Cake Decorating: Working with Fondant

I have been using buttercream to decorate my last cakes so I wanted to try fondant for a more clean and professional look. For those of you who don't know, fondant is a thick paste made from sugar and water that is typically flavored and colored. It doesn't taste very good but it makes cakes look pretty!

When covering a cake in fondant you must first crumb-coat it. This was a skill I mentioned doing in my previous posts so I knew how to do it well. I've only worked with fondant once before, but it wasn't to cover a cake.

To begin working with the fondant, Sullivan states, "Dust a surface with confectioner's sugar. Knead and roll the fondant into a circle 2in wider than the cake" (Sullivan 50). This was something I was not aware of when I first started to work with fondant. The first time I rolled it out it was wide enough so I had to take it off and redo it.

The fondant was really hard to work with because it was so sticky. To combat this issue I added powered sugar to it as the book suggested, however then it became too dry to stick together. It was a constant struggle trying to balance out the wet and the dry.

When putting the fondant on the cake, to get a sharp edge, the book recommended to use two smothers, however I only had one so I left it with soft edges.

The final product was no where near perfect, but it was somewhat presentable. I want to try to work with fondant to make professional and clean cakes.