Properly storing fondant will help to keep it fresh and moist, while sustaining the elasticity. Fondant is pretty awesome because depending on how good you store it, it can last for up to 3 months.

This comes in handy for those cakes with so many colors and instead of having to make all of those colors before making a cake, having them on hand already will cut down on prep time.

Whether you have pre-made, homemade fondant, or leftover fondant after a cake project this article will show you a few tips and tricks that can help preserve fondant for a longer period of time, up to 3 months.

Tip 1: Moisturizing your Fondant

Wether your fondant is pre-made or home made, its best to put a light layer of shortening on the surface of the fondant to lock in the moisture. This will help the edges of the fondant to stay moist because sometimes you can wrap really well and the fondant will still dry out, leaving only the center moist.

This is something we ultimately want to avoid. But please know that if the edges somehow still dry out, you can cut off the edges using a small knife and then begin kneading the fondant. I usually add a small amount of shortening to my hands before kneading the fondant to give it some more moisture and revive it’s elasticity.

Tip 2: Wrapping your Fondant

It’s very important to make sure that the fondant is not exposed to any air, unless you’re working with it. While you’re working with fondant, its best to work with a little at a time, unless you’re covering a full cake with it.

After using what is needed for the full cake or decorations that will go on the exterior of the cake, wrap up the remaining amount of fondant so that it doesn’t dry out. It doesn’t take long at all for fondant to dry out, especially if it’s left on the counter unwrapped.

Once fondant has been exposed to air, it’s very difficult to work with because ultimately it will start to crumble and you’ll have cracks on the surface of it, which looks really bad. I prefer to use cling wrap or press and seal wrap to make sure that the fondant is wrapped with out any air pockets.

After the fondant has been wrapped with cling or press and seal wrap, place it into a zip lock bag, with the date and time on it from when it was first made. This will help you to keep up with the expiration date which is 3 months from the original date that it was made.  After all of them are in a zip lock bag, place it container to store in the cabinet just to keep it neat and organized.

Tip 3: Where to store your Fondant

Storing fondant away from direct sunlight will also help to preserve its moisture, freshness, and elasticity as well. Intense light can cause your fondant to fade, loosing its color. This will usually happen to your darker colors such as blues, red, black, green, and purple.

You will usually notice this on cakes that are for show at a bakery. Cakes that are in the display window are in direct sunlight for long periods of time, causing them to fade in color.

I recommend placing fondant in a dark and cool room such as a pantry or storage cabinet. Also keep in mind to keep the temperature of that area at a moderate level so that the fondant will not dry out as well.

When it comes to storing fondant that needs to dry, its best to leave your fondant work such as cupcake toppers or decorative pieces for your cake out in a sheet pan that has first been layered with a sheet of parchment paper.

It will usually take up to 24 hours for small pieces to dry and up to 48 hours for larger pieces to dry. It also great to add a little Gum-Tex Powder to your fondant so that it will dry under 24 hours.

Tip 4: Storing Fondant away from harsh temperatures

Once your cakes have been covered in fondant, its best to avoid quick temperature changes. This can ultimately lead to the cake bulging and losing shape. What happens is that air bubbles will start to form underneath the fondant causing it to bulge outward and I absolutely hate that.

I actually have had this happen on several occasions, especially during the summer. The temperature in the kitchen was much warmer that the temperature inside of the refrigerator and as soon as I took the cake out of the refrigerator, I noticed that my cake was starting to bulge outwards and all of my hard work in trying to get the edges sharp had went down the drain.

A way to fix this would be to poke a small hole in the air bubble to release the air so that the fondant will fully stick to the cake. You will also notice that when cakes go from cool to warm temperatures fast, it starts to sweat and this is not good as well. No one want a sweaty and wet cake. Therefore, it’s best to make sure that your room temperature is close to the temperature of the cake to prevent any of these things from happening to your cake.

Tip 5: Keeping your Fondant away from Water

In the beginning, when I started out making cakes with fondant, I quickly learned that water was one of fondants worst enemies. Water will basically break down fondant by dissolving the sugar causing it to loose its taste and elasticity. I recommend handling fondant away from any water source such as a sink because any drips can get on your fondant causing it to be extra sticky and hard to use.

Now if you happen to get a little amount of water on your fondant, you can knead a little of powdered sugar into your fondant to help it revert back to its original state. The only time that I will use water on fondant is for sticking decorative molded pieces of fondant to a cake.

Water works great for this and you only have to use a small amount because a little goes a long way. You want to be careful to use a little because if you use too much, the excess water can roll on to the cake and that will be very difficult to remove from a finished cake.

You’re all set to store Fondant!

Now that you have these tips on storing fondant, you will now be able to create a large inventory of homemade or pre-made fondant. It’s easier to make a cake with moist and elastic fondant as opposed to dry and crumbly fondant.

So always keep in mind that properly storing fondant will help you to work at a much faster pace allowing you to complete cake projects at a faster rate, especially if you have so many to make in a weeks time.