Hi, I'm not a great cake decorator- I've never even taken a class! But I enjoy messing around and working on cakes for my kids and for holiday's, ect. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone could give me any tips- My son is having a pirate themed birthday in December and I'm already thinking ahead. I've looked through dozens of pirate themed cakes on here and they are all so cool. I seem to really like the fondant ones that are round pirate faces, but I've never used fondant before. I've only seen the smaller packages at Michaels Craft store of Wilton's Fondant. Could anyone give me some tips or any advice for working with fontant, or even HOW-TO help?? I'm open to anything & any ideas! (Even non-fondant cakes!) Thank you so much Happy Baking!

Here's a link to a you tube video I think does a really good job of explaining it.

There are variations of course (some people use cornstarch instead of powdered sugar etc.) but for the most part, the set up and walk through they give is solid.

Pay close attention to the last minute of the video especially. They do a wonderful job of explaining and showing how to get the fondant smoothed out from top to bottom so you don't have any gathering or puckering around the bottom of the cake. I wish I had had this video when I did my first fondant covered cake. I really struggled with getting it flat around the bottom. But once I learned to lift UP the excess and tuck it with the other hand AS I LIFTED, it was much easier! Hope you find this helpful.

hi there I have did the rund pirate face it was one of my first cakes (like you no training.) it was really easy to do. fondant is great t work with. Break it dwn into section its is not hard. just ask if you want any more info

good luck

Working with fondant is a lot like playing with modeling clay, so if you've ever messed around with Fimo or Sculpey, you're good to go. It can be a lot of fun to do and really isn't that hard.

Making fondant "accents" by sculpting with your hands or using a cookie cutter is a bit easier to start with than covering a whole cake, but even covering isn't too tough if you start with a relatively small cake. You do need to know how to use a rolling pin; if you never learned to roll out cookie dough or piecrust evenly, do some practicing before you start on the actual cake.

Wilton has a softcover book (looks almost like a magazine) called something like Celebrate with Fondant, and it covers the basic techniques pretty well. You should be able to find it at Michaels. You can buy the fondant pre-made, so that all you need to learn is how to work with it, or you can jump right into the deep end and make your own. You can judge your own level of confidence with that sort of thing.

Have fun!

Only advice is use the Wilton fondant to practice with. NEVER EVER use it on a cake that someone will eat. It smells and tastes like dirty plastic.
Oh and just practice with it and play with it. You will figure it out.

Supposedly Wilton has changed their fondant recipe and now it doesn't taste awful.

I have yet to test this, because I've learned how to make MMF and I'm much happier with that because it's cheaper and more convenient anyway. But using the Wilton (or really any premade fondant) is a good way to start. At least that way when you start making your own you know what it's supposed to feel like.