I am going to do a white fondant covered cake with many black fondant accents (flower cut-outs, polka dots) . I am nervous because the only other time I have tried black fondant on white, it smeared and looked horrible when I "wet" the back of the black fondant and applied it.

Is there a trick to doing this?

Yup...use a thin layer of "gum glue"..this is made with warm water and a pea sized ball of gumpaste...just disolve the gumpaste into the water till you get a thin glue consistancy. Then, using a brush, brush on a very fine amount of it onto the back of your fondant piece and carefully adhere to the cake. Hold in place for a few seconds and then it should be stable. Unlike water, gum glue is thicker so it doesn't run or drip. However, like water, it does disolve some of the fondant to make it adhere so if you move the piece even a teeny bit after touching it to the cake it will smear the color so make sure you are placing your piece where you really want it to be. And you really do only need a small bit of it so don't smear the back of your fondant piece...just touch it in some places and then place on the cake. HTH

Cat

you can always attach your fondant accents with BC rather than water.

Gum glue is definitely the way to go. Like catlharper said...small amounts and it dries very fast so your pieces shouldn't slide before it dries. Depending on how big your accents are you can also just keep the liquid in the center of the pieces so it doesn't squish out.

I have used BC too but I wouldn't trust it is the crazy heat and humidity we are having here in NY right now. Depending on your recipe and venue it may work.

Thanks so much guys! I feel much more confident about it now