Okay, so I have a few questions. I have been making fondant cakes for about a year, but have only made a few. I wanted to know how is it that you get such crisp edges when covering with fondant. Mine always round off. How do I correctly buttercream it? Or is it my cake slumping down, and what textured cake's can I use to not bulge on the sides. My cakes always bulge where the layers and filling is even if I only put a tiny bit of filling. Also, what fondant is easier to work with? MMF or regular corn syrup fondant, which is what I use now. http://www.flickr.com/photos/31146636@N02/2918838909/

My personal method for getting crisp square edges is to refrigerate the frosted cake so the buttercream gets nice and firm. Then you can get the corners/edges nice an crisp/sharp.

As far as bulging goes, make sure you let your cakes settle for a few hours (if not overnight) after filling and frosting before you fondant them.

I use Satin Ice brand fondant, but when I make my own I use a standard 10x/cornsyrup/gelatin type recipe.

I use a very firm cake, a stiffened bc dam. let them settle after filling. trim the sides then crumbcoat. chill a bit and then cover with fondnat.

HTH

Thank-you for the tips an advice. I had one more question. What kind of buttercream should I use for the crumb coat? Thicker, wetter, thinner? Usually I'm really bad and use store bought stuff, what's your take on it?

I use between med and thin consistency. Enough to spread smooth, but thick enough so it's not falling off the cake.

Don't use store bought. Ever.

LOL I don't want to be rude, but it doesn't take much time to make it yourself and it tastes SO much better.

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar

cream butter and shortening. add the liquids. slowly pour in the sugar. cream it for another minute or two to get smooth. Add more water if you want it thinner. Add more sugar if you want it thicker. This recipe as is will give you medium consistency.

At Austin, I took a class with Elisa Strauss. Some of her tips were to have a cold cake and to pinch the edges. There is no other way to get a sharp edge.

niccicola, Thanks for the receipie. Can you tell how many cups that creates?

I cover my cake with molding chocolate, I stole the idea from charm city cakes. The modeling chocolate when it's slightly chilled is hard as a rock and man do your corners come out sharp. The down side, it takes twice as long, and its more expensive. I've only done this once, but it worked great.

Ginger-it makes 3 cups

I almost always double the recipe since the bags of sugar I use are 2 lb bags-it's convenient to use when doubling!

Also, check out SugarShacks DVD's they are very great. Her fondant disc gives details on all of those questions and how to get nice edges. Check her website for dvd's ... she posted above and has links posted in signature line! I think it's sugaredproductions.com