Hey everyone! I'm having some troubles with covering cakes in fondant. Everytime I do I get air bubbles on top and end up having to poke them with needles, which then the little holes never go away and I have to cover them with flowers. Also the end finish is never smooth, always lumpy, as if I'm putting too much icing under the fondant?

Here is what I do. After I level them I make the icing dam and fill the cake, cover it, and let it sit over night at room temp. Then I stick it in the fridge for a couple of hours. Then I crumb coat it and stick it back in the fridge for 30min.

Then I roll out my fondant and cover it with saran wrap. Next I take out the cake and ice it, not as thick as if I was doing a straight up buttercream finish, but thicker than the crumb coat. And immediately I put the fondant on the cake, smooth it out, but that is when it gets lumpy and I can feel the icing being pushed around underneath the fondant.

So I figure I'm doing something wrong. Should I not bother with the second coat of icing and just put the fondant on top of the crumb coat?

Any advice/tips would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Try chilling the icing again to get it to firm up. Roll out the fondant just before you pull it from the fridge.

When placing the fondant on top of the cake, do you put it stright down or smooth it across the top?

Smooth it on from one edge to the other, trying not to trap any air underneath. Fix airpockets by lifting and smoothing before afixing the sides (in other words, make sure the top is smooth before anything else).

HTH.

When you chill the icing prior to putting the fondant on how do you get the fondant to stick to the crusted buttercream? I tried that once and it wouldn't stick to the cake. I did put it on top first, and try to smooth it out, but I guess I didn't get all of the air bubbles.

The fondant actually sticks better because it is coming into contact with the cold cake, it stiffens in as you are smoothing it and the little bit of moisture that begins to form helps it stick very well. If you do not place the cake in the fridge, you should at the very least let the BC set up and crust well before applying the fondant. At least 10-15 minutes. When the buttercream is still wet, the fondant will slide around and you will get lumps and bumps under the fondant. It will stick to the crusted buttercream as you smooth the fondant with a smoother or your hand.

I never do more that a crumb coat under my fondant. Too much buttercream underneath just get squished around when you smooth, especially when it hasn't crusted & firmed up.

Do you guys have the question 'how many ways can you skin a cat?' never realised how odd it is until now, but presumably there's a lot of ways to skin a cat, the same way as there is a lot of ways to cover a cake!

I never refridgerate, I don't find it helps. Also check the consistancy of ur bc - soft bc will stiffen in the fridge, but when it comes to room temp under the fondant it will soften = movement and bumps. So maybe u need more ps in ur icing too.

My crumb coat is thicker than normal, rather than doing a crumb coat and layer of bc. But maybe til u feel it looks better, go for a thinner layer.

How do u move ur fondant to the cake? If u don't already, roll the fondant onto a rolling pin, hold it at the back of the cake, and roll towards u slowly, should help.

Keep Reading the boards, there's bound to be one random tip that helps you crack this!
xx

Thanks everyone! I think I'll try a test cake and put it iced in the fridge first to see if that makes a difference. I do do the rolling pin methond too. Thanks everyone!