Can I just say, I.HATE.SQUARE.CAKES! I never want to do one again! The corners are the biggest pain. I am doing a 4 tier square wedding cake right now and getting all the lines straight is driving me nuts. Cakes should be round. Plus, this "simple" cake is covered completely with sotas. I have gotten the biggest tier done and out of the way but my hand is killing me. I thinned my icing down and it still is making my hand cramp. Sorry I just had to vent to someone!

AWhat pans do you use? I read somewhere that magic line pans have the straight corners which make it easier. Not sure how true that is....but those are the pans I have

AI agree that Magic Line are excellent. And sotas are a very forgiving design.

AI don't have that kind of pans. I know some of my problems are the pans. I just prefer doing round cakes. I think most of my frustration was in doing the sotas. The are super easy and like leah_s said hide so much but my hands are killing me! Here is the finished cake. I was pretty happy with how it turned out. Don't like the picture but the lighting at the hall was terrible.

AOops, it might help if I attach the pic[ATTACHMENT=1611]1010229_10201688676398759_6723633636358731671_n.jpg (35k. jpg file)[/ATTACHMENT]

I think you did an amazing job!!!!

ALooks great!

You did a wonderful job. What size are your cakes? I have to do square ones in a month too and like you I prefer rounds.I have been watching cup a dee's you tube tutorial to get some ideas.

ABeautiful job on the cake. The irony of it all- cake looks easy to make but the reality is the complete opposite of easy!

What are sotas?

AYep, beautiful cake. And, I'd like to know too, what are sotas? I was wondering when I was reading this thread the other day but didn't want to ask in case it was a stupid question!

A

Sotas are cornelli lace on crack.  Basically overlapping squiggles:

http://www.wilton.com/technique/Sotas

At first I thought it said "sofas…" 

I sold my square pans on ebay…I only make round cakes or sometimes (rarely) sculpted cakes, no rectangles for me either!

AThanks AnnieCahill. Cornelli lace on crack- hilarious! Then I looked at the link and laughed a bit more! :-D

Thanks everyone. I actually had never heard of them either until I had to figure out how the cake in her picture was decorated. They are super easy and look great but are a killer on the hand!

Sotas: almost like someone started to do something intricate, and said "ahhhhhh, heck with it, I'm just squiggle this icing all over and hope for the best"

AIronically, I thought cornelli lace would be hard, but I find it much easier than most other piping techniques, and a thousand times easier than smoothing that darn buttercream! Maybe because I free motion quilt, which is the same idea?

I hope that smooth BC goes out of style soon!!, :)