How to Cover a Cake with Fondant (Sugarpaste)

---

BUY THE BEST

INSTRUCTIONS

There are 3 Steps to covering your cake with fondant

1. Rolling out your fondant
2. Covering your cake in your fondant
3. Fixing and issues

Step 1 – Rolling out your fondant

• Wash your hands and clean all your surfaces. Make sure the surface is dry too. This is most important in your preparation step to remove any dirt or crumbs. Otherwise, it will make your fondant covered cake look dirty. Fondant is quite static so it picks up dirt & crumbs from your hands and surface

• Knead your fondant (sugarpaste) until it’s pliable (no cracks or splits just lovely and soft and easy to roll out). You can also add colour at this stage if you wish. Do not over knead or stretch your fondant as you will end up adding air bubbles to overworked fondant

• Roll out your fondant onto your worktop or use a rolling mat if you have one. (If you do have one, please follow the instructions- do not use icing sugar or cornflower)

• Roll out fondant to approx. 5mm thick. You can use the guider rods to help you reach this thickness and evenly rolled

How to roll your fondant by keeping a circle shape

• Once you have kneaded (coloured optional) your fondant, roll it into a ball and slightly flatten it

• If you are rolling direct on top of your worktop - The fondant may stick to the surface so, sprinkle some icing only on the surface but not on your fondant as this can dry out your fondant or create elephant skin texture!

• Use your rolling pin to roll the fondant out twice and rotate (clockwise) quarter of the way around, then roll and repeat. This keeps your rolled out fondant in a round shape. DO NOT FLIP/TURN OVER YOUR FONDANT. Keep going until you have reached the approx. size and shape.

• Hover your cake board over the fondant to check you have rolled out the fondant big enough

• Spray or dab (with your pastry brush) the cake board with a little water – Don’t over soak your board

How to roll your fondant by keeping a square shape

• Once you have kneaded (coloured optional) your fondant, roll it into a ball and mould it into a square then slightly flatten it

• If you are rolling direct on top of your worktop - The fondant may stick to the surface so, sprinkle some icing only on the surface but not on your fondant as this can dry out your fondant or create elephant skin texture!

• Use your rolling pin to roll the fondant out twice and rotate (clockwise) quarter of the way around, then roll and repeat. This keeps your rolled out fondant in a square shape. DO NOT FLIP/TURN OVER YOUR FONDANT. Keep going until you have reached the approx. size and shape.

Step 2 – Covering your cake in fondant

• Use a piece of string/ribbon or tape measure and measure and add together the height x 2 plus the length. That’s the diameter you need to roll the fondant to

• When you have reached the desired size:
  • a) gently lift the fondant onto the rolling pin and drape it over the cake or
  • b) carefully lift the rolling mat with the fondant and lay both over the cake board. Then carefully tease the fondant away from the mat

• You may need a tiny bit of icing sugar on top of the cake to help the smoother tool to smooth

• Quickly smooth down the top edge of the fondant with the smoother to secure the fondant to the cake, the quicker you get the top edge stuck smoothly to the cake the better to prevent any tearing on the edges. Getting the fondant fixed smoothly to the top takes the weight off of your fondant thus keeps it from pulling and tearing

• Gently lift the fondant pleats outwards not downwards as you smooth the cake, starting from the top to avoid folds in the icing. Do not pull down at this breaks the fondant.  While pressing in a downward motion with your other hand. Continue this process until the fondant is smooth all around the cake and no wrinkles or folds are present.

• Use firm pressure to stick the fondant sugarpaste to the side of the cake using two cake smoothers. You can press fairly firmly for this step. If you notice any air bubbles in the top or sides you will need to pop them with a pin or cocktail stick and then use a smoother to smooth it away.

• Using a sharp knife and holding it flat against the cake trim away the excess fondant.

• Don’t throw away the excess!  Wrap the fondant and save for another cake.

• Finally use the straight edge of a smoother or use a edge smoother to smooth the bottom where you trimmed the cake

Step 3 – Problems with your fondant

There are a number of things that can go wrong while working with fondant. I will help you overcome some of the common problems.

WHY IS MY FONDANT DRY?

• Why - Fondant can dry out because the fondant has been left out in the open air for a number of hours. And use have used too much food colouring mixed into your fondant.

• Solution -You can fix this by adding vegetable shortening like xxxx to the fondant and mixing thoroughly. Start with a small amount and keep adding until you have a lovely soft pliable piece of fondant again

WHY ARE THERE CRACKS AND TEARS IN MY FONDANT?

• Why – Cracks usually happen when the fondant has been rolled too thin. When it’s placed on the cake and you work with it the thin parts will pull away and tear.

• Solution - If the crack is small - I would suggest you cover that part of the cake with a decoration or turn the cracked side to the back! Or use a tiny bit of vegetable shortening and smooth the crack together
• If the crack is large – I would suggest you can mix a small amount of the same colour fondant with a few drops of clear extract until you have a thinned mixture. You can then apply the mixture to the tear. You will be able to see where it has been patched but it will keep your fondant from falling off the cake. Again, you can always place a decoration over that part
• If the crack is too large – I had this disaster on my mother’s wedding cake!! Yep, I had a major panic and the brilliant advise I received was…
  • Leave it as it is and then roll out another layer of fondant but ensure it’s thicker this time. Spray light water over the first layer of fondant before you place the newly rolled out piece.
  • Yes, you may think that it’s a lot of fondant – but it will save the day! And my thoughts are that those who like fondant will be pleasantly surprised and love the fact there are two layers of fondant and those who don’t particularly like fondant will peel it off anyway.

WHY ARE THERE AIR BUBBLES IN THE FONDANT?

• Why – Air bubbles often occur when you are rolling or smoothing fondant.

• Solution - These can be easily popped by using pin or needle to release the air. Then gently use a smoother to smooth over it again.

WHY IS THE BOTTOM OF THE FONDANT JAGGED AND UNEVEN?

• Why – If the cake is showing through the fondant, then you’ve probably trimmed the fondant too close to the cake

• Solution – There many ways you can cover this up with decoration:
  • Use ribbon around the bottom of the cake to match the ribbon around the board
  • Fondant cut outs
  • Flowers
  • Sprinkles
  • Sugar ball
  • Sugar pearls
  • Sweets, chocolates

WHY ARE THERE LUMPS AND BUMPS SHOWING THROUGH MY FONDANT?

• Why – there many reasons for this:
  • Your buttercream crumb coat was too thin and has allowed the uneven sponge parts to push through
  • One coat of buttercream crumb coat was used instead of two, therefore, some of the crumbs were left around the cake and not incorporated and hidden under the buttercream fully
  • Did you use ganache instead of buttercream? – You need to work really well with ganache to achieve a really smooth finish. Otherwise, lumps will poke through as ganache dries hard

• Solution – Try to capture the crumps in your first crumb coat. Set in the fridge for 20 minutes then add another coat. If you use ganache then apply enough – don’t be stingy! Lastly, don’t use your hand to smooth fondant as this causes imprints and dents. Use your smoothers

CONCLUSION

It really is practice that makes perfect! You’ll get there. There are always ways to cover up your little imperfections. I do it all the time and no one ever knows! LOL