Fondant Covered Cheesecake??!

The next time a friend asks you to make her a wedding cheesecake, covered with rolled fondant, don't fret.  It can be done, and I'm going to tell you how I did it.  You have probably performed countless internet searches (I assume that's how you ended up here); received contradicting information (yes, you can cover a cheesecake in fondant; no you can't; don't refrigerate or freeze fondant; yes you can).  Well, in my experience, YES you can not only cover a cheesecake in fondant, you can also freeze it.

The problem with freezing or refrigerating fondant is once you remove it from the cold, water vapor in the air starts to condense on the surface (think of an ice cold beverage and the condensation that forms on the glass).  Since fondant is mostly sugar and other water-soluble ingredients, the condensation that forms starts to dissolve the fondant and creates that sticky surface you've read about.  Eventually, it will just start to disintegrate like this:

The picture above is of a cheesecake I froze, then thawed at room temperature for several hours.  The fondant did not begin disintegration until 1.5 to 2 hours later, but you can see what a mess it becomes.  The left side of the picture is where we cut into it to taste.

After this disaster (expected), I decided to test whether using a fan would help.  I covered a ramekin with fondant then put it in the refrigerator for 3 hours.  I removed the "cake" and just fanned it by hand.  This worked surprisingly well to keep the fondant dry.  I then put the "cake" into the freezer overnight, defrosted in the refrigerator for 4 hours, then put at room temperature in a brown paper shopping bag.  I aimed an electric fan at the "cake" (I put it in the bag so it would get air circulation on all sides) and let it warm to room temp over the course of 2 hours or so.  Voila!  The fondant was nice and dry; no disintegration.

My next debate was: am I really going to try this on my friend's wedding cake?  I wasn't that crazy, but almost.  Here's what I did.  Baked the 3 cheesecake layers.  Let them cool to room temp.  Spread a layer of swiss meringue buttercream to smooth out the rough spots and level the top and sides.  Note: occassionally put in the refrigerator to harden the buttercream; this will help you get a really smooth surface.  Roll out the fondant and cover the cakes.  Immediately put them in boxes and put in the freezer.  I kept them frozen for one week.  The reason I froze them is the drive to the wedding site was four hours long and involved curvy mountain roads.  I packed the cakes in a cooler with dry ice (~2-3 pounds?) and transported them to the wedding site the morning of the ceremony.  Once at the site, I removed half of the dry ice and we left to check-in to our hotel.  Just before the ceremony, I removed the remaining dry ice to allow the cakes to slowly warm up (as if in a refrigerator).  About 2.5 to 3 hours later, my fiance and I went in to assemble the final cake.  We removed the cakes, one at a time, from the cooler, and immediately placed them between two box fans running on high speed (you can just see the fans in the pictures below).  I could see the fondant glistening, but no actual droplets formed.  To my surprise, the fondant was actually drying out, enough to touch without feeling sticky.  We were able to bring it out to the reception tent and display it for an hour without problem.  The top layer was cut-able, and the middle layer was just barely still frozen inside (I did not get a chance to try the bottom layer).  I suspect the cake would have survived several hours following this procedure. 

 Assembled tiers.  Cake stand is on a turntable to make decoration easier.

 Cake topper on and adding flowers.

 Final product.

 Me and the final cake.

Safely delivered to the reception area.