I am still a newbie to cake decorating, and definately a newbie to fondant and gumpaste...so not even sure where I went wrong and what I can do to improve, so constructive advice is welcome. I was making a WOW theme cake for my hubby, his birthday is this weekend and I'm throwing a suprise party tonight. Found a cake on here that I loved and used it as inspiration. I was very excited about it. Knew I was going to cover it in fondant. This was the 3rd cake I tried to cover, and the worst one. Its a 2 tier double layer cake that I was trying to get to look like a castle in a way. So I made the bottom layer, covered it in chocolate buttercream (which was a disaster too) and then rolled out the fondant. I thought I was doing really well, until I tried to put it on the cake. It started tearing really bad. So the part that had not touched the cake I salvaged and threw the rest away. I did it again, and the same thing. I freaked out and called a cake friend and she told me how I could cover it up. I covered a big hole with the 'door' but there were still other areas. I knew i could cover them up somehow so I let it go. Then I started working on the top tier. SAME FREAKING THING!! It tore, so bad and in places I didn't think I could cover up. I ran to the store to get more fondant and finally got it covered. This morning I got up and thought I was doing well. I put dowel rods in to support, but must not have been enough. It started sliding. It looks horrible but there is nothing I could do about it now. Now sure where I went wrong with alot of it...but just glad it wasnt a paid order.

What brand of fondant were you using? How thick/thin where you rolling it out?

Well, this was the first time I used wilton....I know, might be my biggest mistake. I have a cake friend that said thats all she uses unless its a wedding cake. And her cakes are GORGEOUS so I thought it might be okay to use for this. My first cake I covered was in the Duff fondant, which I bought because I had a coupon. The second was pettinice, because thats what we used in a class I was taking. I kept hearing about people having problems with Satin Ice, so I havent bought any. I was also trying to figure out what worked and what didn't. And obviously this didn't. But when it tore again on the top, I went and got more of the Duff stuff and it still tore. I didn't actually measure how thick it was (another mistake, I know) but I thought it was the right thickness. It wasnt too thick and wasnt too thin.

Im so sorry ( BIG HUGS ) I think you may have rolled it to thin because of it happening with different brands . I use Satin ice ( black) and make all the other colors at home with mmf made from a recipe on here called Easy peasy mmf . HTH .

I never have issues with Wilton.


How then are you rolling it? Roll it between 1/4"-1/2" thick.

What are you using to roll it out? You might be drying it out.

I think it was about 1/4 " thick, but again I didn't measure. And I was using a tapered rolling pin. It didn't seem too thin, but I was trying to make sure it wasnt too thick. And the first 2 cakes I covered with fondant where I used the Duff and Pettinice I didn't have any problems. But I used wilton and Duff this time.

How long are you kneading it before you roll it out? Basically you need to knead it until if feels smooth and pliable. It should have some stretch to it. Knead in a little bit of shortening if you need to but don't over do it. Once it's to the right consistency, you'll find rolling it out and putting it onto a cake is much easier, and won't tear, unless you've rolled it too thin.

Try Rhonda's Ultimate MMF, it's amazing!

http://cakecentral.com/recipes/3183/rhondas-ultimate-mmf

I have the most problems when I roll it too thin, so maybe consciously try to make it a little thicker than you'd like, just to get it to go on. The more you do it, you'll get more familiar and it will get a lot easier.

I'm sorry this happened to you, hopefully the rest of the party went off without a hitch!

Don't know about the fondant issue, but if your cake was sliding did you put a dowel all the way through the top tier down through to the bottom? I always put a center dowel in...even on 2 layer cakes just to be sure it won't slip. Especially with mousse type fillings.

I always use Pettinice and only seem to have problems with the fondant when it's something I'm doing wrong. I've never used Wilton to cover a cake so I don't have any advice there. I have found that rolling a little thicker than you think you should makes things go much easier and tearing is much less. Also, I'm not sure that using a tapered rolling pin will give you a nice consistent thickness. Finally, my fondant work really got a lot better after watching the Sugar Shack fondant video. There are some great tips in there that I use everytime. I used to be the most stressed about covering the cake and now that part is a breeze.