Covering a cake board is not a necessary step when cake decorating but I always like to cover my boards, I just feel like it neatens everything up and gives a nice finish to your cake.
But how do you do it? Oh, I am so glad you asked!
A general rule is to pick a cake board 3” bigger than your cake. So if you are making an 8” cake, you’ll need at least an 11” board. Depending on how the cake is going to be decorated you might even want to consider something bigger.
I use supermarket icing to cover the cake board. Seems a bit of a waste to use your fancy icing just for the board!
Once you have the icing on the board it will be quite soft. Ideally, it will need a few hours to dry before you put your cake on it. Leave it overnight if possible!
Here’s what you will need:
Cake board the right size for your cake
Fondant icing - for an 11/12” board you’ll need about 350g of icing
Rolling pin
Smoother
Knife
And here’s what you do:
1. Lightly dust your work surface with icing sugar. Keep some on hand for extra dusting
2. Work your fondant a little to soften it and then start rolling - nice even pressure back and forth
3. Every now and again turn your fondant and dust a little icing sugar on your work surface. This will help your fondant stay even and stop it from sticking.
4. Once you have rolled the fondant to be roughly the same size as your board, lift it on to the board
5. Give it a couple of rolls while it’s on the board so it gets to all the edges and you get your fondant a little thinner.
6. Once the fondant is covering the whole surface, give it a quick smooth down with the smoother. If it’s sticking just dust a little icing sugar on the smoother.
7. Trim off any excess fondant. I do this by holding the board underneath and running the knife around the edge. Hold the knife flat to the board but angle it slightly towards you. The fondant might pull back a bit and this gives you a bit of leeway.
8. You don’t need the fondant to be too thick - really only a few millimetres. If it’s too thick, repeat steps 5, 6 & 7.
9. Once you have your desired thickness, make sure the excess has been trimmed and give it a final smooth. Leave to dry and then it’s ready for your cake!
10. Leave to dry and then it’s ready for your cake!
11. For the final touch, you can finish the board with some ribbon. Pritt stick works fine to adhere most ribbons - just be careful not to get it onto the icing! If you’re worried about try double-sided tape or some snazzy washi tape.
And there you have it! A quick and simple way to cover a cake board with fondant icing!
If you have any questions, you can as always send me an email at info@tallulahsbakery.com
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Happy baking!
Vicky xox
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