OK, I'm very anxious to learn some basic cake decorating skills but because I live in Italy, I haven't found anyone who can teach what might be termed as traditional American cake decorating. I have all my supplies to practice, made a small 6" round white cake and colored enough Pettinice fondant with Americolor. I rolled the fondant (re-did it several times because it tore and cracked when I picked it up) and finally got it to a size that fit well over the little cake. I smoothed it with the smoothing tool and but my problem is how to smoothe it down the sides. Can someone explain the process? I can see that it might be a bit easier on a square cake but on a round cake, I don't understand because it folds and bunches over itself. Help!

atecousa.com has a good tutorial. Here is the link http://atecousa.net//learn/satin-ice-tutorial-i-icing-your-cake.html

Good Luck

Hi Susan123
The link from delisa01 is very good, but if you are using marzipan on a cake, do not put the suggested cornstarch (cornflour) onto your worktop, this will react with the marzipan, use confectioner's sugar (icing sugar) instead.

I wondered if you had rolled your sugarpaste (fondant) too thinly, it would need to be at least 1/4" thick - especially on a square cake.

If you copy the atecousa instructions don't be too heavy-handed when smoothing down the sides with your hand and don't drag the fondant down - it may tear - note he did only use one hand, the other was gently supporting the dummy cake.

It does take practise to get this right but you do get there in the end. When you have got the fondant over the cake and smoothed down, I never cut too closely to the cake in the first instance - I can always re-cut as closely as I need without having a lot of spare fondant in the way.

Good luck with the next cake you do and enjoy covering it.

Yes, with practice, maybe less than you think, you will get it. I was bound and determined to never use fondant, but now that I'm finally getting it I love it!!! So keep on keeping on and you'll love the results!

Good luck!

Delisa01, Smque2, and Meriscakes...thank you so much! I'm incredibly impressed by the never ending kindness of people on this site. I'll take all the advice you've offered and practice. And when I feel confident enough...post a photo! Grazie mille (a thousand thanks)!