I tried to cover a 10 inch (4.5 inch tall) cake in fondant and it just tore right off when I put it on the cake. I had a second go and while it didn't crack, it has a bunch of little tears. i have never had this problem before. I'm using Pettinice if that makes a difference. The firs time I colored and rolled using shortening and the second using powder sugar. Why did it crack? I know you guys are not psychic but what are the usual reasons? This cake is going to be the death of me.

I have no idea what Pettinice is so that could be it but usually there are two reasons why this happens. The most common is that the fondant is too dry. Use crisco to get it back to a soft pizza dough like consistancy. Then roll it out. Now here is the second part where it can go bad. If you roll it too thin then it doesn't have enough body to hold together and can tear, if you roll it too thick then the gravity will pull it down and rip it. I roll mine to the thickness of a nickle and this seems to work very well. Rule of thumb is that if it's sticky it's too moist, add powdered sugar, if it's cracking then it's too dry, add more crisco.

Hope this helps!
Cat

Damn - wish I had seen this last night! Had the same problem. Oh well, I can't recover my cake now.

Good to know for next time.

I thought about covering it with a second layer of fondant. I still haven't decided if I'm going to do it or not but I am NOT happy with how it looks like right now. It's a gift cake but still!

So did you cover it with another layer of fondant? I have a wedding cake that's due tomorrow and It looks okay but not as clean and smooth as i want it to look. Just wanted to know if I could do the 2nd layer.

Hi June. Pettinice is the only brand that we can get here!

The first time that happened to me, it's because I used too much icing sugar when rolling it out. The second time, because it was too heavy and the weight caused it to crack in places.

I still haven't got it down pat, but someone shared a tip with me that you might find useful. I was working on a number one cake, and it kept splitting around the corners. She said to put a very thin bit of fondant on the areas I suspected it would rip, so that if it DID, then all you would see through the rip was the same colour fondant. After that you just do your best to smooth it down with your fingers to blend it in with the fondant underneath the rip.