I have made dozens and dozens of fondant cakes... but one skill still eludes me! Can anyone offer advice on how to get a really crisp sharp edge on my cake? Just to try and make myself a little more understood - I am talking about round cakes, the top edge.

Hopefully someone can help....

Try 2 fondant smoothers - one on top and one on the side. Gently pull up on the side and out toward the edge on the top, kinda butting the smoothers together at the edge. Keep working until you have the edge as crisp as you want. This must be done while the fondant is still soft. Sharon Zambito (Sugar Ed Productions) has a wonderful DVD called Flawless Fondant showing a similar technique (along with many others), and I'm pretty sure she ships internationally.

everyone says ganache is the way to get crisp edges. Im still too nervous to try it! LOL

Ganache is the method Planet Cakes in sydney use to get their super sharp edges on their mad hatter cakes, and they are SHARP. I have also read a lot of people saying the way to get sharp edges on your icing is to first cut sharp edges on your cake, which makes sense! I've also seen the two smoother method in video tutorials, which I can't wait to try as soon as I have a cake to make with fondant. So many things to try, not enough cakes to try them on! How's a girl supposed to get better when people around refuse to have birthdays and things so I can practice?

P.S. sweetbitecakes, I'm in NZ too, nice to see other kiwis

Thank you all so much for your advice... I wll be trying the ganache for sure! I don't suppose anyone knows of any online tutorials??? I really need to get to Aussie for a planet cake demo!! I really appreciate everyone taking the time to reply! Thanks so much. Happy caking!

Planet Cakes actually do classes, they travel all around Aussie doing them. But not NZ I'm afraid. You might have to grabaseat to Sydney

Sorry, I don't have any links to online tutorials, wish I'd bookmarked the one I watched. It's like someone else described though, two smoothers, butting at one end. I would think the sharp cake edges plus that technique would surely be a winner.

I also think that ganache is the perfect way to get sharp edges, but is expensive, I use merkens or guittard when is on sale. I read a lot of comments that is not a good idea to use this tipe of chocolate. but if you think about it this is what is use to cover the cake balls. when I make my cakes with this type of chocolate (coating) the cake is eaten right away. try it you will like it

Woo Hoo, I'm feeling better about this challenge already! Great tutorial Debbief (thanks so much for sending thru the link)
Zespri.... I noticed that you are a fellow Aucklander... would you be interested in possibly meeting with me, I thought maybe you could be my teacher... cheaper to pay you than get to Australia that's for sure! Also, I don't know how to find members pics on cake central??? help

ah that's so funny, I too have seen your cakes and they're AMAZING. I only just found this hobby four months ago, I'm a BABY compared to you! I've made a handful of cakes, and they're all extremely clumsy... lol! But it's a darn good idea, and I think you should be my teacher instead P Sadly I work fulltime and have a 1.5 year old, so while I read a LOT about this stuff, I never get to put it into practice, it's all book learning.

I do know of a couple of people who do lessons in Auckland, but like I said, you don't look like you need them. If you want the names PM me and I'll forward them to you.

Ganache is awesome - and I use the upside down method to crumb coat cakes too...amazing!

One other tip that makes for crisp corners when you have a nice crisp corner on your crumb coat is to roll out your fondant as thin as you're comfortable with!! The thicker the fondant, the heavier it is on the cake and the harder it is to keep those super sharp corners on the cake that you worked so hard to get! I know Planet Cake rolls theirs less than 1/8" thick. So, the thinner the better!

Good luck!