I feel like when I cover a cake with fondant, the top edges are never sharp like others I have seen on CC. I watched a few things on youtube, and noticed people are using 2 smoothers instead of 1. Which would make sense, but I would love tips on how to manipulate the 2 together since I just picked up my second smoother today. Thanks.

I can only get the super-sharp edges when I am using ganache. For some reason I cannot for the life of me get buttercream so have a sharp edage under fondant!

Good Luck, I'll be wathing for others' ansers to this one!

Same here. I can only get straight edges when I use ganache under the fondant.

When sharp corners are a must, I always use ganache.

With butter cream, I've had the best luck when I don't use a crusting icing and don't use too much. I ice the top first and smooth. Then ice the sides, extending the icing up and above the top of the cake as I smooth it. Then carefully use a spatula to smooth the extra off the edge by moving a spatula from beyond the edge of the cake toward an imaginary point at the center of the top of the cake and about an inch above the cake. I get nice square top edges this way that hold pretty well under weight of the fondant. If the icing is too soft, this doesn't work so well either.

Yeah for ganache! I just wish there were a way to cut the sweetness of white chocolate ganache.

Now that you have two, watch the videos again, see how they do it.

"I just wish there were a way to cut the sweetness of white chocolate ganache."

Me too!! Let me know if you come across one. I thought of putting less chocolate in and then using some corn starch to get it to the right consistency, but I don't know if that will work. I need to try it.

How do you use the ganache under the fondant? Do you pour it over the cake. I would think it would taste great. Kindly explain how to do this.

crumbcake... link that might help.

http://sugarsweetcakesandtreats.blogspot.com/2010/05/covering-cake-in-ganache.html

I HAVE NEVER TRIED GANACHE. DOES IT GET THICK LIKE BUTTERCREAM? DO YOU PUT IT IN THE MIXER OR JUST FOLD THE CREAM AND CHOCOLATE?

Thanks Imagenthatnj,
It seems like a great tutorial, I'll have to try it.

There's another thread here with lots of good advice and pictures.

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-661775-.html

For those of you who haven't used ganache - yes, you use it in place of buttercream. At room temperature, it spreads almost like butter - but, after it is on the cake (at room temperature), it sets up like a buttery - almost solid - chocolate. And it tastes divine. You can freeze it, or store it in the refrigerator. You can microwave it or set it in warm water to return it to its spreadable consistency. And you can beat the ganache on high speed to get a gorgeous chocolate mousse for filling.

When it's set, it holds a sharp edge like nothing else will. I use it for all of my sculpted cakes, too, because it really helps hold the dimensions accurately. Again, yeah for ganache!

When I use buttercream fillings, I also like to put a thin layer of ganache under the buttercream. Especially the dark chocolate ganache adds a lot of flavor and elegance to the finished product.

ycknits...can I ask what recipe you use for your ganache? And have you made a white chocolate ganache also? And if so, can you work the same with the white chocolate ganache?

I've always wanted to try a ganache, and I've also wondered about the crisp corners.

Even though I'm not the OP, thanks to everyone who posted I've wanted to know this for a while.

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If you decide to stick with buttercream, after icing the cake stick the cake in the freezer for 10 minutes, then cover in fondant. This is how Sharron Zambito does it. She also sometimes uses ganache. Her flawless fondant DVD is great.

Very simple recipe for ganache - for chocolate (any kind of "brown" chocolate): 2 parts chocolate to 1 part cream. I weigh the amount of chocolate that I have and then weigh out half that amount of cream.

For white chocolate: 3 (THREE) parts chocolate to 1 part cream.

Use heavy whipping cream. Microwave or heat on stove until it is boiling. Pour over the chocolate in a bowl. Let it sit for a couple of minutes and then stir until chocolate is all melted into the cream and you have a nice uniform soft chocolate. (If all the chocolate hasn't melted, I heat it on the defrost setting in the microwave to warm it up a bit more.) Let it sit overnight (covered) until it sets up. You can use like this, or refrigerate/freeze. I just microwave it to warm it up and to get the spreading consistency that I want.

The better the chocolate, the better your ganache. But I do a lot of charity baking and want to keep my costs reasonable. So I typically buy real chocolate chips in bulk and add better chocolate (Baker's Bittersweet and/or Unsweetened) to account for about 1/4 of the total amount of chocolate. For my own entertaining, I use all Baker's or Baker's plus something even better. Scharffen - Berger is my favorite, but really spendy.

WOW THANKS IMAGENNJ...that was so helpful! I was wondering how to make chocolate ganache that would work in place of buttercream. I had always made the filling that you whip..but didn't know how to adapt for the outside of the cake. That was an Awesome tutorial!

Thank you for all this information!

Can you put fondant directly over the ganache, or do you need to put BC also for the fondant to stick? Do you have a receipe for a good ganache for filling and covering?

ginger6361:

Before covering in fondant, you can either brush or spray the cake with a little bit of water or vodka (it evaporates away anyways) or some type of syrup (apricot jam diluted with water). I personally like to rub the surface with a very thin layer of shortening before laying the fondant over it. Lay the fondant over, smooth away and finish decorating.

This is from the tutorial that I put at the beginning of the post. No need for buttercream, you would be messing up the smoothness of your ganache.

I haven't tried it, but I believe the sweetness of white chocolate ganache can be lessened by using sour cream instead of regular. I'm not sure what the ratios are.

I have to recommend Planet Cake's book for a great photo tutorial to get sharp edges.

Mcaulir. Thanks for the recommendation. I saw a video in YouTube from planet cake and I like how they do things. I hope they only have one book so I don't get the wrong one?

Great idea re. the sour cream instead of cream. I'll definitely try on my next batch. Thank you!!

save!