Fondant can be used in an almost unlimited amount of ways to create the kind of cake and dessert decorations impossible to make without it.
At the same time, though, waiting around for fondant to dry – to “cure” – can take forever and a day (and then some). Until that fondant sets you are really at the mercy of all different kinds of factors, including factors totally out of your control, that can wreck and ruin your fondant design.
Luckily, though, with the help of this detailed guide you’ll be able to quickly dry your fondant – without over drying it, too – to lock in your designs almost straightaway.
This can change the way you decorate with fondant forever.
Sound too good to be true?
Let’s dive right in and find out!
How to Dry Fondant Fast
Fondant is a really simple and straightforward formula of only four different ingredients (five if you add coloring agents) – sugar, water, corn syrup, and glycerol.
Mixed together and then rolled out it acts sort of like modeling clay, allowing you to create the kind of super smooth, elegant, and intricate dessert designs that would have been impossible to pull off with other types of ingredients.
At the same time, the same things that make this amazing decoration ingredient so useful (its flexibility and pliability to be shaped, bent, rolled, and molded) mean it’s pretty susceptible to dents, dings, and even total collapses.
Until it dries, hardens, and “cures”, anyway.
That’s what we are going to help you pull off faster with the tips and tricks included below.
Roll the Fondant Nice and Thin
Straight out of the gate, nothing is going to help your fondant dry faster than rolling it as thin as possible – but not so thin that pieces start to split, chunk off, or separate.
Getting that thin layer of fondant right (not too thick so that it takes forever to dry but not so thin that it splits apart) takes a little bit of experimentation.
This can be a little bit touch and go, depending on the kinds of things you’re looking to do with fondant, but it’s something that you can develop with a little time, little practice, and a little touch.
At the end of the day, though, the thinner you go the faster everything is going to dry.
You might not be able to get your “main sheet” of fondant super thin before you add it to your dessert, particularly if it needs to be bent and molded a bunch. But you might be able to make smaller decorations out of fondant that are super thin, allowing them to harden and cure in record time.
Thinner is better (when it comes to drying).
The Oven Light Can Dry Things Quick, Too
Another cool little trick that professional bakers like to use is to slip their fondant in the oven (on top of a cookie sheet with a liner) and then turn the oven light on.
That oven light is going to throw just enough heat to warm and dry the fondant you are working with, maybe not in the blink of an eye – it’ll probably take 60 minutes or so to get really dry and cured – but will happen a whole lot faster than it would have without this little helper.
Best of all, you really don’t have to do anything else at all to get these great results.
This is a real set it and forget it kind of solution!
Add a Little Heat with a Lamp
What if you want to dry your fondant out a little bit, accelerating the process but not fully “cementing” your fondant in place just yet?
Well, the oven light solution isn’t going to be all that effective – you won’t be able to keep your eye on the fondant as it dries without cracking open the oven and spoiling the affect.
A decent sized lamp, though, should throw plenty of heat to get you the results you’re looking for while allowing you to watch and track the drying process all the way through.
You’ll need an incandescent bulb, though. LEDs just don’t throw enough heat to get the job done.
Stay clear of high wattage bulbs, though. They might throw off too much heat, over dry your fondant sheet, and cause you a lot of headache and hassle that way.
Dry Small Pieces of Fondant Fast
We mentioned a moment ago that it might not be a bad idea to split small pieces of fondant off and dry them separately, speeding the process up because there’s less fondant to dry.
It’s a powerful tip!
Any small accent pieces, midsize decorations, or really anything short of a full sheet of fondant can be split off, designed, molded, and decorated, and then set aside to dry independently.
With this kind of approach you might be able to get all of your “little extras” dried and ready to roll in 15 to 20 minutes rather than an hour (or longer).
Use a Fan to Blow Across the Fondant
Fans can be a game changer when you want to dry your fondant in a hurry, especially compact oscillating fans that you can set on a tabletop or countertop and blow cold air across multiple fondant sheets at once.
Because you’re not adding any extra heat into the mix, though, you should expect this to take a little bit longer than it would take with the oven light solution mentioned earlier.
Instead of 60 minutes to fully curing and hardening your fondant sheets you should expect this to take maybe an hour and a half to two hours (or maybe even longer).
That’s still a lot faster than leaving fondant to dry all on its own.
Closing Thoughts
Other things you can do to speed up the fondant drying process include using a hairdryer (only on cool or low heat settings), using a food dehydrator, or even adding drying agents like gum paste into your fondant mixture right out of the gate can speed the drying process up for you, too.
There are a lot of little tools in this toolbox that’ll help you get better, faster, and more consistent drying results with fondant and just leaving it out to dry all on its own.