*Bake your cakes in the pan shape of your choice as directed on the cake mix package.
*Let the cakes cool. Level the cake layers before stacking. Each of my layers usually consists of two layers of cake stacked together with icing of your choice between them.
*Store cakes in the refrigerator wrapped well in plastic wrap.
*Make fondant. Fondant works best when it is softened by the heat of your hands. There is a fine line between too cool to work with and too warm to work with. Store fondant you are not working with in the fridge.
*Use icing of your choice (I find whipped easiest to use to achieve a thin coat.) to apply a "crumb coat" to your prepared layered cake. The crumb coat should be very thin. The crumb coat should also be very even. This is your opportunity to fill in any imperfections of your cake and fill in the sides where the two layers come together. This layer can have crumbs showing, thus the name. The purpose is to help "glue" the fondant to the cake.
*Roll the fondant large enough to cover the top and the sides of the cake. I use a flexible mat and pick up the enire mat folded in half to lay over the cake.
*When rolling out the fondant I use confectioner's sugar sprinkled on everything. (Much like using flour when rolling out pie dough.)
*I have found an exacto knife to be a helpful tool to cut the fondant precisely.
*When making most of the top decorations I find it easiest to lay a whole layer of that color on top of my base fondant, lay my stencil on top of that, and use an exacto knife to cut out the pattern. Then lift the excess fondant off leaving your pattern piece! Otherwise, the fondant is too soft and won't keep its shape while transferring from you work space to your cake. (With small pieces you can cut it out on your work space and then chill it to firm it up before transferring it.) Be careful with red and black fondant because the color can soak into the base layer.
*I store the finished cake in the refrigerator until a couple hours prior to the celebration.
