Hello all experts out there! When I am covering my cakes with fondant, everything seems to bulge, the sides and corners especially. I want to know how to get sharp edges and sides so that everything looks smooth and well sharp definitely when it comes to topsy turvy! I have tried using fondant smoothers and pinching corners, but doesn't make the look of great edges. Any advice? Is my buttercream underneath too thick?


Thanks in advance!

Does your buttercream/ganache look good before you put your fondant on? Because you must have a good base for your fondant to look good. I find chilling my cakes to make the buttercream/ganache set firm helps. And to get your sharp edges, try this method originally created by Jeff Arnett, which is gaining popularity lately by varying names:

http://cakecentral.com/tutorial/upside-down-icing-technique-for-perfectly-smooth-icing

Some other people's take on it:
http://sugarsweetcakesandtreats.blogspot.co.nz/2011/01/baptism-cake.html

http://sugarsweetcakesandtreats.blogspot.co.nz/2010/05/covering-cake-in-ganache.html

http://www.ladycakes.com/frosting_cake_upside_down.htm

http://jessicakesblog.blogspot.co.nz/2011/06/video-tutorial-upside-down-frosting.html

Also if you make your icing with shortening, it will never really set, I had that trouble in the begining before I changed to straight buttercream only. But the last person is 100% correct what ever your buttercream looks like is what you get with your fondant. Also your cake pans make a difference, if you use standard pans they tend to have "rounded" edges and you will have a hard time getting that sharp edge. I have watched a lot of videos from SweetWise, you can find her on you tube or just go to her site.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sweetwise.com&oq=sweetwise&aq=3&aqi=g4&aql=&gs_sm=c&gs_upl=484l3812l0l8203l9l8l0l2l2l0l219l1155l0.2.4l6l0

I think you received some good advice and tutorials here already. My two cents is to use a buttercream that has more butter and will set up better if your not doing so already or even a good crusting buttercream underneath. Then chill the cake to let the frosting set-up, if your frosting doesn't set-up it'll never hold up under the fondant. If your cake is buckleing under the fondant between layers then try to create a better dam of frosting between the layers. If I have a heavy cake I'll make a dam of frosting by adding more powdered sugar to my buttercream to create almost a fondant consistency, roll into a rope and then I can ice inside the ring. One last thing is to make sure you are not rolling your fondant too thick which causes the cake to shift an collapse under the weight no matter how good your base underneath is.

If you look at the cakes in my gallery (sorry for the quality, I have to get my nicer pics swapped in), the cakes with the rounded corners were not chilled for very long before covering as I was going for the rounded look. The Hello Kitty cake I just uploaded I chilled overnight because I wanted crisper edges and it was more convenient timing wise for me.

I'm still a rookie so take my advice with a grain of salt but this is what I've found in my experience.

Wow thanks everyone! Great helpful advice! I am going to try all these helpful tips and hopefully it works out

Thanks Again!