We made a wedding cake this past weekend that turned into a disaster that eventually worked out. (sound familiar?) after a few changes of plan... Anyway...this adventure raised a few questions for me. Here goes!

1) How do you smooth fondant onto a round cake without getting those ripples at the bottom? We tried a few different things...no go.

2) I put a 6" cake on top of a 6" round cardboard piece and I want to wrap ribbon around the bottom...the 6" cardboard piece is bigger than the cake...how do I deal with that? I cut mine so that it was slightly smaller than the cake so I would be able to, however, I had nothing to grab to move the cake to place it on the other tiers.

When I think of other questions (and I know I will) I will post. Thanks in advance!

I think you did a great job on this! I haven't worked with sheets of fondant, so I can't answer your questions....but, terrific job on the cake!

start at the top of the cake and smooth the fondant out. next smooth the fondant over the top edge of the cake. work your way around the full top edge. gradually work your way down the cake. come down a little at a time always working your way right round the cake. If the icing does go into folds use one hand to gently pull it away from the cake and the other hand to smooth it back into position

A trick I've found works really well is to put the cake on top of a cake pand that is smaller than the cake. That way when you put the fondant on it doesn't bunch up at the bottom. It hangs and lets to smooth and cut it nicely across the bottom. With the board size thing... I always use a board the same size. Once you add crumb coat, frosting, and fondant, the board it completely hidden. Moving it is a pain. A large spatula can help.

Alright...so essentially I am doing nothing wrong in the cardboard...however...I see my problem with the fondant.

I will have to try it later because the way we were doing it was we would go all the way down one side at a time...then we would end up with this big fold of fondant at the backside and nowhere to put it...so what I am supposed to be doing is going 'down' the cake instead of 'around' the cake...is that correct?
I'll do it and see what other questions arise! Thanks!

Mixee

Also, I learned that you should always, immediately cut off any excess fondant around the bottom of the cake. llowing the excess to bunch up is what causes your ripples.

Just a note to add...the fondant smoother is great but I think also cup my hand and use it on the sides/bottom. The warmth of your hand helps with the smoothing!