Cake decorating - working with flower paste?

I make and decorate cakes as a hobby. I make 'flowers' from flower paste and these flowers need to 'dry' so that evenutally they become hard and brittle. Up until recently I would put the flowers (in various stages of making) in the airing cupboard so that they would dry out. However, we have now had to have a new heating system which is a combi-boiler and I no longer have an airing cupboard. Does anyone have any ideas on anything I can buy which will not cost a bomb but which I can put my 'flowers' in to dry. At the moment it is not such a problem as it is Spring (UK) and I have my central heating on so can leave the flowers in a bedroom with the radiator in there turned up. I will have problems though when the weather is humid. I made a cake last year and as soon as I took the flowers out of the airing cupboard they started to soften up because of the intense humidity. Has anyone any ideas please.

Cake decorating - working with flower paste?
at college we just keep them in white cake boxes or plastic tubs. our classroom doesn't have any heating, but the room gets really hot in summer and they don't seem to go soft.

when we are using royal icing we leave it to set under a lamp with a halogen bulb, maybe you could try that. we also have a drying cabinet, maybe you could look in to something like that. not sure how it works as i haven't used it, but it plugs in so must have heat or something to dry things out.
Reply:My wife makes sugar flowers and they dry fine on the work top with no extra heat.

Recipe:



2 teaspoon gelatine

5 teaspoons cold water

2 teaspoons liquid glucose

2 teaspoons white vegetable fat

500g ( 1 lb ) icing sugar sifted

1 teaspoon gum tragacanth

1 egg white



Place gelatine and water in a heat proof bowl over a pan of hot water until melted.

Stir in glucose syrup and fat until melted.

Place the icing sugar, gum tragacanth, egg white and gelatine mixture in a bowl and mix initially with a spoon and then your hands to make a soft paste.

Knead on a surface dusted with icing sugar until smooth and white.

Place in a polythene bag, or wrap in clingfilm and seal well.

Leave for several hours before use.



This will dry almost instantly and you have to work quickly. building your flowers in layers. You can buy gel film that you can keep cut out petals under while you work on others.



I hope this helps