First let me state that when it comes to decorating cakes I know my limitations. Baking the cakes I am reasonably confident about but I know from past attempts that if I attempt anything too elaborate it will end up looking like one of the things they make fun of on Extra Slice!
However, I have undertaken to make a 21st birthday cake. I have hired cake tins in a 2 and a 1 shape and plan to do plain Madeira filled with jam and butter cream. For decorating my idea was to cover with ready made fondant icing, pipe a few rosettes around the top edge and stick on some ready made sugar paste flowers. See, not too ambitious. I hope.
In order to make it even easier I was hoping that you could buy the fondant icing not only ready made but also ready rolled. Well you can but all the brands I have seen (Tesco and Dr. Oetke) assume that you are covering a round cake so they sell it in a big disc.
Now this is my dilemma. I had assumed that the way to go would be to measure the depth of the cakes and the perimeter and then cut rectangle of icing to go around the side. I would then use the cake tins as a template to cut the top. However, if the icing comes in a big disc then this is going to be difficult and wasteful.
So I wondered whether the best way would be to put a big disc over the entire cake and then smooth the sides. Would this work or would it go all baggy at the sides from the extra icing?
Could any of you talented lades out there tell me how you would, or have, tackled it.
BTW Am I right in thinking that a thin layer of buttercream around the top and sides of the cake to stick the fondant on with gives a better finish. Crumb coating and all that. Just remembering Jane's fondant fancy debacle...