Successfully covering cakes in fondant is a skill that may be difficult for some cake decorators. You may have mastered every other skill, but covering a cake in fondant is that ONE skill that you just can’t seem to figure out!
I struggled with this for a long time, spending hours and hours covering and re-covering cakes in fondant. Many tears were shed out of frustration and I honestly wasn’t proud of some of the cakes I sent out to my clients. After all, you are your own worst critic, right??
But after much practice and a handy tool – I figured it out and it’s not such a struggle anymore!
So I’m sharing all of the tips for successfully covering a cake in fondant, and I hope this will make your life easier!
If you’re still working on other cake decorating skills, check out our post on 12 Books You Need to Make Amazing Cakes! We’ve compiled some of the best books for baking and cake decorating from our favourite pastry chefs. All of these chefs are now accomplished authors that are here to help you succeed in your cake decorating journey 🙂
Many Factors Contribute to Successful Fondant Application
There’s a lot to consider when covering a cake in fondant, some things you may not have even thought about! The weather and humidity, the temperature of your hands (yes, your hands!), the age of the fondant, how much fondant to roll out, etc etc…
If the weather is nice and hot, and that heat gets in your workspace, this can cause the fondant to get sticky while you’re trying to work with it. It’ll become really difficult to apply the fondant to your cake if your hands are sticking to it. Then the more you work with it and try to get the smooth fondant finish, the worse it gets and then the fondant may end up tearing. It’s just a hot mess, so avoid the heat AT ALL COSTS!!
Personally, I prefer decorating fondant cakes when it’s cooler outside…dare I say it, in the winter 😐 But in the hotter months, air conditioning is essential! You have to be careful with those sweaty hands too, not fun..also, kinda gross and unsanitary…think about it 😐
Moving on..try not to keep fondant for too long. It starts to dry out as soon as you open the container *ugh* And if your fondant is too dry, it’ll likely tear when you’re trying to cover your cake with fondant. Or you’ll end up with that dreadful “elephant skin” on your cake 🙁 You can apply a bit of shortening to spots of elephant skin, but you might end up with random shiny spots on your cake 😅
Another factor to consider when covering cakes in fondant is how much fondant you actually roll out for the cake. Fondant is heavy, and if you roll out too much of it, the weight of the fondant will cause it to rip around the edge of the cake.
You see why fondant is such a pain in the…anyway, tons of handy charts are available to help you roll out the right amount of fondant for the size of your cake. Click on the image below to instantly download our fondant chart!
Prepping the cake for fondant
Before you cover a cake in fondant, you have to make sure first that the cake is fully masked. Mask your cake with a smooth coating of buttercream frosting or ganache, and allow it to set in the fridge or freezer.
You can find a tutorial on how to mask a cake with smooth buttercream on our YouTube channel. This video provides tips to get that smooth buttercream finish without any flaws. You must learn how to cover that cake in smooth buttercream frosting (or ganache) because any flaws in the masked cake will show when you cover the cake in fondant.
To make sure my buttercream is smooth, creamy, and not full of air bubbles, I microwave my bowl of buttercream for 10 seconds at a time and mix. Practice this tip and you’ll notice the buttercream frosting gets creamier after every increment. Just be careful not to get distracted and microwave it for too long – you’ll have buttercream soup which just won’t work!
If you do end up with buttercream soup, put the buttercream back in the fridge or freezer until it’s set, and start the microwave process again. You may have to use a hand mixer to properly mix the buttercream at this point. Once you achieve the perfect buttercream consistency, continue to mask your cake.
Cake Flix has tons of great courses for decorating cakes! They have a great course on Making and Using Buttercream 🙂 Paul Bradford is very detailed with his classes and shares many tips that are sure to help you!
After applying a final coat of buttercream to your cake, you can put the cake in the fridge for 10 min. I actually put it in the freezer so the cake is super cold 🙂 After some time the buttercream gets soft while you’re working with it, so the freezer works best for me!
Once the cake is perfectly masked and super cold, move on to the fondant 🙂
How Much Fondant Do You Roll Out For A Cake??
So the cake is perfectly masked, well-chilled and ready for fondant! But how much fondant do you need for the cake?? I mentioned earlier that you can find helpful charts that will help you figure out how much fondant you need to roll out – here’s our own fondant chart download again 🙂
Rolling out the appropriate amount of fondant contributes to your success in creating a flawless fondant cake. You’ll avoid having too much where it becomes too heavy that the fondant rips. Or you’ll have too little and won’t be able to fully cover the cake!
So as a beginner (or even as a pro), it’s best to use the resources and tools available to you, like a chart or guide that outlines how much fondant you need based on the size of the cake *points up* 👆
Once you have the right amount of fondant ready to roll out, you have to knead the fondant (like you would knead dough). Kneading the fondant makes it more pliable and easier to work with. Though, be careful not to knead it for too long that the fondant dries out.
My personal favourite brand of fondant is Satin Ice. It doesn’t dry out too quickly and the consistency is just right! Some other brands of fondant are too dry or seem like they have a lot of moisture, like oil or shortening. So I tend to stick to Satin Ice. I highly recommend it!
Knead the fondant on a clean surface, and you can dust a little bit of cornstarch or icing sugar on your work surface to avoid sticking. BUT not too much cornstarch, you don’t want the fondant to dry out.
