Hi all,
I'm making a 4-tier wedding cake for a friend next month and am after advice on getting the perfect finish...
I've iced many cakes before but never a wedding cake and in one of my books, the author says you should always cover a cake in two layers, either marzipan/icing, chocolate plastique/icing or 2 layers of icing to get the finish really great. The cakes are all sponge so marzipan would be gross and I am a little worried about 2 layers of uber-sweet icing!

The cake is very minimalist meaning the icing will be on real show so if anyone could give me some professional advise, I'd be really grateful!!
Thanks

Generally you need something under the fondant that smooths out the cake to begin with. If you were to just put fondant over a 'naked' cake, the seems where the two layers come together would show. So that is why it is suggested to use something, so you have a nice smooth area to start with.

I'm not sure where you are located. In the states people usually use a thin layer of what ever buttercream icing they like best or a layer of ganache under fondant.

Hi, sorry...still filling in my profile! I'm in the Uk. Generally I've always used a layer if buttercream to fill any little holes and act as glue...in the book she suggests using an apricot glaze which I suppose wouldn't be as forgiving...?

That's interesting... when I do my cakes, I always crumb coat a layer of frosting first, let that refrigerate until it's completely set, then do a generous layer of frosting on top of that. In my mind that would be the "two coats" - although in terms of thickness it's really only one coat under my fondant.

I figured you were in the UK, because you don't often see people use marzipan here in the US.

If you fill in the holes with your buttercream and have a smooth layer to start with you are fine. I'm thinking she is talking about using the apricot glaze as a glue for the fondant to stick with.

Hopefully some fellow UK-er's will chime in for you.