I know WASC is a very moist (and delicious) cake, but I wonder if I can cover it with fondant. I'm doing my first fondant cake and I'm trying to figure out which is the best cake for it.
Also, I've read here that I should do a thin layer of buttercream under the fondant...does it has to be crusting buttercream? how long do I wait (after buttercream) before I apply the fondant. Also, any suggestions on what filling to use?
Please forgive all the questions, but I'm not an expert

Thank you!

Rosie, WASC is one of the best cakes to cover with fondant because although it is moist it is sturdy. I always put a full layer of BC under my fondant & you can put the fondant on as soon as you have smoothed the BC. You can use any filling you like as long as you put a really stiff dam around the cake before putting the filling in. Hope this helps.

I use it all the time. WASC is pretty much the only recipe I use, and I almost always cover it in fondant.

Yes, by "stiff dam" she means butter cream. Add powdered sugar to your buttercream until it is very, very thick. Use a large round tip (or just a coupler without a tip - thats what I do) and pipe it around the edges of the cake. This will support your top layer(s) and keep your filling inside. You can use crusting or non-crusting buttercreams under fondant, it does not matter

I'm a scratch baker - so I have to try and convert you, lol. If you like WASC, there are many scratch recipes that are even more moist (you just have to know the good ones, lol). Southern Red Velvet Cake II from this site is great, as well as Chocolate Fudge Cake from Food Newtork

sayhellojana answered your question exactly as I would have done LOL. Don't forget to post a picture of your cake.

WASC is a heavier cake than a regular cake mix. I put fondant over regular cake mix ALL the time with no problems. I also use a normal layer of icing and thin layer of fondant.

Jen

This may be a silly question, but...how tall should your layers of cake be?? the sizes of my pans are 12 and 8 and, so far, I baked one batch of WASC and the bread hight come out at 2.5' for size 8' pan and 2' for the 12...should I double that? I'm afraid to end up with a gigantic cake since I'm still going to put filling?

Ahhhhh, forgive the silly questions, but it's my first time working with fondant

Most people use 2" deep pans filled about 2/3rds full of batter to get a 2" heigth to their layers, then put 2 of those together w/filling for a 4" tall tier.
If you used my *original* WASC recipe you get two 8" cakes from one batch and it's just right for the 12" round.

I'd like to thank all of you that helped me with this cake. Kakeladi, Superstar, Sayhellojana, JenniferMI. There was a lot of uuuhs and aaahs about the cake and the Mom-to-be totally loved, but even tho this is the best looking cake I've ever done I wasn't happy with it. It was my first fondant cake and I had the hardest time working with fondant. I made MMF and when I was extending it I could see bubbles...then after I applied it on the cake it was buldging on some areas. At that point I wanted to cry and give up I have worked with fondant before but only to make decorations never to cover a cake. I never knew it could bubble, did I do something wrong??...I never thought I would have such a hard time with it...it took me two days to do this cake and finished it at 4AM the day of the babyshower. It was for my son's girlfriend so I attended the babyshower and I don't know about you guys but fondant on WASC taste horrible or maybe I did too thick of a fondant layer(?), I don't know. Some people said that they liked it, but I think, they were just being polite. However, my son loves marshmallows and sugar and he said he loved the taste of fondant
Anyway, here's a link to the cake please give me feedback...I can find 1000 flaws on it, but I better keep my mouth shut.
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1294385
Ok, thank you all again and please give me feedback or tell me what you think I did wrong.

Thats a lovely cake. I havent mastered fondant myself yet, but that is really, really pretty. The green cake in my photos was my first fondant cake. It looked gorgeous and perfect....in the front. The back was filled with tears and folds. LOL! Be proud. Its a lovely cake. And again, anytime you have questions about scratch cakes, I would be more than happy to help. I've been baking WAY longer than I have been decorating. I'm good at the baking lol.

(Oh, and btw, I have 2 pans in each size. I bake two that end up about 1.5'' tall each. If I have a lot of filing, I torte those for 4 layers or else I just stack for two layers. If I want a tall cake, I bake 3 layers separately.)

I have just commented on your beautiful cake in the gallery. I love the WASC cake but unless someone specially asks for it I never use Almond ext. I hate the taste of it, but I know lots of people love it. I always put a nice flavor, normal layer of BC under the fondant, like Jen does, & try & keep my fondant thin.

Thank you Sayhellojana, next time I will definitelly follow your advice and use a recipe from scratch.

Thank a LOT for all you help and wonderful advice!

Your cake is amazing, regardless of it being a first at fondant! Beautiful.

I use WASC for evey cake I make (using various flavored cake mixes and extracts). I will only use Betty Crocker mixes.

I substitute half of the water for flavored coffee creamers and add one small box of instant pudding.

You do get used to working with fondant! Don't give up. There are lots of quirks you'll have to deal with and eventually you'll find a way to work out all of the kinks.

I roll mine fairly thick (pay attention to Ace of Cakes on TV - that's how thick I roll mine). If fondant is too thin is shows every little flaw in your BC crumbcoat and is more likely to tear and crease.

You have to work pretty quickly when covering a cake to avoid "elephant skin".

When you cover a cold cake (I always do) air pockets will form. There's nothing you can do about it. I use a sewing needle to let the air escape and use a fondant smoother to guide the air out - if you use your hands you'll smoosh the cake, creating dents.

I did read in another post that you can poke holes in your cake through the crumbcoat before applying the fondant to help avoid those pockets, but I haven't tried it and can't wrap my mind around how that would work - air would still seem to get trapped under the fondant.

Bubbles inside your fondant are from kneading in air. I try my best to avoid trapping air when I am kneading.

I'm with MacsMom on the thick fondant, its easier to get a really smooth finish that way. I have done better fondant cakes than what is in my photos, I swear, lol.

I just commented on your pic.
As for how thick to make it use a cake circle to gauge thickness. It is 1/4" thick so that's about what you want to roll the fondant to....maybe just a tad thicker.
I made a cake for a Christmas dinner last week. I had NO choice but to use Wilton's fondant-- YAH!, and didn't flavor it as I usually would. It was a very last minute decission to use fondant when my b'c wouldn't cover the cake....dark areas showed thru I was surprised to see everyone who had a piece (maybe 6) actually ate the fondant! No one pulled it off.
You can get 'spacers' to put on your rolling pin that would hold it up off the table to 1/4 thickness (there's 3 or 4 different size spacers to the pkg) OR put sticks out to roll between. Part of the problem w/that is when you need a *big* piece of fondant the spacer or sticks get in the way
As for the bubbles... you didn't kneed it enough. You have to get it super smooth.....takes time & energy (hehehe) to keed it enough. When rolling it if you find a bubble just poke it w/a pin and roll over it. That usually works for me.

Rosie2, your cake turned our really nice.