I have been having some issues when covering cakes in fondant.

1. What sized cake circles do people use when going to cover a cake with fondant? I see all these photos of perfect bottoms of cakes but if the board sticks out (like mine does sometimes) you get this weird excess when covering the cake in fondant. Do you just trim them a bit?

2. Once the cakes are covered in fondant I get these HUUUUGE air bubbles which push the fondant out and then usually cracks it. But by then the fondant has dried and you can't push the buldge back so it's like a empty air cavity under the fondant. I want to mention that this is NOT filling buldges. It's air.

Soooo... I always need to put a ribbon around the bases of my fondant cakes because they look so bad and I just HIDE them with ribbon. If someone really didn't want ribbon, I don't know what to tell them because I can't get them flawless like I see some people do.

Any help on these issues would be GREAT!

Thanks so much!

~Sarah

i dont have alot of experience with fondant but ill look into it and see. by the way i love the decoration on that cake. and it looks dee lish. =)

Have you purchased Sugarshack's Fondant DVD yet? It really goes over a lot of this. She shows how to trim the board on her dvd and how to smooth it so no air bubbles. It helped me. May try contacting her.

Use a board 2" larger than the cake same as you would if using b'cream to ice the cake.
Are you using fondant smoother paddles to smooth the icing onto the cake well? If not, that probably why you are having air bubbles develope. I always thought I could smooth it just fine w/my hands until I had occasion to use the paddle(s) and found a *big* difference. I think it would also solve your problem of bunching at the bottom.
You need to lightly pull the fondant away from the cake and then press it smooth against the cake all the way to the bottom. Here's where your smoother paddles really work Then you cut off any excess w/a pizza cutter.
Yes, SugarShack's DVD will be a great help. It's worth every penny if you are going to do more than 2-3 fondant cakes.

omg! I was JUST going to start a thread about my issues with fondant...actually, I haven't been doing many fondant covered cakes lately and I am nervous about an upcoming cake that I'm doing for a wedding in two weeks

What type of fondant do you use?
I like to use Satin Ice but It seems that I have to work fast with it or else it will get this little layer of dryness and then crinkle if you move it wrong! does this happen do you?

any tips or tricks for Satin Ice?

oh! and I know I like to cover my cakes with the same size board as the cake and THEN put them on a larger board if it is for the top...anyway...the reason I do this is because then you have the perfect place to cut off the excess fondant and you don't have extra board for only your bc boarder...you can just do your boarder to hide the board lol

and I have heard that the paddle smoother works wonders...I have one now and I guess I will find out if it helps to cover the cakes better

I'm with Kakeladi on the advice. The paddles helped me tremendously! When I was using my hands I had some of the same issues with mine because the fondant wasn't really sticking to the icing like it should.

I love how you did the roses by the way! Good luck!