How to Soften Dried Cake Fondant

Sweet pastry paste is used for perfectly smooth coating, decorating cakes, cakes with inscriptions, drawings, three-dimensional figures. Fast-setting product with gelatin is suitable for making small details of decorations, with starch - for modeling flowers, with condensed milk - for smooth coatings. The softest, most viscous mastics - marzipan, honey. More often hostesses are faced with the fact that the mastic "floats," but sometimes the opposite problem arises. If the plastic mass during storage has become stone, do not rush to throw away the product. There are several ways to reanimate it, to restore the original structure.

Why fondant dries: Causes

Consumer properties of mastic save in a sealed container without access to air, moisture. If the storage conditions are violated or the recipe of preparation is not observed, the sweet mass loses plasticity, turns stony.

How to soften dried mastic for a cake

Purchased hard mastic in an unopened package can be simply kneaded by hand. You will need patience and a silicone mat. Pinch off a small piece of the total mass and knead thoroughly until the smallest lumps disappear. Especially well heated by the heat of the hands, fondant with a high cocoa butter content becomes elastic.

Options for restoring the structure of weathered pastry that has been improperly stored:

1. Place the dried mastic in a thick plastic bag, knot close to the edges. Dip the bag with the contents in a container of hot water. After half an hour remove the package, knead the viscous mass in your hands and use as directed.
2. After heating the paste in hot water (as in the first case), add lemon juice. Acid softens the composition, facilitates further work with the material.
3. To resuscitate the product, add a little vegetable, butter oil or glycerin to the bag with the mastic. Leave for a few hours to allow the softening agent to be absorbed. Then knead the paste for at least five minutes.
4. If the sweet mass has hardened from long storage, wrap it in clingfilm and place it in a container with a damp cotton napkin. Close the lid tightly, leave it on the table. After 24 hours, crush the contents of the container with your hands.
5. Very hard sugar mastic can be reconstituted in a microwave oven. Put the dried lump in a bag, place in the microwave. Product up to 0.5 kg warm up in pulses of 10 seconds. If the solid paste is larger, up to 20 seconds will be needed. Longer heating will cause the sweet mass to melt.

Important! Reanimation is not suitable for fully dried fondant, which crumbles, crumbles.

The fastest drying pastry with gelatin, it is the easiest to resuscitate. Glucose fondant is less likely to turn to stone, but takes longer to warm in hot water or the microwave.

Pastry chefs do not recommend buying mastic in advance or making it long before making the cake so you don't have to rebuild it. The product, which begins to harden, should be used as soon as possible.

How to store mastic so that it does not dry out

Store store store mastic in its original packaging in a dark, dry place at a temperature no higher than 20 degrees before the expiration date specified by the manufacturer.

If you need some of the product, open the package, carefully cut off a piece with a spatula, the remainder wrapped tightly in foil or put in an airtight container. In this condition, the sweet mass with preservatives, coloring agents, stabilizers stored for 30 days. When placing the product in the freezer, shelf life is extended to four months.

Homemade confectionery paste is made exclusively from natural products. Such mastic, wrapped in film and packed in a container with a tight-fitting lid, retains its consumer properties only 2-3 weeks in the refrigerator and 3 months in the freezer.

If you do not plan to use the sweet product in the near future, spray it with vegetable oil before wrapping it in film or foil.

Defrost the mastic gradually. First, put the container with the sweet mass on the shelf of the refrigerator. When the product becomes softer, move it to the kitchen table. After complete defrosting, be sure to knead it with your hands.

It is easier to work with fresh plastic mastic. But sometimes you have to use a dried product. In this case, and help out the laichfaks from professionals.