I have been really disappointed with several of my fondant covered cakes because they seem sloppier than i would like them.
I feel like I get the buttercream underneath nice and even, refridgerate it to firm up the bc and let it crust. I viva paper towel it with my smoother. I use the mat to roll out my fondant then and place it on the cake. Gah! My nice sharp lines are now all rounded and occasionally I see bulges on the sides where the icing underneath is pooching out.
Is my fondant too heavy? Do I need to roll it thinner? do I need to wait hours for a more firm crust before covering? Could it be possible I have too much icing on cake before fondant?
I literally drool over the square fondant covered cakes I see on here with perfect lines.
I have figured out that I need a stiffer icing consistency for my dam in between layers to help with the pooching, possibly more time for it to settle.
Help! Longing for sharp professional lines on my cakes....

First of all I like to use a stiff icing for the dam and make sure the filling isn't higher than the dam. I think that you may be putting too much BC on your cake. It just needs a nice skim coat for the fondant to adhere and I never let it crust before I put the fondant on. If it has crusted I brush it with a bit of water to make it sticky again.
Hope this helps.

I completely ice my cakes, chill till super cold and hard, then cover in fondant. I do not have pooches. Not sure why you are. Are you just crumb coating? I always completely ice, especially since no one here likes fondant, so when they pull it off, they will still have some buttercream.

I am crumb coating, chilling, and then adding a second layer & removing the (what I think) is excess.
Perhaps a firm chill is what I need.
I seem to have more trouble with it when torting to 4+ layers

Thanks for all of your input every little tidbit helps

my guess is your fondant is not stiff enough and dont put too much. personally i cover with fondant when the bc is the temperature of the room it will stay at, so it doesnt melt or anything. just do a "crumb coat" thick enough to get the cake white, smooth it, and put the fondant. roll it thin but if its gona break roll it again a teeny tiny bit thicker

What I always liked about the look of fondant is the rounded edges. I must be weird.

Omg! I had been thinking that my buttercream had been just so-so, so I finally got high ratio shortening to use instead... WOW!!!!!!!
This buttercream looked great, gave me the best finish! And I know, without a doubt that if i used fondant over the cake it would have looked great ( but I didn't, the finish was to pretty to hide). Move over, Crisco!

Do any of you find that this makes a huge difference too? I know HRS is expensive, any substitutions that you can recommend?