How do I know or decided whether or not to cover a cake circle in fondant. is it always necessary? should the fondant always or almost always be the same color as the cake?

I'm doing a graduation cake. it will be a 12" circle, 2 layers covered in cream cheese icing. on top will be another layer, a 6" cake which will be covered in fondant and be the graduation hat. there will be a fondant rolled diploma then a plaque.

sorry if too much information. she wants the logos of the to and from schools. for some reason having trouble designing this one.

It is not necessary to cover a board in fondant.  It depends on the look you are going for.  A board can be covered with foil(comes in many colors)that is made for this purpose.  Or any food grade durable paper.  HTH

I usually don't cover the boards in anything but the silver food grade paper. The last one I made was for my daughter and she wanted it covered and I used a vinyl tablecloth and ribbon. Worked well. I am always afraid with fondant it will mark up too badly while I am still working on the cake, but that is just me.

I am sure it will be awesome.

AI really like to go to my scrapbook store and find paper I like to go with my cake design. I use 1/2 foamcore, cut the scrapbook paper to fit then cover it with clear contact paper. (So no grease marks) can make the cake a little slippery on the board so may wanna use dowels into the board.

AForgot to mention I still put wax paper under the cake. :) hold it still with a little icing.

AI think its a personal decision and maybe base that decision on what occasion the cake is for. Ive seen them done for even birthday cakes. You just have to decide how you want the overall cake to look.

 I like to cover boards with fondant.  I like the way it looks, and it can be decorated, textured, etc.  I make the board several days ahead so the fondant has a chance to dry.  It is much sturdier that way and more resistant to damage when assembling the cake.  

Yes, it all depends on how you want the cake to look and what your budget is.  I almost never use anything but just the cake circle with a nice border.  Fondant looks amazing, especially with ribbons, but when a cake is beautiful it may not need much underneath it, except a pedestal.

In my 30+ yrs of decorating I almost never covered a board w/fondant.   Until the last 5 yrs or so I did 100% of my cakes in b'cream and the last yrs only about 5% of them were fondant covered.

There are soooo many other choices to cover boards with I never think of (to me) wasting my expensive fondant to cover the board.

But...........it's all in the eye of the beholder.  Some people - espcecially those in the UK etc - have mostly used fondan;t that's what they were taught so that's what they think of 1st I guess.

I agree that a fondant covered board would all depend on the design of the cake.  But I now prefer to find a nice paper than cover with clear wrap.  I make my cakes on another cake board and simply put that cake on the decorated board.  I use hot glue since its paper to board.  Does no harm to the cake or its design.

AI personally believe a well executed design is only done when the board is finished as well. Of course there are exceptions, but in general, aluminum foil is a tacky no no, and forssure exposed cardboard is as well.

No cardboard for sure, but I think it depends on the situation. It would depend on the stand the cake is going to be on, what's going around the base of the cake, etc. Too many things to take into account to make a sweeping generalization.