Cake Decorating Community - Cakes We Bake

HELP!  I'm doing my first fondant covered wedding cake soon.  I recently took a fondant basics class.  We had a little trouble with my fondant taking on air bubbles, but, finally, I successfully got my cake covered and decorated.  I took it home and observed it for several days.  By the second day, the fondant began to sag; it even looked like it developed a couple air pockets underneath.  Now I'm panicking at the thought of covering tiers as large as 14".  It seems the more research I do, the more confused I get!  What buttercream recipe do you use under fondant? 

So glad I found this site - so much good information in one place!  Thanks!

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Hi June, please can you explain how you use 1/2 buttercream 1/2 royal icing under the fondant?  I live in high humidity area and sagging fondant has posed atad of a problem on occasion.  Thanks, Mandy

June Kowalczyk said:

Ok Cheryl
Did you use Wilton fondant??? Yuk, tastes awful and is hard as a rock, terrible to get soft enough to work with. I usually make my own. If not I use a good fondant made with white chocolate. Satin Ice is also a good fondant. You must knead your fondant well to develop elasticity & remove air bubbles. I have never had a fondant sag or slide. Perhaps you put too much icing under the fondant? If your fondant isn't sealed by a good border, icing can melt and run out. That's happened to me. I now put meringue powder in my icing so it will "crust" & keep stable. If I am setting up outside, I will do 1/2 buttercream, 1/2 royal icing mixture. Did that in May when I had a cake in a hall that was a converted barn, open completely to the outside. Held up well.
If the cake is in a air conditioned hall, away from direct sunlight, you don't have to fuss too much about a "special" icing underneath your fondant.
Hope this helps. Any other questions, I will certainly try to answer. We're here to help.

Hi Mandy

When making Royal icing I thought that everything had to be grease free. How does the 1/2buttercream and 1/2  Royal icing mixture stick together?  It sounds like an answer to a dream, with the humidity this summer I have had problems with the few cakes I have made. 

Hi Carol, I have posted the question to June Kowalczyk - see her comment above - because I am very interested to know how it is done.  Keep your eyes posted to this page - I am sure we are going to have our answer soon :-)

Ok Mandy & Carol
I am on my IPod, so I can't "copy & paste" the royal icing recipe. Google "Alton Brown's" royal icing from The Food Network. Of all recipes I tried, his is a keeper. So make this, & your usual BC icing. I usually make my royal first, then when my BC is still in the mixer, & done I add in the royal icing I have made. Sometimes 1/2, sometimes the whole batch depending on the situation. By the way, I always add 1-2 tblsp of meringue prwd to my BC icing, and I still do that even when I am incorporating the 2 together. The other trick I have found during the "hot" months, is don't apply a thick layer of icing on top, or in the layers of the cake unless you know it will sit in a AC room. If cake is outside, no matter how good your icing is, if it sits long enough, there is the risk the icing could start to melt under the fondant. Now I think I mentioned I always "seal" my cakes around the edge with a icing border. That will stop any potential icing leak. I had a bride & groom's cake sitting in a Barn, no AC, from 10 am until 7 pmish? Before it was cut. It was VERY hot in their. Absolutely no problems.

Mandy, Thank you ever so much for your quick response and easy to follow directions.

 

Carol

Thank you June and thank you Carol - now I need to see where I can lay my hands on some meringue powder ...... in SA ........ EISH :-)

Your Welcome. :0)



Carol Dorrington said:

Mandy, Thank you ever so much for your quick response and easy to follow directions.

 

Carol

You are in SA, right Mandy? I think it is called Aciwhite by Bakels?? inundate your neck of the woods.



Mandy Nel said:

Thank you June and thank you Carol - now I need to see where I can lay my hands on some meringue powder ...... in SA ........ EISH :-)

June, how do you pronounce your surname?  When I was a child there was a radio programme called "Taxi" and the main character was a man named "Red Kowalski" and I remember it with such fondness - good ol days when we used to use our imagination to imagine characters and spend time as families chatting about them :-)  Ah well, progress is good too :-)  bye for now

Cool June - I actually do have some at home, a very small container - and I will give it a go when I make another batch of buttercream :-)

My husband is Polish. "W's" are pronounced as "V's". So it is:
Ko...Co...wal..val...czyk...chick. So Covalchick if written as it is pronounced.
Should have kept my maiden name.....Clark.... so easy!! :0)



Mandy Nel said:

June, how do you pronounce your surname?  When I was a child there was a radio programme called "Taxi" and the main character was a man named "Red Kowalski" and I remember it with such fondness - good ol days when we used to use our imagination to imagine characters and spend time as families chatting about them :-)  Ah well, progress is good too :-)  bye for now

Have a fabulous evening :-)  I have a bit of crafting to do with some sugarpaste - making some wild animals for a friend's grandchild - 1st birthday - too sweet x

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