Hi everyone,

Has anyone been crazy enough to try to cover an 18 inch round, 4 inch high pound cake with fondant? This seems like a monumental task and any tips would be greatly appreciated!! I've heard of rolling it out on a large piece of vinyl and flipping it over onto large cakes, but not an 18 inch cake.

Please help!
LynnVC

I've done it with a 16" round cake and it worked fine... I did need help lifting the fondant.

Good luck with that one! I'm not that great with fondant to begin with, so I wouldn't dare attempt it! I'm sure the Pros on here will have excellent tips for you!

I've done a 16 inch too...it actually felt a bit easier b/c it wasnt as hard to smooth down the sides...less chance of wrinkles.

I did roll the fondant a bit thicker than usual, because I thought it would keep it from tearing as I tried to work it, but I think there is a fine line between it being thick enough to not rip, and so thick that the heaviness pulls on it...I guess thats just trial (and hopefully not error!)

good luck!

good idea, where do u get the vinyl?

You can get vinyl at a fabric store. It will be on big rolls near upholstery fabric.

Thanks as always for the wonderful tips. I will be attempting this in the next month or so before I do it for my brother's wedding cake. I actually have vinyl from my dad who has a friend that used to make shower curtains! It is on a roll, so there are no creases. I forget where I got that tip from, but I hope it works!!

My first wedding cake had an 18 inch square covered with fondant. I did use a large pad (it wasn't the vinyl) made for rolling fondant out on. You can also get the vinyl at Walmart. It is a good thing that the vinyl you may get is without cracks, creases, etc. The one I had to use wasn't without some and it really made a mess. My husband used water, a patry brush and a fondant smoother to get it all smooth.

Anyway, the advise you have received is what we did. Actually, I used my husband's arm to drape the vinyl over then we turned it onto the cake.

My biggest problem was kneading enough fondant to get it softened. But I was new and I could handle it better now. Oh, and I rolled mine too thick. I think using this method of draping will help and you don't have to make it thicker to avoid tears.

for kneading, i usually knead small balls at a time until it's soft enough and then put all the soft peices together

In using the vinyl, do you have to dust it with powdered sugar or cornstarch? If not what keeps it from sticking when it is rolled out?

I would advise using a thin layer of crisco over the vinyl so it doesn't stick. That will avoid maybe drying the fondant out by using the powder sugar or cornstarch. If you find that once you put the fondant on the cake and it seems a bit sticky from the crisco (remember, just a thin layer) you can lightly dust it by using you duster over the top of the cake or dust your fondant smoother and then go over the top.

I use a large silicone mat (unfortunately it's only 24x36 so it's not large enough to roll fondant for an 18" cake) but we don't use anything on it. Just roll it and take it off and place on cake. I do 16"rounds like this and it works well. I'm not a huge fan of cornstarch or powdered sugar since it dries the fondant out and leads to cracking or "elephant skin" if you aren't fast enough. The Crisco works, but sometimes it does funky things to the fondant, so if you can put the Crisco on the mat, then roll the fondant and then put the Crisco side down it will work fine, IMO. Crisco made a chocolate fondant cake look really gross.

golfgirl1227, where do you get the silicone mat?