I recently attempted my first fondant covered cake and it turned out dry. I crumb coated the cake let it settle then used BC for the base icing coat. Let that set and rolled out my fondant ( which turned out very well). I was pleased with the results, no bumps or bulging...but the fondant seemed to dry out after it was on the cake. Any suggestions for the newbie would be greatly appreciated.

Thats what fondant does. It goes hard. Not hard enough you cant cut thru it but it does "set" Which makes it a great medium for alot of other decorations you cant do on BC.

The only way to avoid that would be to cover it like you would any surface that you don't want to dry out. But that isn't very practical for cakes. As the pp said, it's just what fondant does.

They're right - you want the fondant to 'set' as it creates a great surface for further decorating. Thats why I love using fondant more than BC - particularly good if you are going to do any royal icing on the cake after you've covered it.

Yeah, it's supposed to do that.

Thanks to all of you that posted a reply to my question. I actually feel a little silly. I did not know that fondant was supposed to set to a firm finish. I have read and seen many tutorial but don't remember this being mentioned. Next time I cover a cake with fondant I will be more confident in the end result. again thanks.