I am making a Tinkerbell Doll Cake for a birthday this weekend. I have worked with fondant to make accents, but never covered a cake in fondant. When looking at pictures of doll cakes, I really like the dolls that have fondant dresses with pleats. It looks as if the directions on the wonder mold pan suggest making fondant logs to place under the dress.

How difficult is this process? Would this be a good cake to try fondant for the first time, or would you recommend that I wait for something a little more simple?

I have searched for videos showing the process of fondant logs and covering with fondant...no luck. Anyone know of any tutorials out there?

The fondant logs are to give a more natural, fuller look to the dress. It is also a way of selling much more fondant! You can achieve much the same look by piping fat lines of b'cream instead.
The biggest problem w/covering a Wonder mold cake w/fondant is rolling it out big enough. You have to measure how tall the cake is and how wide at it's widest (the top when baking/which becomes the bottom of the dress). So if the pan is 6" deep and 8" wide you have to roll out a circle of fondant 20" (or close to that) in diameter!
Quite a task to accomplish for a beginner It also is a task to handle that lg a piece.

Wow, yeah, that might be rough. I may practice on the pan itself, and if it's too much, I'll stick with bc! THANKS for yor reply!

Heatherly30 - I'm doing the exact same thing for a cake this weekend! I practiced yesterday on the cake pan itself. I'm going to try tonight with buttercream under it to see how well it holds and if it will cause the fondant to slide off. Instead of one big piece of rolled fondant, I was going to do 3 sections. I will do each side, then one piece to go over the ends of the sides in the back. I figure this will do 2 things, cover the 2 ends of the side pieces, and add a little layered"design" on the back of the dress. I'll bet this could work for Tinkerbell too since she has such frilly dresses with so many layers...maybe give this a try??

My first fondant cake ever was a wonder mold and looking back, I don't remember it being too difficult. I didn't do the fondant logs, but I wish I had!! Good Luck!

Oh - a tip maybe you can use - I take a whole piece of foam core board and roll my fondant out on that, liberally sprinkling with powdered sugar. Then, I can just lift the whole board and if I've used enough powdered sugar, it just slides off the board onto the cake. No lifting involved! I only do it this way for big pieces of fondant, but it works for me!

I have done that look several times, and doing it in pieces is the BEST idea!!! Makes it super easy to work with!

Also, if you are rolling out a large piece of fondant (20" for example) and particularly as a beginer, I highly recommend the roll mat from Wilton (or whoever). If you get two of them, you can roll the fondant on to one mat to the dimensions that you need, put the other mat on top, flip it over, and then you can put it on the cake. Makes life super easy. They are expensive, so make sure that you have a Michael's coupon for it!!!

HTH

Ok, I guess I'm not understanding how to do it in sections...can you give me more specific instructions, or maybe a picture? Sounds like this would be a good option!

I am familiar with using a mat to flip it onto the cake...as in Sharon Zambito's Fondant video.

Rather than using the Wilton's (expensive) mat to go a fabric store and get the clear vinyl used to cover tables. It usually comes on a long roll - about 54" wide and rather heavy gauge. Get 1 yard. Don't let them fold it! Roll it up so there are NO creases in it.

do a search on "doll" in the gallery. You will find several dolls that were put together using layers or sections Good luck! I'll be on the lookout for a picture of your cake and I will post mine. This is my first one and only my 5th cake.