy clay recipe on this site and use glucose instead of corn syrup - it's great for modeling

Thanks for the advice! If needed I will do that. I did move my ac unit to right outside the kitchen doorway. It gets rid of a lot of moisture from the air, so I'm hoping that will do the trick. The design of the cake is such that the tools will be inside the tool box, so I guess even if they are a bit floppy, it won't really be noticed. The inside of the tool box is supposed to look messy anyways.

Also, it is supposed to cool off by Saturday, so I'm hoping that by the time I am supposed to deliver the cake, they tools will be a bit firmer.

How thick are your tools? I just had a problem making a plaque for father's day. I rerolled my chocolate thicker and stuck it in the fridge until I was ready to place it on the cake. It softened up some but was okay once on the cake.

Thanks for the hint about the glucose. Will buy some asap

Modelling chocolate doesn't do well with moisture, such as condensation after it's been in the fridge. If you'll let the pieces dry thoroughly, then the heat won't affect them so much.