I am currently working on a cake dummy for an upcoming competion. It is a 4 tier cake with all the cakes lined up along one side. I covered each layer in fondant, then stacked them, and cemented/smoothed them with royal icing. I filled in all of the dings, etc. with royal and sanded them down with wet/dry sandpaper once it dried. It still wasn't perfect, so I repeated this process about 5 times (having to wait for it to dry completely before sanding again). So it's much better, but still not "perfect" and it's taken me 3 days to get this far. Is there an easier way to do this? Or am I just being too anal? This is my first cake competition, and I don't even know what they expect.

Any suggestions are appreciated!

Thanks!

What brand of fondant are you using?

It may depend on the judge and the level of competition. I know they look for things out of place (one of my rose leaves had flipped over) and that the board is the right size, no dust is visible in the wrong area (I had some oversill of superpearl).

As for blistering perfection, I don't know. In my competition, it wasn't an issue, for me or for others. there were very minor imperfections with no comments on them.

good luck.

I'm using Pettinice fondant.

I see the cakes in photos and books, and the fondant is always flawless. I don't know how they do it... *sigh*

I find that rolling fondant on a piece of vinyl works the best, u can get it smooth first before transferring it to the cake, then only use minimal smoothing after putting it on.
PM me if u want detailed instructions.

I am not getting what you are saying. Are you putting the royal on top of the fondant??

If I am doing a fondant competition cake I mist my dummy and apply the fondant. I then stack and glue each tier with royal. I do not apply royal on top of the fondant.

[quote="moydear77"]I am not getting what you are saying. Are you putting the royal on top of the fondant??

I got the same impression as moydear77.

I'm using royal icing to fill in the wrinkles, dings, etc., smoothing it in with a paint brush dipped in vodka, and then sanding it down once it's dry. This is working excellently on the little dings and stuff, but I'm trying to smooth the entire back (where all the cakes are all lined up) into a completely flat surface (because I'm going to be painting on it. I just assumed there was some trick to this that the experts know - because the royal "caulk" was just something I tried on a whim.

I would not choose this to fill in cracks. They are different material and when paint or luster is applied there will be variation in the finish. Just my opinion!
I just try to get the fondant as smooth as I can right off the bat.

HI,

at the FL ICES mini-classes last weekend, Geraldine Randelsome taught us to use royal icing to fill in cracks and dings. She just squirted at little bit into the spot and wiped it with her finger. This was an Australian stringwork class, and she just mentioned that as an aside from what she was actually teaching, but you are obviously on the right track.

I would say that if you are needing to do that much spackling and sanding, there may be a problem with the fondant itself. That's my impression without actually seeing the work you're doing. The royal icing spackle should only be used for little dings and tiny cracks.

I just uploaded a picture of the cake I'm working on into my gallery (titled "Step One". It's the back part where all the cakes align that I want perfectly smooth/flat. Other than trying to cover the whole cake in a single piece of fondant (yeah, right!), I didn't know of any other way to do it.

I see what you are tring to do....But I think think it would look fine without it being a smooth "wall" on the back. If I need to fill a ding I take a small amout of fondant and add some everclear to it I then smooth that into the ding. HTH!!

The reason for making it smooth, is because I am going to paint a background on it from an actual painting - so I need it completely flat.

Or at least, that was the plan.

I've got it as smooth as I can - I think I'll just stop here and hope it's smooth enough. I'd really love to win.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. I never thought about filling it in with fondant and alcohol - but I guess being blonde, the most obvious solution sometimes escapes me.

Good Luck!! You will do great!!

Thanks for posting the picture. Now I see what you are talking about. I think the idea that was suggested about shaving down the back was a good one, but I also would say that you've done a lovely job of blending it all together so far, and your painting will probably add to that smooth look rather than take away from it. I'm sure you've got a good plan and I'm sure you'll do great!

What show are you entering? I'm hoping to make it to the Mid-Atlantic competition this year.

Not sure if I'm going to enter it in Arkansas, or San Diego - they're both in March (1 week apart).

Well, good luck either way. You'll do great.

Did you consider using square or hexagonal dummies to get that flat area for your painting?

I have one suggestion that might work. Someone on a thread said that they smoothed their fondant with a spong roller painting thing. You know, when you paint your walls with a paint roller. They have some made with sponges. I can not remember who wrote about it, but I think it was used to smooth fondant. Maybe someone else can remember. Although it might have been for Buttercream, sorry for being confused. I would try it anyway.

Okay, I just found the thread and it's Melvira that talks about the foam roller. She uses it on Buttercream Icing. I posted a question as to whether it would work on fondant. I will let you know if I get a response.

Melvira just responded to my question about using this method on fondant. Her response was yes. she said to smooth out the frosting first so that the fondant will also be smooth. Then use the roller on the fondant. Hope this works for your problem.