Any tips for a fondant newbie? I am doing a cake this weekend and I applied fondant over my cakes with a light layer of buttercream on the cake. The buttercream was very smooth but there are still quite a few bumps on the fondant (and some wrinkles too). How do I get it so perfect like I see in the books? Or are they like all the fashion models these days who run through photoshop before hitting the newstand?
Before you put the fondant on the cake, stick the frosted cake into the fridge until it becomes firm, then with surgon clean hands, smooth the fondant using the warmth of your hands to slightly melt the B.C. Then stick it back in the fridge again until it's firmed once more and cover it with fondant. To not get folds in it you will need to stretch the fondant with one hand and then smooth with the other. It also helps to have the cake raised off of the working surface like on a turntable (what you ice cakes on, not sure what it's called) so the fondant hangs over the bottom edge of the cake.
Sounds like your fondant was also too thin. You need ot roll it about 1/6th to 1/4th inch thick and then it won't magnify bumps, it will cover them.
If you use a crusting buttercream, you may want to spritz it with a bit of water before applying the fondant to help things stick. I think the previous poster was recommending you warm the buttercream, not the fondant, with your hands and that can help, too. Refrigerating fondant isn't generally recommended unless the cake filling is perishable.
Don't pull on the fondant once it's on the cake, as it will thin and possibly tear near the top edge. Fondant smoothers are great for getting a nice finish. If you set the cake on a cake board (larger than the diameter of the cake), put that on a turntable--if you want to-- put the fondant on the cake and flare the fondant out at the bottom--like a skirt ruffle--and then begin to smooth from the top and then the sides. Gently ease extra fondant away from the sides of the cake and smooth from top to bottom, going around the cake. You can cut away some excess at this point. When the top and sides are smooth, use a knife or pizza cutter at a slight angle to cut to cut all of the excess off to the base of the cake. Your cake should be on a cake board that is the same size as the tier you are icing. The fondant should be cut so that this underboard doesn't show.
If you're putting fondant on a square cake, you smooth the top and then start at the corners and work toward the middle of the sides, flaring at the bottom and easing in the excess.
Here's a pretty good video tutorial--if you don't have dial-up.
http://www.atecousa.net/learn/satin_ice_1.shtml
As to the books, most (if not all) of the cakes you see are styrofoam dummies with virtually no imperfections 
Have fun!
Rae
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%