How to Make a Cake with Fondant Decorations
Fondant is what makes cakes look professionally finished – smooth surfaces, sharp corners, precise shapes you cannot achieve with buttercream alone. It takes practice. But the basics are accessible to any home baker willing to follow the process carefully.
What You Need
For the cake base:
- Baked and fully cooled cake layers
- Buttercream or ganache for the crumb coat
- A turntable, bench scraper, and palette knife
For the fondant:
- Ready-to-roll fondant
- A smooth rolling surface and long rolling pin
- Cornflour or icing sugar for dusting
- A fondant smoother
- A sharp knife or pizza cutter
For decorations:
- Fondant in additional colours
- Colour Mill oil-based food colouring for colouring white fondant
- Embossers, cutters, and stamps
- Edible glue or water for adhering decorations
Step 1 – Prepare the Cake
Fondant is only as good as what it is applied over. Bumps and uneven surfaces show through.
Level baked layers with a serrated knife. Stack and fill with buttercream or ganache. Apply a thin crumb coat – a first buttercream layer that traps crumbs – and chill for 30 minutes until firm.
Apply a second, thicker layer. Use a bench scraper at 90 degrees to the turntable for the sides and a palette knife for the top. The smoother this surface, the better the fondant will look. Chill again until firm.
Step 2 – Colour Your Fondant
White fondant is the starting point. Colour Mill oil-based food colouring produces the most consistent results – a small amount on the tip of a toothpick goes a long way.
Press the colour into the fondant and knead until fully incorporated. It will look streaky at first. Keep kneading. If it becomes sticky, dust hands lightly with cornflour.
Test a small amount before colouring a full batch – colours deepen slightly as the fondant rests.
Step 3 – Roll Out the Fondant
Dust your surface and rolling pin lightly with cornflour or icing sugar.
Roll from the centre outward, rotating the sheet as you go, to an even thickness of 3 to 4 millimetres. Thin fondant tears. Thick fondant bunches at the base.
For a standard 8-inch round cake, roll to a circle of approximately 35 to 40 centimetres in diameter – enough to cover the top and sides with some overhang.
Step 4 – Apply the Fondant
Lift the sheet carefully and drape it over the cake. Work quickly – fondant starts drying from the moment it is exposed to air.
Using a fondant smoother, start at the top and work outward and downward, pressing gently to remove air pockets. At the sides, smooth downward with your palms first, then use the smoother in a circular motion. Trim excess at the base with a sharp knife.
The base edge will not be perfectly clean the first few times. A ribbon or trim placed at the base covers this.
Step 5 – Make Fondant Decorations
Using embossers. Press firmly and evenly into a flat sheet of fondant, cut out the impressed shape, and adhere to the cake with edible glue or a light brush of water. Made By Confetti’s embosser range – including Eid Mubarak, floral, and geometric designs – produces professional-looking results without specialist skill.
Fondant cutouts. Roll to 3mm, press a cutter through, lift carefully with a palette knife. Allow to dry flat for at least 30 minutes before placing on the cake.
3D fondant shapes. Fondant holds better with a small amount of tylose powder or CMC mixed in – this acts as a stabiliser and speeds up drying. Shape by hand and allow to fully set before placing on the cake.
Fondant ribbons and borders. Roll thin, cut into strips with a straight edge, and apply horizontally or vertically along the cake sides.
Embossed textures on the cake surface. Press an embosser directly into freshly applied fondant before it dries – best within the first 20 to 30 minutes.
Step 6 – Final Details
Toppers go on last. A custom acrylic or cardstock topper from Made By Confetti presses cleanly into fondant via stick inserts. Edible glitter or luster dust applied with a dry brush adds shimmer to fondant surfaces and decorations.
Common Problems and Fixes
Fondant tears during application. Rolled too thin, too dry, or not large enough. Gather, knead briefly, re-roll.
Air bubbles. Pierce with a sterilised pin and smooth down gently.
Cracking at the base. Usually caused by the buttercream being too cold. Allow the chilled cake to warm slightly at room temperature for 10 minutes before applying fondant.
Decorations sliding off. Apply edible glue to both the decoration and the cake surface, not just one.
Fondant looks sweaty or shiny. Condensation from refrigerating and then returning to room temperature. Leave it – it dries within 20 to 30 minutes. Do not touch it while wet.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use any food colouring in fondant? Oil-based food colouring works best. Colour Mill oil-based is the professional standard for UAE bakers.
How far in advance can I make fondant decorations? 3D shapes and cutouts can be made up to a week ahead and stored flat in a cool, dry location.
How do I get sharp edges on a fondant cake? A fondant smoother and a ganache base rather than buttercream give the sharpest edges. Set the ganache coat overnight before applying fondant.
Can I refrigerate a fondant cake? You can, but condensation will form on the surface when it warms. Store loosely covered and allow to come to room temperature before the event.
Visit madebyconfetti.com to get all your cake supplies in the UAE.
