I am making an igloo cake this weekend using half of the Wilton ball pan. I was then going to cover the cake in white fondant. The problem that I am having is figuring out the best way to give the apperance of stacked blocks. Should I cut the lines into the fondant or should I cut out rectangles to go all around the cake? Just trying to get ideas to see what would look the best.

I used a very thick layer of buttercream under the fondant. This left it very pliable and able for me to work in some good block definition. Once I had the fondant smoothed into place, I rubbed the whole surface with shortening so that the surface wouldn't dry and set before I had a chance to work it into a block look.

The way I formed the block look was with the plastic stick that comes with the Wilton gumpaste tool set. I ran it around the dome, to form the horizontal lines, not cutting into the fondant, but just making indented lines in the soft, shortening coated fondant. Then I went back and pressed in vertical between the horizontal ones, alternating so the were staggered like bricks. If the buttercream is thick enough underneath, you can get some really deep definition to the lines, making it look pretty real.

During the above process, make sure to leave the area where the door will be plain. Then, just take hunks of fondant and form them into blocks and stuck them around the door area. If you look at mine in my pics, you can see the block pattern I used.

Forgot to add that if you're going to dust it with pearl dust as I did, make sure you wait until the shortening has completely absorbed into the fondant, leaving the surface dry before dusting. Otherwise, the dust will look streaky if applied to a moist/greasy surface.

Thank you so much for your help. Your technique worked great. I will post a photo of my cake in my pics if you want to see it.

It's beautiful! Great job! Glad I could help.