The good news is we got our two levels of the topsy turvy cake together and they look good.

The bad news it the fondant has lots of pleats (unwanted ones) at the bottom and a few tears I'm hoping to mask. My husband (he helps a LOT) and I feel that after all this time, we can't seem to master fondant and we're wondering what we're doing wrong.

How do you avoid tears at the bottom and also, how do you avoid the fondant from folding over and pleating at the bottom?

On this cake, it was particularly hard to avoid the pleats because the cake tapers in on the bottom but we have this problem regularly anyway.

Are you elevating you cake? Definitely cover your cake on a flat surface.

I get the same issue, and I cover my cakes on a flat surface.

Also, don't roll your fondant too big. I used to worry that it wouldn't be big enough and always ended up with too much, causing the weight to drag it down and causing a lot of extra pleats. Now I actually roll to about an inch less that what I think I'll need. The weight and gentle motion with my smoothers does the rest and there are only a few pleats that I have to ease out.

sugarshack has a "Flawless Fondant" DVD Her website is sugaredproductions.com