I made my 2nd tiered fondant cake this weekend (you can see it in my photos) and it turned out pretty good. But I went light on the frosting because I was afraid it would bubble or sag the fondant.

So I was wondering 2 things....

1 - what kind of frosting is best to use to cover the cake before you lay the fondant on? (I just used wiltons buttercream w/ shortening recipe because I was afraid a regular butter based buttercream would "melt". I put different fillings in the middle of the cake)

2- how thick can the frosting be?? (I would like to be able to put a decent thickness for people who don't care for fondant and could take it off)

Thank you! ~Cara

Well, I've had different reactions with different buttercreams on this. I have successfully iced cakes in a 1/2" - 3/4" layer of buttercream made with butter and covered in fondant. However, I find that it definitely helps to avoid bubbles if you ice the cake the day before covering with fondant and refrigerate it prior to covering as well. This allows the frosting to settle and also firm up before you cover it. For the most part this has been the best way for me to use a thicker layer of buttercream and cover with fondant. But then you have those icings (i.e. IMBC is one) that can cause the fondant or modeling chocolate to sweat after you've removed it from the fridge for presentation (I believe this is due to the humidity levels in different refrigerators). I've heard that some people cover their cakes with plastic wrap after applying the fondant and placing the cake in the fridge. This is to allow for the condensation to form on the plastic wrap, thus keeping it off of the cake. It worries me though because I feel like the covering will leave marks on the cake. The best thing I've used to to apply a thick layer of icing and then cover it has been ganache. It firms up really well out of the fridge and works beautifully under the fondant. HTH

You just received some great info! I usually use IMBC and yes I do get sweating, but it eventually evaporates. I wouldn't use plastic wrap either, for reasons anasasi just stated.

As she said, any kind of icing works fine (except whipped cream of course). Any buttercream won't "melt" the fondant. I have used the "whipped cream buttercream" here on CC (it is a BC icing, not a WC icing), IMBC, chocolate BC, and ganache. I even once used Rich's Bettercreme which I then coated with a thin layer of IMBC in order to fondant as CCers have warned me that Bettercreme cannot be fondanted. And just as anasasi said, it's best if you refrigerate the cake first so the icing is nice and firm.

As for amount of icing, any icing that firms up in the fridge is fine to ice at "normal amounts." As you may have noticed, once you fondant your cake and re-refrigerate it (if need be), the fondant itself "sets up" i.e. it dries out a wee bit and forms a kind of shell around your cake. I always refrigerate my cakes so I don't know if you get the same success with unrefrigerated cakes where the icing softens up too much before the fondant has a chance to set...so you'd have to keep that in mind.

Here is a pic of the inside of a cake I made this weekend. It used to have fondant on it (in this case I'd peeled it off before serving...although I don't normally do that) so you can see how much IMBC was under there and how the cake had completely retained its shape.

Also, unlike in the below pic, I usually bake two layers and torte them, generating three layers of filling. When I do that, I make the middle layer icing, so that they get an extra layer of icing in case the top/side icing comes off with the fondant.

Ceshell, that was a bad picture to post. My tummy's rumbling now, I soooo want a slice of your cake! It looks so darn tempting

I did my valentines cake with pastry pride then cover with fondant and it was great

oopss......sorry!

It was banana-apple cake with mango filling, topped with vanilla IMBC....mmmmmmmm

oops...did it again!

now I'm really done for. That sounds to die for! Not to hijack this thread, but is there any way you'd be willing to share your recipe? If so, please PM me. If it's top secret then I understand...and can surely see why

Not top secret at all! I found it on AllRecipes, it's the recipe for Apple Banana Cupcakes. However, I tweaked it, so I am going to PM you the tweaked version

Thank you for the replies I have another B-day cake this weekend, but only one tier that I'm going to make pretty tall. So I can practice putting more frosting. <3