Hi There,

I just started using store bought fondant....every time I apply it to my cake though I'm getting major tearing, bubbles and feels like my buttercream sags....

Do you apply fondant onto room temp or cold buttercream? How thick do you apply your buttercream underneath?

I'm also getting major humidity on top of the fondant, which doesnt really allow me to smooth it out easy. My smoother gets stuck and i end up tearing it worse....BAH! What am I DOIIIIINNNGGG.....I didn't think this should be this difficult!!

Anyone??

I'm having some of the issues as well. Hopefully some one can help. 

I am NOWHERE near a pro at covering with fondant as I get a whole set of issues with it with at any given time I use it.   Sometimes it goes on amazing....sometimes it makes me swear at it.... So please know you are not alone with fondant debacles.

when I envision tearing I am wondering if you are getting too much overhang when you lay your fondant down on the cake....is the weight of the fondant pulling too much and tearing just because of it's own weight? Are you applying it on a counter surface where the overhang has something to rest against?  Or on a turntable? (Gravity is a B and will tug that fondant right off if you are applying it while using a turntable and the excess fondant has room to stretch) 

if it is tearing while you are rolling it out, it may be too dry to begin with.    But it will also tear if it is too pliable or warm.  

For me, I am finding that it is harder to work with fondant in the summer than winter.   I don't know if this is common knowledge or a hard truth or maybe I am just crazy, but I will take covering a cake in the dead of winter over an 80+ degree day ANY DAY.    All of the issues I have with fondant don't exist for me when it is cool outside.   

Bubbles.....bubbles are going to Happen.   I reduce them by really working with my fondant as I am applying it.  I use my hands to get it as close to the cake as possible and I try to work the air that inevitably  gets trapped between the icing and fondant downward as I apply the fondant.   I don't even bother with using my smoother until I have the fondant ON the cake. Any residual bubbles I take a pin at an angle an release the air.    I also really press down on my cakes as I layer them so that I can reduce as much air INSIDE the cake as possible.   Any air inside the cake in between the filling and layers will also create bubbles in the fondant as it sits. (The "budge" is what it is typically called)

I ALWAYS apply fondant to cold cakes.  Just my preference.   Some bakers don't.  I think it is just a matter of what you are comfortable with.   I also try not to add too thick of a coat of buttercream beneath the fondant.  I crumb coat and then add a slightly thicker coat to that so the cake is nicely covered, but not as thick as I would for a buttercream only cake.  I love using SMB under fondant.  And I also love indydebi's buttercream.    

As for the stickiness of your fondant when you are trying to smooth....have you tried using some powdered sugar or cornstarch on your smoother to help it not stick?  Maybe even put some powdered sugar on your hands and use your hands to gently glide around the cake to prevent stickiness just before smoothing with the smoother.

I also watch a lot of YouTube videos of people doing things that I struggle with.   Somehow it helps me to see things visually so that when it comes to me trying whatever it is, I have some kind of idea of what to expect.   

We really need an edit button on these comments.....the "bulge" is what I meant to say above, not "budge" SMH