I have posted ideas for DIY wedding cakes in the past - and when it comes to using fondant, I have always suggested practicing a few times first so you are comfortable with it. When Joanne asked me to do her wedding cake, I decided to take my own advice and signed up for a fondant cake decorating class at Evelyn’s Cake Decorating Supply shop in Winnipeg. My sister, who has attended classes here in the past, took the 2 hour class with me.
It was a wonderful experience - and I learned that with the right tools, fondant is actually very easy to work with: much easier then regular icing when it comes to a weddng cake! Here are some of the things I learned:
1. Premade fondant is easier to work with then homemade fondant.
2. The fondant starts to harden if it is left out to long. On a cake, the moisture from the cake keeps it moist. In other words: if you aren’t using it, put it in a sealed bag.
3. You should not use regular food coloring to color fondant. You need to use food coloring paste from a cake decor supplier. Dip a toothpick in the color paste, and stick it into the fondant. Kneed and stretch until the color is evenly spread out.
4. You should pick up a few sheets of study plastic from walmart (like the ones you see us using in the pictures. Draw circles on one as guides and lighty spray with cooking spray - then wipe off. You need the fondant rolled 6″ bigger then the cake: so 14″ for an 8″ cake, 16″ for a 10″ cake, etc. The side facing you when you roll will be the top, so you want to make sure it is smooth. Once you have it rolled, cover with a second sheet of plastic, ungreased. Flip. Remove the first sheet of plastic. Now you flip it onto the cake. I found the best was to have your hand in the middle underneath, and then line it up so when you flip, your hand is in the middle of the cake.
5. You need to coat the cake with something before putting the fondant on. We used gelatin - but for taste reasons, buttercream icing is a better choice. Right before you roll the fondant, you should cover your cake with the buttercream so it is ready.
6. We got a smoothing tool in our kits to smooth out the top and get rid of air that could cause bubbles later on. Then, you smooth the sides by pulling out pleats a little at a time and then smoothing down with your palm gently. Once you have it smooth all around, you trim the edges and use a small spatula to push the bottom in. On a real cake, you would leave a little extra and tuck it right under the cake a little.
7. You can use fondant in molds - much like playdoh! You smooth it into a mold and then pull it out with a toothpick. The ribbon and bow details on our cakes were made with molds. This is very useful! You can get chocolate/baking molds in many many shapes: hearts, cherubs, bows, etc. You could also roll the fondant flat and cut out shapes with cookie cutters! These details are then attached to the cake using some sort of glue: we used gelatin, you could use buttercream icing or melted chocolate as well.
So, that is most of what I learned, lol. I HIGHLY recommend finding a local class so you can learn first hand how to do this before you do your cake. It was a rewarding experience - and now that I know how easy it is to do - I see some fondant cakes for birthday parties and such in the near future:)
Oh, and I also learned that the waiter at Olive Garden is very cute - at least my sister thought so, lol.
AND (how could I forget this) ICING SUGAR - use it like flour: if the fondant is sticky, to cover the kneading surface, on the rolling pin and spatula, etc.
