Can You Freeze Fondant Flowers?

Fondant icing, also commonly referred to simply as fondant, is an icing used to decorate or sculpt cakes and pastries. If you think of a lavish wedding or birthday cake that is covered in flowers, they are most likely made out of fondant.

Each flower can take up to an hour to make, given how intricate and delicate they are, so if you plan on making these in advance of decorating your cake, how should you store them?

Why You Shouldn’t Freeze Fondant Flowers

It can take up to an hour to make a large fondant flower that is hyper-realistic, and so you are going to want to preserve them perfectly so that you can have a great finish to your decorated cake.

Sadly, neither the fridge nor the freezer is a good option to preserve these flowers as moisture is going to destroy the texture of the fondant and could cause your flowers to lose all their beauty.

When placed in a moist environment, fondant can develop beads of condensation which, if then thawed, can cause the fondant to become gummy, or the fondant will soften and the petals will flop over, ‘melt’ together.

How to Store Fondant Flowers

Storing fondant flowers, and indeed any fondant decoration varies depending on whether you want the fondant to be soft or dry. It is important to distinguish the two methods so that you don’t inadvertently ruin your delicate decorations. 

If you want to keep your fondant flowers soft and malleable, potentially to attach to the side of a cake, you are first going to want to place a piece of parchment paper over something flat and sturdy.

This could be a small chopping board, Tupperware lid, anything as long as it will fit in a ziplock bag. Then lay out your fondant flowers, making sure they are not touching, and slide the whole thing inside a ziplock bag.

If your fondant is a bit sticky, you can lay another sheet of parchment paper on top so it does not stick to the bag. Store the bag at room temperature, away from direct sunlight. 

For fondant flowers that need to be dry, most likely to be placed on top of a cake, they need to be at least partly dried out before storing. Fondant alone can be okay for basic decorations, but adding Tylose to the mix will help it dry out properly and make the decorations more sturdy.

There are four key things to consider when storing dry fondant flowers; keeping them physically safe (i.e. preventing breakages), keeping them dry, allowing some airflow, and keeping them out of direct light. 

You may be tempted to reach for an airtight container at this point, but actually using cardboard boxes is better. If you were to use an airtight container, especially if the flowers weren’t 100% dry, it could cause moisture build-up inside the container which could damage the flowers. 

Instead, a sturdy cardboard box, lined with either paper towel or baking paper, will allow the fondant flowers to be protected, have access to airflow, be kept dry and stored out of sunlight. 

Do Fondant Flowers Freeze Well?

Freezing or even refrigerating fondant flowers is not a good idea as it will expose the delicate decorations to moisture which can damage the fondant.

Instead, keep them as dry as you possibly can, out of the way of direct sunlight and, depending on how soft you want them to be, monitor the air flow.

By following this advice, you can make fondant flowers ahead of time which will save you a lot of time when it comes to decorating your cake.