My first time using fondant for other than covering a cake was the coffee mug cake in my photos. Not perfect but I don't think its too bad. But, I would like to get advice of cutting neater. It seemed that my letters had jagged rather than smooth edge. I used an exacto knife.

Here's two tips that I have come upon on CC and you tube for this type of problem.

1) When cutting things out of fondant (either with cutters or exacto knife), roll out your fondant and let it sit a little while (maybe 5-10 minutes) so that it starts to get firm and dries a little, but not so much that you can't cut into it. You will notice it's easier to cut (it won't move around as much when cutting w/ an exacto) and you'll get a much cleaner cut.

2) For those pesky little "feathers" that crop up along the edges as your cutting, you can quickly smooth them away with a small painting brush that you've dampened with water (I usually blot it a little to make sure it isn't sopping wet. But it does need to be moist or it won't blend those rough edges).

Hope that helps. Your coffee mug was cute BTW!

I was also told to cut using an up and down motion. Don't drag it along the fondant like you do when using a pencil or pen. Straight up and down motion to make the cuts.

I too found that it helps alot to let the fondant set up just a bit before cutting. I'm still trying to perfect this myself...but that definitely helps. Hadn't heard of using the paintbrush technique for the feathered edges....I'll have to give that a try too.

Deb

I too will let my fondant "skin up" a little before I cut. If using cutters, I will wiggle the cutters a little while on the mat. If I still have any jaggies I clean them up with an Exacto. If I'm cutting with an Exacto knife, I don't use the up-and-down motion, I just cut with as much of the blade as I can. If precision isn't an issue (like when cutting the fondant around the bottom of the cake, I LOVE my pizza cutter!

I'm with ya cupadeecakes on that pizza cutter! Works great!

These are all great tips!I have to try them for sure. I usually take a mini spatula and some shortning and run it round the edges and it would smooth them. It takes a couple hours to cut out a simple Happy Birthday and a name trying to make it perfect when I do it by hand! I just bought the cricut mini to hopefully help me with this issue.If I can just get it to print out my fonts it will be worth the purchase. I have yet to sit down and play with it though.