Cake bakers please help!

[TheTwirlyPoos]

I'm doing a 50 cake for a friend. She'd like it fondant iced. I've never iced anything that complicated before.

1. Any tips? I'll crumb coat first
2. Any fondant icing brand that is particularly good?!

Im so nervous...

I'm not a professional baker but I do make / decorate cakes. I crumb coat, place cake into the fridge then crumb coat again (then back into the fridge)

Fondant icing does differ in texture and taste depending on the brand. If you're worried, buy a proper brand (rather than a supermarket own brand).

Good luck 🤞

This is my third attempt at replying!

I recently used Renshaws Extra Stretch on a 12, a 10 and an 8" cake. Worked really well and was easy to handle even when rolled out.

Don't put your cake on a stand or turntable before you've got the fondant on - if it's raised up gravity can work against you and the fondant can tear. Instead get the fondant on and trim off the excess. You can then adjust, make sure it's level and smooth it on a turntable.

Don't try to economise - you'll get a better result rolling out too much fondant than just enough. It'll be easier than trying to ease the fondant out and you'll get a neater finish. Use a silicone or plastic rolling pin and cornflour for your work surface. A pizza wheel is by far the best tool for trimming fondant.

If you want to colour the fondant use gel food colouring, edible colour or lustre sprays or lustre powders.

I use a brand called the sugarpaste. It requires a lot of kneading but goes on really smoothly. I also use the panelling method rather than draping. There are loads of YouTube tutorials on it.

Thanks so much everyone!
I did think about panelling but I worry about the complexity of the shape.

I've got a fondant mat which is really helpful. I'll buy a different rolling pin, thanks for the tip. God I'm scared!

How thick should I be looking for?

A lot of videos and advice states 5mm, which seems a bit thick to me. You can roll out between guides of a specific thickness to get the same thickness throughout. Tbh, for a big cake, once I've rolled it out large enough that's good enough! It needs to be thin enough not be unpleasantly thick and thick enough not to tear easily.