How to Cover a Square Cake with Fondant – Video

In this video we’ll show you how to cover a square cake with Satin Ice fondant.  I have found that using Satin Ice fondant is the best for covering cakes.  It is soft enough to roll out large amounts but sturdy enough to not have to worry about tears, cracks or bubbles.

Before you being to cover your cake in fondant, you need to know how much fondant you are going to need to use!  The first thing that I do is measure the height and diameter of my cake.  So lets say my square cake is a 4″ cube.  I would at least a 12″ diameter circle of fondant rolled out onto the board. The side (4″), plus the top (4″), plus the side (4″) equals the diameter in this case.  I always roll more fondant than needed, as I find it’s harder to work with too little (pulling/pushing it down the sides of the cake) than too much (cutting it off) covering your cake.

When you know how large the piece of fondant is that you are going to need to roll out, the next thing to figure out is how much fondant you will need to start rolling, in order to get the proper size on your mat.  Many people use a scale to do this, and there are many guides online available.  I don’t . . . I simply eyeball it.  If I’m short of fondant, I add more to the center of the circle and start to work my way out again. 

When you’ve got the fondant rolled out on a fondant mat, the next step is to get the fondant onto the cake.  Again, there are many ways to do this, but the way that I like the best is to flip the mat over and simply lay the fondant on the top of the cake, and then roll the mat off of the fondant.  I have success with this technique, but I know that many prefer to roll their fondant up onto their rolling pin, and then roll the fondant off of the pin on the cake.  Try both if you’re just learning and see which one you like better.

When covering a square cake with fondant, the most difficult area to cover are the corners.  Remember to work carefully and slowly, always starting at the top, and working your way down to the bottom of the board. 

Now, I like to work at the top and go around the entire cake, before I move down . . . go all the way around, smoothing and attaching the fondant to the cake with your fondant smoother or fingers, and then move down once I’ve gone all the way around.  I then repeat the process: go all the way around smoothing, and then move down a little bit.  In order to prevent bubbles from forming underneath the fondant, you want to make sure that you are also lifting the excess fondant on the board up and out.  This will help leave a smooth piece of fondant to attach to the cake, rather than a bunched up one trying to cram onto the sides of the cake.  When I work the corners on the square cakes, I work from the top to the bottom, pulling out the excess fondant.  If you are working slowly and carefully, you will eventually have a beautifully smooth fondant covered cake!  To cover a circular cake, you would follow the same steps as with a square one, but it is slightly easier since no corner fussiness is involved.

To remove the excess fondant from the bottom of the cake, I use either a sharp knife or a pizza cutter! 

Hopefully this helped you a bit with learning how to cover a square cake with fondant!  Let me know if you have any other questions! 

Happy baking!