I'm in the third week of the Wilton Course I class and I've already been blessed with my first cake commission! My customer wants her daughters birthday cake to have different size, different color dots along the edges. I plan to ice the cake (a stacked 12", 9" cake) in BC and would like to use fondant to created the colored dots along the edge. I'm desperate for a quick course in Fondant 101. Should I buy the Satin ice to make the dots? When do I add the color? Do the dots need to dry out before applying them to the cake? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!!

Wouldn't it be easier to pipe various size dots, using tip 5 and 12. and several colours?

Coloring fondant isn't hard. Just use your Wilton colors and gloves on your hands. You can also buy some precolored fondant.

Roll it out and cut out your dots. I wouldn't let them dry completely before adding to the cake. No need really. Just attach with some dots of buttercream.

http://www.earlenescakes.com/prlinstruct.htm

That's instructions to make pearls, but just plain balls are the same thing. It's pretty easy.

One thing nobody ever told me about coloring fondant was the best way to incorporate the color. I was trying to knead it like bread and it took forever. Then I started pulling it like taffy and that works much faster.

Welcome to CC. I'm sure you'll find lots of helpful information.

A small batch of marshmallow fondant might be just the ticket. It's cheap - you can make it yourself and the kids will like the flavor better than Wilton fondant - which is pretty yucky, in my opinion.

Do you know how to make the beads by rolling it out to a uniform thickness and using a large-hole piping tip as a cutter? That way all the beads are of a like size, and you can either tint the fondant all at once when it is in the liquid stage - or small amounts later if you want different colored dots.

There are specific instructions here:

http://www.earlenescakes.com/prlinstruct.htm

Good luck and congratulations.

You can get the Wilton Fondant paints. The only draw back I have found with them is that thay don't dry like they should.