Episode 7 – Covering A Dummy Cake with Fondant

Episode 7
July 4, 2010
Covering A Dummy Cake with Fondant

AKA A better fondant episode.  So after I took a class with our instructor Megan, www.cakesbymegan.com, I felt much more confident when it came to working with fondant.  For two days after that I practiced covering the dummy cakes over and over again until I got them just right so that you all can see a really well done cake.  The large round was the easiest and I got that with two tries.  The square and the small round took many many many more tries but eventually I got the hang of it.  By the way, in the movie I used Wilton’s fondant to cover the cakes.  The blue fondant was Satin Ice.  Satin Ice has a better flavor but Wilton’s is cheaper.  If you’re just practicing, you’ll definitely want to use the cheaper of the fondants.

For the square I found that working a little shortening, and my friend Katie over at Katie Cakes suggests even using a very little amount of water, to make it more pliable which helps a lot.  You can also play with the thickness of the fondant.  Typically the standard is just under 1/4″ but who’s to say you really need to stick with that number.

The small round took much longer to get the hang of that the other two shapes.  For me, keeping a thicker middle (just over 1/4″) compared to the sides seemed to help.  It’s not enough to tell really, until you slice into a real cake of course, but it did work.

Did you notice, especially with the small round, how fondant can really mirror the buttercream on your cake?  The fondant began to mirror the ripples in the styrofoam which probably means that the fondant was a little bit thinner than where I needed it to be but it also shows that major ripples in your cake can show on your fondant.

Remember, if you’re doing a real cake you’ll want to chill your cake first to prevent the buttercream from squishing out everywhere when you try to work with it.  You can do this by keeping it in the refrigerator for an hour (a great technique for tiered cakes) or freezing it for about 15 minutes (best for a single tier).  Remember you do not want to freeze your cake completely solid because as it warms up it will expand and may form cracks in your buttercream and/or fondant.  Also, when working with impression stencils and cookie cutters to design the sides you’ll need to work quickly – and is best with cakes that were set using the freezing method – since as the fondant dries out cracks are more likely to form which is particularly true of using cookie cutters.  Impression stencils won’t give as clean and crisp of a look as cookie cutters will but are easier to work with.  I strongly suggest practicing on dummy cakes until you get a feel for which one you’d like to work with more.  Keep in mind that in addition to the fondant drying the buttercream will thaw out and begin to react more with the pressure you put on the cake – this affects the stencil more than the cookie cutter – so as you press against the cake buttercream may squish out if it completely thaws out.  Another issue you may come across with the stencil is the cake moving and not being able to hold it in place with your other hand especially if the other side already has the pattern on it.

Clearly when it comes to fondant it’s really all about the practice.  See which techniques work for you (using a can, thicker fondant, more shortening) and which ones don’t.  Everybody has their own style.  It’s really just a matter of figuring out which one works for you.