Why did my fondant tear?

Question

I am having issues with my fondant tearing and cracking. I experimented a lot but didn't get the satisfactory results? What could be going wrong?

Some possibilities I thought of:

Am I using too much buttercream?
Am I rolling out the fondant too thin?
I read somewhere to apply piping gel before applying fondant. Could this be
the problem?

Kindly guide me through it, please.

What are you doing with the buttercream? You don't need any at all for many things you might do with fondant. At the moment it would be difficult to help you because to know what you're doing wrong we need to know exactly what you're doing. — Chris H, Oct 17 '18 at 12:45
Could you tell us your recipe, so people can see if there might be anything that might be a problem in that? How are you transferring the fondant to the item to be covered? How thick are you rolling it? Also, what is the temperate where you're rolling it out? — Joe, Oct 17 '18 at 15:42
@ChrisH I've usually seen buttercream frosting on cakes before the fondant is laid over it -- not put into the fondant itself, but a related layer in the process. — Erica, Oct 17 '18 at 20:49
@Erica I think I might have seen that once or twice, and if that's what the OP is doing it might go hand in hand with thin fondant as otherwise the total layer of icing would be very thick. I've always put the fondant straight on. — Chris H, Oct 17 '18 at 20:56

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Oct 17 '18 at 20:51

Without more details from you...

Try kneading the fondant more to make it more pliable and soft.
Work quickly after kneading.
Roll the fondant a touch thicker.
Try using less icing sugar/cornstarch if you are using these during rolling out.
Freeze your cake for a bit to stiffen the structure to avoid edges cutting into fondant sheet.
Gently adhere the fondant on the cake, holding the side/base of the cake before smoothing the entire fondant sheet onto the cake.

1 Answers1