I've never done fondant before - I'm strictly a buttercream gal. I decided to try and teach myself how to do a fondant covered cake. I bought a 5 pound tub of Satin Ice, the fondant smoother, the fondant rolling pin, the mat, and the fondant cutter. It's all sitting on my dining table lined up nice and neat.

Every time I walk by it I look at it and it's like its taken on a life of its' own - just staring back at me daring me to touch it - it's possessed

I'm skeered

Funnily enough - I had the opposite problem!

In Australia, "American-style" decorating has been a bit slow to take off, so almost everything is done with fondant!

I bought loads of buttercream "tools", but have had what is almost panic attacks at the thought of using them!

Take heart, in my eyes, if you can work with buttercream, fondant is a walk in the park!

I wish I could come visit you and we could teach each other

How come these posts are out of order?

Luby...Open the bucket of fondant, break off a chunk, knead it with your hands, roll it out with your rolling pin and become it's best friend. You will become hooked, it is like playing with Play-Dough! Soon you will be modeling figures and such with it. Don't be skeered, become one with your fondant

Luby, I know where your coming from, I bought everything for learning to do fondant, and I CAN'T make myself make that first batch. Good luck I hope you make your batch, and when you do please let me know how you made yourself do it, so maybe I can do it to.

OK-Exiperenced fondant people-answer this one-I just did a 3 tier wedding cake with MMF. I icied it up real pretty and put the fondant over after rolling it to about 1/4 inch. I noticed though that the sides had horizonal ridges, like something inside the cake had melted. Any thoughts on why it looked like this. Maybe too much icing? I tried to be careful about that. Any input is appreciated. The cake designed worked but I was not happy with the final look because of the sides.

Hey Girls
Don't be afraid, I just jumped right in read a bunch of books and thought "I can do this" here are some cakes I've done in fondant.
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1150742.html
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1149015.html
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1095933.html
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1076523.html
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1065433.html
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1061703.html
Trust me if I can do it so can you!!

Jibbies

That sounds like either your layers shifted, squeezing some of the filling out or you had too much filling/didn't let the cake settle before fondanting. If you have a lot of filling and don't press down well on the top layer after stacking the layers, you can run into problems, especially if you press too hard when smoothing the fondant. If you have a slippery filling, the top layer can sort of slide around as you apply the fondant.

At least that I what I think caused this problem when I had it.

From what I've seen and read on this site, you had too much icing between the layers and the heaviness of each layer pushed down on the icing and smooshed it out. The fondant kind of seals it but not enough.

Luby- I quit decorating years ago, but I was curious about the "new" fondant cakes. I figured it would be difficult but it's not. Buttercream is a lot harder to do right. http://atecousa.net//learn/ There are three video's on how to use Satin Ice. I was taught to use crisco instead of cornstarch but it basicly the same. I really liked making the marbled cake. That is something you just can't do in buttercream.

The worst that can happen is that you cake will be lumpy or you will have pleats on the sides. Really, if you start with a neat, level cake with sorta smooth coat of buttercream you will not have much trouble.

To avoid the horizontal ridges, this is what I do:

I add the filling and ice with buttercream and I let the cake settle. I pop it in the freezer for about 1 hour or more so that the bc becomes firm. When it comes out of the freezer, after a couple of minutes, it will sweat a little. This is perfect to make the fondant stick to it.

Cover in fondant. At this point the filling won't get squished because it is firm and by the time it does soften to its' original state, the fondant will be firm enough to support it. Make sure 1. that your bc is not too soft and 2. that fondant is rolled out at a MINUMUM of 1/4".

Wow! My fondant/gumpaste tools are still in their packages and sitting on the kitchen table too....hmmmm

Fondant playdate!!! Everybody bring their tools and let's all play

Thanks for all the responses. I think I put too much icing in between the layers and didn't chill it enough before applying the fondant. All good information. I didn't attend the weddng reception so I have no idea how well the cake survived the 2 hours until the reception but I will go with that they would be pleased with the taste if not the design. I like the look of fondant but man it was hard on that 12" bottom layer!

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the support and encouragement. I'll just have to work up my courage and jump in head first

Jibbies - your cakes look great!

Thanks Luby, I appreciate that

Jibbies