I've done a few cakes now and I've learned a lot. One thing I cannot figure out is how to get the nice sharp lines and edges on a cake! Even with the round ones, I feel like my cake shape is more rounded than it should be on the top.

How do you get your fondant to be so nice?

See on my cake below how rounded it is? It just seems....abnormally round.

Hi Kristiemarie

I use a pizza cutter for the icing & i also use a spirit level for the tops of my cakes.

Hope this helps

Don't feel alone. I would like to know this info too. I am also new to this and I did a 3 tier and they all came out rounded instead of sharp clean lines. It still looked pretty good.

How tall are your cakes? If they were the standard 4", then it would not seem as rounded since the sides would be taller (don't know if that makes any sense). Also, I find that I get more "rounded" edges if I used American Buttercream. If I used SMBC, I would put it in the fridge till it got hard and put the fondant on that to get sharper corners (most of the cakes in my photos). Then, I find Ganache gives the sharpest results.

Also, I use 2 paddles (fondant smoothers) like in planet cake's you tube video:

I guess my first question would be- are the tops of your cakes level before you frost them? Are they level AFTER you frost them?

Once they are covered in buttercream-and level-put them in the fridge until they are firm. This really helps! Now when you put on the fondant, the frosting on the edges won't smush down the sides when you are smoothing.

Also- use a fondant smoother or two, rather than just your hands! These really are a great tool for creating flat, smooth sides and tops.

HTH And keep practicing! You're doin' great!

I will try that. Thanks for the help.

SO I just realized this awesome trick! Instead of frosting in BC under the fondant, do a chocolate ganache, then stick in the freezer until firm (30 min or so) then cover with your fondant. It makes a HUGE difference. It's firm enough to hold up to the heavy fondant and will keep the nice crisp edge.

Now, you can do this with BC too, but you have to be a little more careful and you might have to let it freeze a little longer (an hour?) if you look at my last few cakes (the duck, the toy story cake...they all were done by freezing first. Toy story was ganache, the Duck was BC) It does make the fondant harder to stick to the cake though, so I get my hand wet and pat the frozen cake sides a bit before covering so the fondant will stick.

I was giddy when I got my cake to have sharp edges the first time.
Hope this helps!

Hm, maybe the bc isn't firm enough. I will admit I haven't checked to see if they are level after frosting.

I'll check that vid out too. Thanks all!!!!

I LOVE to use ganache! Also, when doing a crumb coat, whether using BC or ganache, I use a bench scraper and my turn table, put it right up to the side, nice and level, and turn while keeping the scraper against the side. Works beautifully. Here is a tutorial for it: http://www.designmeacake.com/id48.html

Seriously, that designmeacake tut was the best. I can safely say with 100% certainty that my cakes DO NOT look like that under my fondant. LOL But they will!!

I reccomend Sharon zambito's DVDs. She covers these issues and they're a great investment!

Well Kristie- that would explain your fondant issues then! A good-looking fondant cake starts with a good foundation! Edna's videos are SO very helpful - she messes around with her icing more than I do, but the result is the same: straight buttercream sides=straight fondant sides and nice edges.

Happy practicing!

Ganache under fondant. That's the trick.

Here's a good explanation.

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

Also, the Planet Cake book is a good one.

Sharons DVDs are great and will help you with getting straight edges!!

What i have learnt so far....do not put a lot of icing on the top of the cake, but if you do then freeze the cake awhile so that it firms up and dont move around a lot...work quickly cos it will thaw and start to move around.

Most importantly, i find that most of the time, you still end up with some sort of roundness and thats where the 2 smoothers come in very handy. You need to force the corners to appear by working with the 2 smoothers at the same time with a bit of force, vertically pushing up and horizontally on top of the cake from the center to the edge. sharon teaches that really well.

Hope this helps and then you just keep practising and you will get better. I am still learning as well.

ok this is what i heard.. u can never get very clean sharp edges with fondant... it can only be done using butter cream correct me if im wrong

Well, I'm not looking for razor straight and sharp edges, but as you can see in my cake, mine are not even CLOSE to being...edgy.

Thanks all. I am going to try some of these techniques on a practice cake this weekend and see what happens. I have a shower cake for my brother and sis in law next month and I want it to be perfect.

I get razor sharp edges with fondant all the time... I (personally) don't like the rounded look at all. You don't have to use ganache either. Don't get me wrong... ganache works great, but it's pricy so you do need to charge more when you use it. That and it doesn't go with every flavor combo and it's really rich.

I've never used Ganache and I'm also able to get nice sharp edges. I spend extra time making the buttercream underneath nice and smooth with sharp edges. I have had the best luck with a full layer of buttercream but many people recommend using a thin layer. I personally have more trouble making a thin layer nice an smooth. Remember, whatever the cake looks like underneath is what it's going to look like when you put your fondant on. So any uneven spots or rounded edges will show up.

Once it looks good I put it in the freezer just long enough to firm it up but not too long. Maybe 30 or 45 mintues. If you put it in too long your going to end up with a gooey messy because once it starts to warm back to room temp condensation will appear and make a mess of the fondant.

After I put the fondant on I use two fondant smoothers and work quickly to smooth it out. I really work the edges with the fondant smoothers. Because it's been firmed up in the freezer the cake can handle the extra pressure. Just be sure to work it quickly before it softens up to much.

Everyone has a different way of doing it. Just try out several different methods and see what works best for you. Remember, practice makes perfect.

I use a full layer of BC underneath my fondant too.

What imagenthatnj said:

http://sugarsweetcakesandtreat.....nache.html

I use this method for all my cakes. And it works with buttercreme as well, just be sure, the cake is cool and the buttercreme too.

Aileengp, good video! Thanks!

This may seem like a very obvious question but are you flipping the top layer of cake so that the bottom is at the top? Keeping the cake right side up will surely give you a rounded effect. Also, what kind of pans are you using?

I find all these comments very helpful, but I can't understand what to do to get a smooth side on my cakes. I usually do 4" tall, two layers of 2" each, but the division always shows...how do you do to make it so smooth?? please help!! thanks a lot!

The division shouldn't show if you have enough frosting/ganache/buttercream?

This link was broken before, here it is again. Notice how thick the buttercream is.

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

you are incredible!!! thank you so much!!!!

What about your pans. Are you baking your cakes in the Wilton round bottom pans? Sharp edge cakes come from sharp edged pans. The next thing is - are you putting too thick a coat of icing on the cake then not checking to make sure it's level before applying the fondant? And is your fondant too thick. If you've checked all of the above then the next to the last trick is to make sure your cake bakes a little over the rim of your cake pan then trim the extra cake bubble off - EVEN with the top of the pan. You may be cutting the bubble off of the top of your cake in the center but not cutting down far enough along the rim - leaving a flat top that doesn't meet the straight edge of the side of the cake. The last tip would be to ice the cake upside down, (the cake not you). There's a few posts here about this method. But I really think that the center of your cakes are level but not cut down far enough.

thank you so much Denise! I do use regular pans, I have not seen the round bottom in stores in my country (Honduras), but I will look for them. I was not checking the leveling (you can tell I'm a newbie, but with lots of desire to learn), and yes, I think my fondant was too thick (3/8"). I have a cake for this week, I will take all your tips into consideration! thank you very much for sharing your experience! have a super blessed day!