I just made a baby shower cake last week and I covered the board in fondant and then used an impression mat to give it a cobblestone type of pattern. The cake is in my pics although the pic isn't very good and I don't think you can really see the board very well.

Anyways, this is the first time I had attempted to do this. I used straight fondant and I covered the board (a thin hard board - 1/4" thick at most - but I can't think of what it is called) on Wednesday night. By the next morning when I brought the cake in to work, the sides of the fondant were chipping off already.

Is there a way to prevent this? I liked the look that I achieved with the fondant and would like to be able to do this again sometime, but it wasn't pretty where it was chipping away. I don't know if the fondant should have been thicker, or if I can't use such a hard board when covering with the fondant.

Any ideas??

TIA!

Most experts agree that covering the sides of a cake board is simply not done because of this reason. Either leave plain or cover the sides with ribbon using double stick tape.

Yeah, I don't usually cover the sides of the board either and just for that reason. I have done it before tho and now any custom board I do gets extra, smaller boards underneath (like 3 12" rounds under a 14" board) so that I have a way to grip it easily. This will prevent you from having to manhandle the sides too much.

Thanks for the replies ladies!

OK, so I need to trim the fondant at the edge of the board to prevent the chipping. But does the fondant ever shrink and pull away from the edge then? Or should I cut it a little bit larger to account for the shrinkage?

Are you using real fondant or MMF fondant?
I'd think the MMF may shrink.

I actually use my fondant smoother to roll the edge ever so slightly over the lip so you don't get an odd cut edge.
HTH

I cut it smoothly right at the edge. I use Satin Ice fondant and it does not shrink back. I spritz the board down with water first so it attaches.

I am using Satin Ice. So it sounds like I should be ok with SI and not have the shrinkage. Next time I will spritz the board with the water too. Hadn't thought of that!

Thank you so much!!

I cover the sides in a cordinating ribbon.