Fondant Cupcake Toppers On Buttercream Gone Soft, Sticky And Floppy!
Decorating By xxjessbxx Updated 5 Oct 2013 , 9:37pm by mfeagan
Hi! I'm new to the forums and hoping someone can help.
I made a batch of cupcakes recently, topped with buttercream and a fondant butterfly. By the morning the butterflies had gone all soft and floppy and were tacky to touch :(
I had made the butterflies a week earlier from ready-to-roll fondant mixed with gum tragacanth. I piped the buttercream onto the cupcakes around 7/8pm and then put the butterflies onto the cupcakes around 9pm. I then placed them in a cupcake box (just cardboard box) that holds 24 cupcakes.
I then made a 6 hour journey (due to traffic - was only supposed to take 3!). We had the cupcakes in the cupcake boxes and kept the air con relatively cool so as not to melt anything. When we arrived at 3am I checked the cupcakes and all was fine (Phew). So I left them on the kitchen counter in the cupcake boxes.
When I woke up in the morning all the butterflies had gone soft and floppy and were sticky/tacky to touch.
Any advice please to stop this happening?
Thank you!!
xx Jess xx 
AFondant and gumpaste will both absorb moisture from the buttercream and turn gooey. You really must attach them only to fondant covered things. If I'm putting decorations on buttercream, I make them out of modeling chocolate instead.
A
Original message sent by Lynne3
If you place fondant decorations on buttercream cupcakes it is best to do it as late as possible. It would have taken 1 minute to place them on when you arrived.
I agree. We'll u live and u learn that's what it's all about.:)
If I have to put fondant decos [that need to stand up] on early, I usually coat the place of attachment with melted chocolate or piping gel.
I also make sure that air circulates well around the decos as much as possible. That helps to keep them a bit drier, too.
I am 100% sure that the culprit here was the closed box. The airtight environment created almost a sauna effect and the decorations softened. The buttercream icing will, over time soften the fondant toppers a little, but not enough to cause this problem. Solution is to add the toppers last minute or keep the boxes open. While air is good for keeping fondant toppers dry, it is an enemy of cake. So best way is to keep cuppies airtight and fondant toppers exposed to air.
Quote:
I am 100% sure that the culprit here was the closed box. The airtight environment created almost a sauna effect and the decorations softened. The buttercream icing will, over time soften the fondant toppers a little, but not enough to cause this problem. Solution is to add the toppers last minute or keep the boxes open. While air is good for keeping fondant toppers dry, it is an enemy of cake. So best way is to keep cuppies airtight and fondant toppers exposed to air.
I agree! Especially if there was air conditioning on the cupcake boxes, then they were set on a counter. There would have most likely been moisture in those boxes and possibly some condensation. I use fondant toppers on my cupcakes and have never had them melt like that.
You may want to try all gumpaste next time as well...especially if you are making things that are supposed to stand up like butterflies. As the previous posters said - wait until the last minute and add your decorations!
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