Soooo, I am bad at fondant, really bad. Just don't do it enough (and I'm a bit afraid of it), so I decided to practice.

The results? Almost chucked the cake out the window and learned serveral new, creative ways to string profanities together. I never wanted to touch the stuff again.

Now that I have taken a step back and calmed down (sort of), I would like to know how in the Sam H you put fondant on a round cake w/o it looking like this:

I watched a video on youtube from Planet Cake. It shows how to cover a round cake with fondant and it looks so easy. Check it out! HTH!
BTW...I love the bow video they do. It is soooo easy and I can make a bow in less than 4 minutes now!

And after painting it to look, in some crazed, alternate reality, like a checked table cloth; this is the "good side".

So apparently I am really bad at painting too. Sigh - I really do have massive delusions of grandure. Any suggestions on this technique as well?

Desperately trying to take another fondant/gumpaste class in the Twin Cities, MN but can't find one that is actually running (last one taken was 3 years ago, and didn't do a round cake).

Thanks Christy0722 I'll check it out.

Your fondant looks a little dry, Did you spend long trying to get it on the cake?

The smoother you get your buttercream or ganache underneath, the smoother your fondant will be.

Roll it out, You dont want it too thick, or its difficult to work with, Too thin and you risk tears. i lift my fondant with the rolling pin and drape it over the cake. The first thing i do is check to make sure i have it in the right place and that all the sides will be covered. Then i secure the very top, with the palm of my hand. then the very top edge, as you work around and down the cake, you need to keep 'lifting' the fondant, so it forms almost like a frill around the cake, almost stretching it out to stop the creases. check out youtube, several people have very good videos for this, Aine2 has an excellent video on it!

Everybody works it differently, it does take practise, my very first fondant cakes looked like yours, now there flawless! i often wonder why people get so upset over it, but then i think, if some one asked me to do an all buttercream cake, id freak out! Please do keep practising because you WILL get better!

Caths: The fondant was actually quite pliable, I only ended up with one tear on the super messy side - which was the last part smoothed. The dry look is cornstarch used to help absorb some of the H2O after sticking the patches on.

I did the draping, smoothing, lifting, stretching blah blah blah (sorry, still feeling a bit snarky about it) but still could not get rid of the fold in the back, no matter what.

I used MMF and don't have a/c so maybe it just got too hot, I may have left my piece of fondant too big - thinking back I think that was a point made during class.... I will definately check out youtube for some videos.

Thanks for reading my vent.

I don't work with fondant much because everyone around my neck of the woods likes buttercream. I did take a great class on fondant and I don't have any problems. We were taught to roll the fondat between 2 large sheets of vinyl. You take off the top sheet and use the bottom sheet to position your fondant on the cake. And you gently roll it off the sheet and stretch the fondant out away from the cake like making a hoop shirt around the cake. Gently and slowly work the fondant down from the top, taking your time. Make sure the bottom of the fondat is still out in a circle away from the cake and keeping it stretched out with no bulges. You will have plenty of fondant away from the cake and you will be able to trim it off and have a smooth bottom. Practice is the key.

couple suggestions:

* cut your cake circle exactly the size of your cake
* roll your fondant a little thinner
* elevate your cake with something smaller underneath, like a shallow cereal bowl (put a non-skid mat on it so your cake won't slide off!)
* roll out fondant larger than required to cover the cake
* coast your fondant down the sides. let gravity and your hands gently help it stretch and conform to the sides. if it's folding/ruffling on you, gently pull it away from the cake and try again.

I think your painted cake came out great!

When I first worked with fondant, I had some of the same problems. Maybe if you tried doing a shorter, wider cake (like maybe one 8" round 2" high) first and practice working down the sides it may be a bit easier. Youtube has tons of fondant videos to watch as well. Keep trying!

agree with metria,
First, that cardboard circle is way too big. And contrary to others, i roll my fondant a bit on the thick side, because I think its easier to work it that way.

Meh, whatever works.

Good tip about the cake board. It is a 6" board for a 6" cake but I had to trim the bottom 2 layers b/c it was bulging. Next time, trim board too.

Umm.... how do you do that when the cake is already on it? I am assuming take it off and follow the mark it left?

I'm from the Twin Cities too!!! Yay!!!!

I had a bear of a time getting the hang of fondant. It still freaks me out to be honest. I had always tried to pull and smooth the fondant around all sides at the same time. That doesn't make sense. What I used to do was pull and smooth about in inch or so from the top all the way around. When I get back to where I started I would move down another inch or so. I kept getting wrinkles so I had one of my cousins come over who had taken a class and show me how she does hers.

