Thank god for this web site. I am in need of a little help. I am new to this whole cake decorating thing. I have only completed 4 cakes, one of which was an order already(good thing I guess).
Here is my question. I just bought a book that is using marzipan and fondant. In the recipe it tells me that I need to cover the cake first with the marzipan and then cover with fondant. Question is why? Does marzipan even taste good? Cant I just cover it with the fondant and work from there? Why would you cover the cake first in that then with fondant?
Oh I cant wait till my cake classes start next month. I am such a newbie to this stuff but I really enjoy it and think I have a knack for it. So any of the wonderful advice you all have will be GREATLY appreciated.Thanks1
carrigagne, I haven't used fondant, but I have made marzipan and unless it has changed, it isn't very good to eat. It is my understanding from the great decorators here that you cover your cake w/ buttercream before putting on the fondant. I am sure you will get many responses here, these people are GREAT!!!! 
Sounds like your cake is a European style of using fondant. I think that's what they usually do overseas - first marzipan and then fondant. First, that's expensive to do here and second, buttecream works fine and tastes better. I think overseas they usually peel the marzipan and fondant off before eating the cake.
Melissa
I have never had marzipan so I have never used it to cover a cake or heard of people doing that. I have only used fondant to completely cover a cake a couple of times but I've used buttercream.
Most people do bc then fondant.
I welcome you to cake central. You will LOVE these forums.
You will also enjoy your cake decorating classes. good luck.
Hi carriegagne,
It is very popular in Australia to cover your cake with two layers, I think the first one can be marzipan, but more popular is almond icing. Almond icing is a lot less expensive, and also tastier. Then fondant goes on top of that. The reason is the almond icing is heavier and will cover any faults in the cake, so by the time you get to the fondant layer, you should have a perfect finish. This means your icing layers are extremely thick, and yes, a lot of people peel them off as they dislike them anyway!
It has also been a lot more common here for wedding cakes to be fruit cakes (up until recently), so there are generally a lot more faults to cover, air holes for example.
I recently came across this site too and I'm going to try a BC layer under my fondant soon, although I think I will stick with the two for fruit cakes.
The only thing I've seen marzipan used for is modelling!
Sounds great. Thanks everyone for your responses. It has been a huge help!
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