I have a hard time with my cakes when I need to cover them in fondant. I guess my problem is whether or not to chill the cake before covering it. How long do I chill it and do I put it into the freezer or fridge? Once I get the cake out to cover it in fondant the buttercream tends to get really mushy once it starts to warm up and get soft. How can I prevent this from happening? And, after I get the cake covered do I put it back in the fridge or freezer?After I have I have put it back in then I take it out and it starts to warm up the fondant on the outside gets really glossy and sticky. Help!

it sounds like you aren't using a crusting butter cream? I don't refrigerate my cakes, so I can't help you there. You want your butter cream to be still wet when you apply the fondant so it will stick to the cake.

Thank you, these do help. I think I will try not putting them in the fridge or freezer to see if thats better. I am not familiar with the difference between crusting and non-crusting buttercream. Can you explain? And I tend to make my own fondant (MMF). Do you recomend this or buying it? It jsut gets so expensive to buy it. And you really do have to buy the expensive Marshmellows otherwise the fondant has globs of this clear stuff, not sure what it is.

Airforce wife, you only need a thin layer of buttercream under your fondant - Just enough to keep the crumbs from escaping!

I also live in a hot, humid place and I NEVER put my cakes in the fridge before or after I put fondant on them just for the reason you said: when you take them out the condensation gets the fondant all wet and makes it melt. I agree that your buttercream layer is probably too thick: you should totally be able to see the cake through the icing. I actually swithced over to crumbcoating my cakes with ganache (3 parts white chocolate to 1 part 35%-butterfat cream OR 2 parts milk or dark chocolate to 1 part 35% cream: barely melt the chocolate till it loses its shape, heat the cream separately till the edges bubble and then mix the two; let it set up for several hours - put it in the fridge for about 20 minutes if it refuses to do this - until it's the consistency of peanut butter). I use it because it's less sticky and doesn't melt the fondant in this climate. Tastes great, too!

I always put a generous layer of buttercream under my fondant. It helps smooth everything out, and if your customers don't like the taste of fondant, they can peel it right off and still have icing to eat.

I refrigerate fondant cakes occasionally and the condenstation will dry on its own given enough time to acclimate. If I am very wooried about refrigerating fondant (dark colors like red or blue) then I will "bag" the cake before putting it in the cooler. Just take a big trash bag and sit the cake inside. Tie the top with a pipe cleaner and pop it in the fridge worry free. I learned this little trick from Mike McCarey at one of his classes. Also, I have noticed that Fondx fondant is vey resistant to condensation.

Cupadeecakes- I usually put more buttercream because I know that a lot of people do not like fondant, but when I put more it tends to mush up. When the weight of the fondant is on top and I'm smoothing it out it seems to push down and then is coming out at the seem at the bottom. How can I stop this?
Now I think maybe I should only go with a thin crumb coat layer underneath. The ganach idea sounds good but some people I make cakes for don't like chocolate. Humidity stinks!

You're right, AirForceWife, humidity certainly does stink! I usually use FondX, too, but with the humidity ALWAYS above 70% here in Cancún, the condensation never dries out - it finally just either melts or cracks the fondant (although the cracking is okay if you want to achieve a sort of antique-y look!). Cupadeecakes, the bagging idea sounds good, because the condensation forms on the bag and not on the cake. I think I'm going to try that next time around.