Rolling out Fondant For A Cake
You can also use a non-stick silicone mat while you’re working with fondant to avoid sticking AND drying out from cornstarch. Some silicone mats have guides printed on them to help roll out the fondant to the right size. Others have both the guides for rolling out and a chart telling you how much fondant to roll out!
Basically, you would figure out how big to roll out the fondant depending on the size of the cake. For example, if you have an 8” cake that’s 4” high, you would roll the fondant out to 17” (8” diameter plus 4” on each side plus an extra inch to be safe).
My personal favourite is the Pro Mat by Sweet City USA. It’s a fondant application system made up of 2 silicone mats and you roll the fondant in between the 2 silicone mats. You can step away for a few minutes, answer the door, or take a break because your arms are tired and the fondant won’t dry out! I don’t even have an affiliate with Sweet City, I’m just a happy customer 🙂
I still use the Pro Mat to this day because I struggled with fondant for so long that I’m paranoid about not using it! haha
After you’ve kneaded the fondant for a few minutes, mould the fondant into the shape of your cake. This will help keep that shape as you roll. For example, the fondant should start as a big circle mound for a round cake. Use a non-stick rolling pin and roll out the fondant from the center outward. For round cakes, rotate the direction that you’re rolling, and roll all around the circle of fondant. You want to lift and rotate the fondant and make sure it’s not sticking to your work surface.
Roll from the center of the fondant and out, center and out, and avoid rolling out all the way to the edge. If you roll all the way to the edge, the edge of the fondant will become too thin. Continue rolling until you’ve rolled it out large enough to cover the cake. At this point, the fondant shouldn’t be too thick (since you used that handy chart). A ⅛” to a ¼” thick is the common thickness that’s suggested for fondant.
There are some rolling pins available that come with guide rings that you can put on the rolling pin to help you roll out the fondant evenly and to the appropriate thickness 🙂 Try not to roll thicker than ¼”. Not everyone enjoys the taste of fondant, so having a cake covered with a thick layer of fondant makes it even more unenjoyable 😐
For square or slab cakes, you’ll be using a different technique than rolling out fondant for round cakes. Instead of a big circle of fondant, shape the fondant into a square (or rectangle) before you start rolling. To keep the shape, roll toward the 4 corners. And alternate rolling left to right and up and down – or horizontally and vertically.
If you’re really struggling with dry fondant and elephant skin, I would suggest you purchase the pro mat or another fondant application system. It saved me and I’m sure it will do the same for you.
Techniques for Covering a Cake in Fondant
Ok, you have the fondant rolled out, how do you transfer it to the cake? If you’re using a fondant application system, you should be able to remove the top silicone mat and the fondant stays on the bottom mat. Then you can lift the mat without the fondant falling off, place it over the cake and slowly peel off the fondant onto the cake.
If you’re not using a fondant application system, you can try lifting the fondant with both arms and moving it onto the cake. Or you can use a non-stick rolling pin, place it in the center of the rolled-out fondant, and gently place one half of the fondant over the rolling pin. Lift the rolling pin with both ends and place it onto the cake. Make sure the fondant is centered over the cake so you have enough fondant to cover all around the cake.
Once the fondant is draped over the cake, using your hands or a fondant smoother, smooth the top of the cake. I apply slight pressure in a circular motion and try to smooth out any air bubbles. Then I smooth out the top edge of the cake and gradually move down and around the cake.
Apply a bit of pressure to the fondant so it sticks to the cake and work your way down the cake, moving your hand in an up-and-down motion. You want to gently pull and spread the fondant so it doesn’t fold into itself. For visual learners, take a look at our YouTube video below on covering a cake in fondant (you’ll catch a glimpse of the pro mat in this video).
After the cake is fully covered in fondant, you can use 2 fondant smoothers perpendicular to each other to get sharper edges on the top of the cake.
Remove the excess fondant with a pizza cutter or a sharp knife. Be careful not to cut off too much fondant where you end up revealing some of the cake underneath! I like to leave a tiny bit of fondant around the cake and make a second cut around the cake. Or use a fondant smoother to blend it in.
If you have any air bubbles show up, poke it with a pin needle to get rid of the air. Try not to make it too obvious that there’s a little pinhole in the cake 😅 Cover it with a decoration or try to smooth it out with some shortening 🙂
Cake Flix also has a full course on Icing Cakes – which you would think is about buttercream but it’s a course on everything sugar paste, ie. fondant.
Rolling Fondant for Cakes of Different Shapes
It gets a tiny bit more complicated when you’re dealing with an unusual shape, like a hexagon cake or a carved cake. Use fondant charts to get a general idea of how much fondant you need and measure the cake to figure out what size to roll out the fondant.
You’ll have to use your imagination and roll out the fondant to the general shape of the cake. For geometrical-shaped cakes with edges, smooth out the corners and edges first then work on the rest of the cake. Sometimes you might even find it easier to cover cakes that aren’t the typical round or square cakes!
So, successfully covering a cake isn’t that hard right?? It might come naturally to some, but for others, like me, the struggle was real. Hopefully these tips will help you and you won’t have to struggle anymore! So have you covered a cake in fondant before? How did it go?? Do you have some tips to share? Let everyone know in the comments 🙂
Happy fondant caking!
Mich
Thanks for sharing these tips!
I’m hopeless at baking but love to watch someone who can.