Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Im doing a 4 tier stacked wedding cake, 2 tiers are fruit , 2 are sponge, what is the secret to getting perfectly smooth icing up the sides and top, Ive just finished a round birthday cake, I used a smoother and a spirit level, and a good brand of sugarpaste, but still it was not perfect.
I want this wedding cake to be absolutley perfect.
Would it be a good idea to royla ice the cakes 1st and then cover with sugar paste ?
Kind regards

Hi Vicky,

I wouldn’t royal ice the cakes and then cover in sugar paste. For the two fruit tiers, you will have a layer of marzipan and then either royal icing or sugarpaste, so you shouldn’t have too many problems getting it nice and smooth. I use little pieces of marzipan to fill in any little holes in the fruit cake before I cover.
For the sponges, I would advise you to use ganache instead of buttercream, it makes a much smoother covering. If you watch some of Paul’s videos, he shows how to get a really smooth finish 🙂
Kirsty x

Hi Vicky, i wouldn’t use icing under sugar paste either as kirsty says you would be better with ganache. Whether its buttercream or ganache, it just practice and time spent smoothing your fondant. Do you use two smoothers-this gives a much better finish than working with just one.
However that said I think many of us cakery people want perfection and are never completely happy with all aspects of our cakes. I imagine that your birthday cake was beautiful and the customer was very pleased with it. Wanting perfection is great it guides us to learn and adapt to new skills. but remember enjoy it and the customer usually says wow no matter what we see. happy caking sharon x

You’ll notice all the slight imperfections while the icing is wet, once it dries out it looks completely different, looks so much smoother. Royal icing is hard work, if you’re not used to applying it will leave far more noticeable imperfections than roll out icing. As advised above, ganache is a great way of getting a smooth flat surface. Once the decorations are all on, the cake will look great. If you wait for perfection you won’t be happy with any of your work. David Brice gave me a good piece of advice, he said it’s only the decorator who is dissatisfied with their work, no one else really notices because they are not minutely scrutinizing. People look at the whole cake not just tiny sections. If you look at any decorated cake closely enough you’ll find little dings and bumps so don’t fret and just enjoy what you’re doing. Actually Paul says in one of the tutorials if you stress it’ll show in your work, I’m not going to argue with that, it’s sound advice. x

Thank-you for all your advice, kirstybaird Im not marzipaning the fruit cakes, i was going to roll a thin layer of sugarpaste over them instead, do you think this would work in the same way as marzipan?