cake decorating gurus please!

[misshardbroom]

I'm making a cake for a special occasion - it's a rich fruit cake with marzipan and icing.

I believe that real cake decorating purists cover the board with icing as well as the cake.

If I wanted to do this, what do I need to know? Any top tips? Or is it all terribly overrated and shall I not bother?

don't bother, just tuck the icing under the cake neatly.

I always cover the board a couple of days before the cake so that it is set. Then cover the cake on a thin board that is exactly the right size as it and tuck the edges of the icing under it.

Add cake to cake board. And nastiness that you get going onto the cake board from the cake or elsewhere just blows/brushes off because the icing has set.