Hello, I am fairly new to cake decorating. I have been putting my cakes on cardboard cake rounds that I cover in paper to match the paper I put on my cake board. The trouble I am having is that it never looks neat. What I am doing wrong, I see beautiful ones on here that are flawless. I can never get the paper on a round to be neat. Here is a picture of a cake I made last night, see the paper on the cardboard beneath the bottom cake....you can see all the spots where it's not flush. How do I correct this? Do you just put the cake directly on the board, and skip the cardboard round all together? Thank You!!
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1288044
You might try using a lighter paper or here are some instructions throught wilton.
http://www.wilton.com/decorating/cake-decorating/covering-cake-board-with-fanci-foil.cfm
Not an expert, but I never use them, I put the cake straight on to the board. Are there many on rounds and then boards in the gallery? If there are, I have not noticed them. Perhaps if you work mainly in bc it can get quite messy and you need the. I work mainly in fondant and haven't found a need. Sorry if this doesn't help. Perhaps an expert will answer soon.
Well. usually if you have your cake on a bottom board you would want it to be smaller than the cake IE: a 8 " cake , then a 7.5" cake board(for stacked) as for your bottom board, that is usually the board you actually have the cake on. Also what type paper are you using?, cake foil will generally smooth pretty well around a cake board, then you can just tape it once you have formed it around the board. You do need to sort of pull the other sides to tighten the paper as you are taping, then finish it with a smaller circle of the same foil and paste that with a glue like Aileen's clear.
here's a Wilton link also that might be helpful
http://www.wilton.com/decorating/cake-decorating/covering-cake-board-with-fanci-foil.cfm
Not to start a discussion about using shelf liner under your cakes but that is what I use. It is the clear shelf liner and I cover the cake board that the cake is sitting on. I hot glue 3-4 of the same size cake boards together for strength and then I glue matching ribbon along the edges. Sitting a cake directly on the cardboard will leave grease stains. The ribbon edge will give the cake a finished look. Glue it on after you have decorated the cake to avoid any stains. If you are against using shelf liner under your cake you can cut a piece of parchment paper the same size of your cake for it to sit on. Make sure you glue it down to the shelf liner to avoid slipping.
i personally use scrapbook paper or wrapping paper, then cover that in clear contact paper (paper backing peels off, sticky side down against decorative paper). this way your cake can be placed on top of the round without grease seeping into your decorative paper, thus allowing you to carry your theme onto the board.
(there are some who will tell you not to use this contact paper...i don't particularly care for that conversation today, so if anyone feels the urge to bash those of us who do that, i politely ask you to refrain.)
there are two things i notice when looking at your picture: the board your cake is sitting on needs to be the same size as the cake...that way it's sort of incognito. the second thing is that it looks like your pleating large sections to tape under your board, which makes the angles not work right, and gives you that pointy look all around the sides of your board. when taping my paper down, i move very slowly around my board, taping down small pleats all the way around. this creates a flush edge along the side of the board, once turned over.
hope this helps...looks like you're doing great so far on caking!
I only ever use fondant and just cover my cake and board all at once - I've never done b/c so I suppose this isn't really any help 
so i'll just be quiet now 
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