Ok so I covered my cake in fondant the night before (started about 7-8pm) and the b-day party was at 12noon. When I was transporting the cake, i noticed hairline cracks in the fondant in several places...I was able to cover it up with some quick fondant ribbon roses but how can I prevent these cracks in the future?

What did I do wrong? Did I roll the fondant out too thin, too thick? I didn't put the cake in the fridge or near an a/c vent or anything (yes, our a/c has been running full steam in TX since Jan/Feb).

Thanks in advance!

tanyap

Not sure about the cracking, I've never had that happen - after the cake has set out... Did you use a lot of powder sugar or cornstarch when rolling it out? It sounds as if it might have been too dry. Sometimes when I've rolled it a little thin, it has kind of seperated or split on me. You can sometimes fill this in w/ buttercream or royal to camoflauge. I use a large piece of 20 guage clear plastic vinyal to roll out my fondant on - no cornstarch or p.sugar necessary (you can also lift it up to see if you have any air bubbles underneath). When the right size, simply lift and place over the top of the cake. It's great.

yeah, I have the vinyl and I don't use any cornstarch or powdered sugar to roll either...I may put a little crisco on my hands to keep it from sticking to me (I have very dry hands)...

Several questions:
What type/brand of fondant did you use? I find MMF & Wilton have stronger tendencies to crack due to drying out too much for no apparent reason.

Did you have a generous layer of buttercream under the fondant? If your buttercream is very thin, the cake itself can draw moisture out of the fondant very quickly and it will crack as it dries.

Was your fondant rolled very thin, or very thick? Either scenario can lead to cracking--either because the underlying cake structure is deforming a thin fondant or just the extra weight of too much fondant can cause strain.

Was this a stacked & doweled cake? If the tiers are crooked or the dowels are too short, the uneven weight distribution can lead to cracking. Also, while stacking, if you "plunked"/dropped down one or more tiers
onto another, you can start cracks.

Did you put each layer of cake on a good, thick cakeboard--like 3/16th inch foamcore? Just like with a buttercream cake, if the cakeboard and/or cakestand, isn't sturdy enough you can get cracking just picking up the cake. These are usually magnified if the cake vibrates while in the car.

These are the areas I'd look at if faced with the same issue.

Hope this helps.
Rae