I'm wondering if anyone has any tips/suggestions for covering a cake board in fondant? I can easily cover the top but then when I bring it down over the edge of the board (which is about 1/2 inch thick) it tears/breaks off right at the edge? is my fondant too thick? too thing? too soft? too dry?

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

What kind of board are you using? If it has sharp corners then it might be the board causing the tearing. Aside from that, you can also cut a band and wrap the sides separately.

It sounds as if you may be either rolling your fondant too thin or not working quickly enough and your fondant is drying out. First, Pipe swirls of piping gel onto your cake board with tip #2 or 3. Roll your fondant out to 1/8" thick and 2" wider than the circumference of your board on a mat or sheet of freezer paper. Immediately place your cake board upside down on the fondant. Invert the board, fondant & mat so the bottom of the board is now on your counter and the underside of your mat is up. Carefully peal the mat/freezer paper away from your fondant and arrange the sides, cut off excess. HTH.

You could just cover the surface and wrap a silk ribbon around the edge.

If you are using uncoloured fondant, tape around the edge of the board with masking tape. It is basically the same colour as the fondant and it helps to mask the colour of the board if you don't trim the fondant perfectly.

thanks everyone - I wanted to avoid adding ribbon - only because i can't find ribbon to match the color i want to use on the board. i plan on making the board out of 2 pieces of foam core cut into two 14 inch circles and glued together - so yes the edges are a bit 'sharp'...

The general way of covering a board is to NOT carry the fondant over the edge of the board. Even if it works out OK, when the fondant dries, it's prone to cracking & breaking off--especially when the cake is transported.

A ribbon on the edge doesn't have to be a perfect match. It can be a coordinating color or another shade picked out from the cake. In a pinch, a white, silver, black, or cream will look very nice.

Rae