Hi, so I made my first cakes at the weekend and was very pleased with how they turned out. I'd done a lot of research before so knew I had to crumb coat before putting on the fondant, which I did, however, it still came out quite bumpy and just didn't look good.

Does anyone have any tips or ideas of what I could have done wrong? I'm making my sons first birthday cake next month so I really want it to look good.

a couple thoughts for you --

if your crumb coat is thin use a bit thicker fondant and vice versa -- i do not spend time getting my buttercream coat flawlessly smooth -- i do get all the bumps/crumbs out though because they can show through -- some people use ganache for an undercoat which probably is brilliant -- certainly tasty -- 

you can use a fondant smoother or use a piece cut out of a flexible plastic placemat -- make it at least as tall as your tier is high -- all this pressure we apply to smooth this all out is why i don't spend time getting the undercoat flawless --

you can also take a smooth ball of fondant to rub/buff over your nearly finished cake to help remove stray marks and to smooth things out and clean the surface --

fondant ideas for you --- 

ps -- it's also a great idea to trim/shave the sides of your cake so they are all nice & flush before you even crumb coat