She smooths all the way to the bottom on one side then moves to the next side and smooths all the way to the bottom. I tried it and the first time came out perfect! But because I don't use fondant all the time I still am a little sketchy.

Oh, and you don't have to take the cake off to trim the board. Just place it on the bowl thingy that someone above suggested and trim away with an exacto knife. It actually goes a lot smoother than you think it would.

I work with MMF quite a bit and that is EXACTLY what my first cake with it looked like and I am pretty sure that I invented a whole new language of profanities also!!! Now I am just super careful and smooth it down to the bottom on one side and then move on to the next, that way it is not pulling to much and stretching where I don't want it to and it seems to work great now so hang in there!

I am from the twin cities area too and I have also been looking for some classes and have come up with the same problem I'm not sure if you have ever been to Lynn's Cake and Candy Supply but I know they offer different ones all of the time but their summer schedule isn't out yet. Here is the website if you're interested! http://www.lynnscakeandcandy.com/12301.html

They are open to the public and ever since I found that store I think I have just been coming up with excuses to go there and buy more stuff I know they also offer private lesson's too but I think they are $30/hr. They are located in Fridley but I drive from Lindstrom just to go there because I completely agree with you on needing more options than just Michaels and Joanne!!

the best tip I ever learned about MMF here was elevating the cake up a bit. I actually use a tipped over a 2" high cake pan one size smaller than the cake I'm making to elevate the cake and then put the fondant over the cake and cut away the excess. This really really helps!

Fondant = pain in butt.

I make my own MMF based on Tonednas recipie.
Sometimes i have made it and i can roll it out on some confectioners sugar and then use the mat to get it onto the cake and it all goes great, othertimes i will do the exact method and the mmf sticks to the mat (no matter how much sugar is under there and then just tears apart as i try to remove it.
Even tried crisco on the mat and rolling out on that and sometimes it still sticks to that.
People tell you to roll it thin, but with mmf it seems the thinner it gets the more likley it just tears.

I have yet to try and cover a cake in something like satin ice, think il try that next and see if that gives me headaches too.

Id like to know how thin is too thin and how thick is too thick.

In terms of the frilling i found sugarshacks dvds helpfull here, i can at least get a fold free edge now, once i finnaly get the fondant on the cake.

I like to use a can of food to elevate my cakes. Peaches work great because it's heavy so your cake won't topple off. Or if it's a big cake a bunch of tuna fish cans work. Oh and I use that non-slip shelf liner between. Then use scissors or something to get rid of the excess at the bottom so you have less fondant to worry about.

All these tips are so great, I am learning a ton. I just hope I can apply this knowledge.

Non slip liners, love them! I always put my turn table on a glass cake stand so the cake is more on level with me - not that tough when your short - and use the shelf liners to keep it on the stand then another to keep the cake board on the turn table.

I think the best advice is to go buy some wilton fondant (it is just for practicing here) and cover a cake with that - it is the perfect consistency, and you will learn how it should feel. I think your consistnency/thickness is off - and without taking a class, you are going to have to learn by trial and error.

Another thing is the smaller the cake, the harder to cover....you have one of the toughest sizes to get fondant perfect on for a beginner. Next time try at least using an 8" to cover - and I use a coffee container as my elevated base - wide enough to be stable, and high enough to help with the gravity.

I work my way around and down, I never do one side at at time...that way you don't have a bunch of fondant left on one side to deal with. Gently pull it out and smooth and keep turning it as you go down.

Good luck, and the paint job really doesn't look bad at all!

I remember some helpful tips I learned here - If you like to roll your fondant thick (1/4"), then use only a crumbcoat of bc, if you like to roll your fondant thin (1/8" to 3/16") then use a thicker coat of bc. OR use ganache which is actually the best medium IMHO for smooth fondant, especially on difficult shapes, ie. Topsy turvy or carved.

And yes to the elevating on a small can trick, I can add that I let the cake sit on the can for several hours before trimming the bottom edge. This allows the fondant to settle as far down as it's going to go and you can get a nice clean edge when you cut it.

White chocolate in fondant (thank you Jennifer Dontz!) really helps with dryness, pliability, and adds strength and workability. You can use it thinner than standard fondant without it breaking, I highly recommend it.

Mine looks very similar, I have not mastered getting the ruffles out of my f0ndant either.