Ugh I keep trying to make beautiful cakes but something always goes wrong! I can't for the life of me figure out what i'm doing wrong.
1. My icing always bulges/shows from under the fondant. Ive tried putting on a thinner layer but it still shows.
2. My fondant always ends up wet looking and sticky! Ive tried different recipes so I figure it's something i'm doing wrong.
Help!
Are you letting your cakes settle after filling? This will help avoid the bulge - let the cake sit a minimum of a few hours (put a plate on top and weigh it down to speed the process).
Your fondant is wet & sticky? Are you using pre-made or home-made? If pre-made then all I can think of is a hunidity issue. Are you refrigerating the cake then taking it out - thus causing the condensation?
Are you letting your cakes settle after filling? This will help avoid the bulge - let the cake sit a minimum of a few hours (put a plate on top and weigh it down to speed the process).
Your fondant is wet & sticky? Are you using pre-made or home-made? If pre-made then all I can think of is a hunidity issue. Are you refrigerating the cake then taking it out - thus causing the condensation?
I'm letting them settle, but I have been putting them in the fridge to harden the crumb coat. Should I not refrigerate the cake?
I'm using home made fondant. Ive used the mmf and mff and they both get sticky.
Can you post some pictures? It is a little easier to advise you on what might be going wrong if we can see it.
Are you adding enough powdered sugar to your fondant?
I unfortunately don't have pics, the cakes looked so ugly I didnt want to leek at them ever again! 
I guess just imagine a cake covered in fondant but the fondant is slimy! Ugh!
Are you rolling your fondant too thin maybe? Also, there is like a $3 fondant smoother that is worth the $3. Are you letting your fondant rest for 24 hours after making it? I am not a fondant professional, so I don't know all of the answers. I am just throwing out what might be wrong.
I unfortunately don't have pics, the cakes looked so ugly I didnt want to leek at them ever again!
I guess just imagine a cake covered in fondant but the fondant is slimy! Ugh!
is the fondant "slimy" AFTER you put it on the cake and then you refrigerate it? whenever I put my fondant covered cakes in the fridge and then take them out to warm up it gets this slimy texture. if you are having sticky problems then you may need a little more powdered sugar and/or cornstarch.
I've found that Rhonda's Ultimate MMF works the best for me. The consistancy is perfect. After covering it in shortening and letting it rest overnight, I sprinkle powdered sugar and roll it out so that it's not slimy with shortening anymore. I also don't refrigerate the fondant at all. Don't know if that helps...
Thank you everyone! I'm going to make a test cake on Thursday and try all of your suggestions. I was putting my cakes in the refrigerator, i wont this time and see how the fondant holds up.
Try rolling it thicker too. Please take a picture of this one. I know that you think that they are ugly, but you are going to want to keep track of your progress so you can look back at what your work used to look like.
When you take your fondant covered cake out of the fridge, you are bound to get condensation, which will make the fondant wet. Aim a clean fan at it and do not touch the fondant, until it has dried off.
What is under the fondant? Some things react and make the fondant melt (cream cheese, whipped cream, some leaking filling etc)
If your fridge itself is too humid (most household fridges are), put 2 small bowls of salt right next to the cake (will not stop the condensation forming, when the cake is taken out of the fridge, but it will keep the area in the fridge around the cake drier
Ugh I keep trying to make beautiful cakes but something always goes wrong! I can't for the life of me figure out what i'm doing wrong.
1. My icing always bulges/shows from under the fondant. Ive tried putting on a thinner layer but it still shows.
2. My fondant always ends up wet looking and sticky! Ive tried different recipes so I figure it's something i'm doing wrong.
Help!
the bulge is from two issues. One, you must use a very stiff buttercream as your dam. Don't put it too close to the edge so it has some "spread" room. Then after crumbcoating your cake let it sit and settle for at least 3 hours. After it's settled then smooth out any cake filling that is bulging.
Now the fondant is another matter. Sounds clearly like there is not enough powdered sugar being mixed in from the start then you are compounding the problem by putting it into the refrigerator. The consistancy you want when making MMF is a soft dough like bread dough or pizza dough. If it's sticky then it needs more powdered sugar. If it starts to crack then it needs more crisco kneaded in. When you refridgerate any cake, bc or fondant, condensation will appear on the surface of the cake when it's removed from the fridge. Think of a bottle of soda when it's set out on the counter after being chilled. This isn't greatly noticeable in buttercream but it will give a slimy sticky appearance to fondant. Usually that will evaporate as it comes back to room temp but if it started with not enough powdered sugar in the first place then it may remain sticky. It's best to not refridgerate a cake after the final coating of BC or fondant is on the cake. In fact, except for a quick 15 min. chill to set up the crumbcoat, you really don't want to get a cake cold again after the crumbcoat. A cold cake coming back to room temp will release air/gas and can cause bubbles to form in fondant and blowouts to occur in bc.
Hope all this helps!
Cat
Can I jump in here with a question? I understand you shouldn't get a cake cold again after the fondant or final coating but how do you handle it when you have a filling that needs to be cold? I need to do a pastry cream fruit filling this weekend and am confused on my timing issues - if I can't put it in the fridge Friday after I fill it, I don't have enough time on Saturday morning to fill, frost and decorate.
Thanks!
A lot of my acquaintances in Germany have whipped cream or pastry fillings with fruit in their cakes, so they need to keep them cool. They do put them in the fridge, HOWEVER!!!! It depends on the fridge and also the fondant. Apparently the fondant from Callebaut tolerates fridge quite well, but still use the salt next to the cake, take the cake out a bit earlier and let possible condensation evaporate before touching.
It's always best to test these things out on a cake for the family, so you know, what your cake can tolerate or not
Take a piece of fondant, out some filling or frosting on it and stick it in the fridge. See what happens, does the fondant get wet, soggy, smeary, or does it hold up. How much condensation?
Thank you - I will do a test tonight to see how it goes.
Thank you thank you thank you! The last few posts have really helped! I think and hope the next cake I make will turn out beautiful!
I just finished the cake! And it looks so nice! I only put the cake in the fridge for 5 minutes, unfortunately my icing didnt want to crust, but its ok because it's not showing too much through the fondant. And it still looks beautiful! Yay for no wet sticky fondant! I'll upload pic later when I get a chance to take them.
My husband, who bakes and prepares the cakes for me, to decorate them, uses the crums of the cakes and mixes them with the buttercream. This is a thiker paste than just buttercream- Then I apply the fondant and the decorations.
We found out that thiker buttercream melts eventually, since the fondant cover cakes are not refrigerated
This works for us- I hope it does for you. 
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