12 Steps To The Perfect Cake Covering

1. Find what works for you

You're unique, what you like others might not, from your taste in music, clothes, food to cars, holidays and much more. The same applies to sugarpaste, each brand is slightly different. It’s important you find a brand you like and can work with.

2. Temperature, temperature, temperature

Sugarpaste is basically glucose and icing sugar, therefore for better or worse it’s consistency is dictated by temperature. Sugarpaste that’s too hot will be sticky, leave marks and not hold its shape well. On the other hand sugarpaste that is too cold will be hard, difficult to work with and can crumble and tear. So it’s important you learn to manage the temperature of your sugarpaste.

Large quantities of sugarpaste are best stored out of direct sunlight and in a cool, dry place. Then the day before you want to use it store it at room temperature.

3. Failing to prepare, is preparing to fail!

If covering a cake is all about obtaining and maintaining the correct working temperature you need to make sure your paste isn’t going to sit there getting too hot or cold while you get your things ready. So make sure you have everything you need at your disposal and you have enough room to work in.

4. Measure twice, cut once

When you think you’re ready to cover your cake, stop. Look at your cake more closely. Are there any special points you need to take into account? Things like sharp corners or odd bumps in novelty cakes can ruin the finish if you go in all guns blazing. Plan what you're going to do, where you need to be careful and after you’ve read the rest of this guide how your going to do it.

5. What you knead to know

Kneading your sugarpaste is all about getting heat into it. Use the heel of your hands to compress and push the sugarpaste away from you, then fold it back over itself, turn the sugarpaste and repeat. After a few kneads, fold the sugarpaste in on itself to create a flat top. If the top is stress and crack free, its ready to roll.

6. Rolling out the sugarpaste

Rolling out sugarpaste is an art in itself. To start, dust the working area with a light covering of icing sugar. If your rolling out coloured icing you need to use as little as possible, especially with black, red and dark blue. Using a non-stick rolling pin and gently roll the sugarpaste. After a few rolls turn the sugarpaste round 90°, DO NOT turn it over. Continue to roll and turn the paste, check it can move freely from the table, if not, use some more icing sugar. Roll the paste to approximately 1cm/½inch thick. You should now be left with a rough circle of sugarpaste without any cracks or imperfections.

7. Avoiding air bubbles

Even the best decorators will get air bubbles in the paste from time to time. If you do, use a sharp knife or pin to burst the air bubble. Then use your finger to push out all the air from one end of the bubble to the other.

8. The big secret

I’ve been drumming into you that covering a cake is all about the temperature of the sugarpaste. Well I’m not about to stop now, although you got plenty of heat in the paste when you kneaded it most of this will now of dissipated and you’ll be left with constantly hardening paste. So the main secret for covering a cake is as follows. Using the palm of your hand, rub the surface of the sugarpaste. It should start to become shiny, do this until the whole surface is polished.

9. Covering the cake

You need to work quickly here to keep the heat in your sugarpaste. Fold the sugarpaste over your rolling pin and place on the cake polished side up (as you had it on the table). If the top of your cake is flat, use the rolling pin and gently roll the paste onto the top of the cake. This will remove any air bubbles.

10. Gently does it

Carefully hold the sugarpaste off of the edges of the cake. Then using your hand, in a cupped shape, gently push the paste against the cake in a controlled way, making sure you exclude any air. Once you’ve got it placed correctly cut off most of the excess (leave approximately 1cm.)

11. Repairing cracks

A sharp corner, drying paste, too much pressure. Cracks can appear in your sugarpaste for many different reasons. Even using all of the above techniques it still can happen from time to time. However there are ways of covering them up or even repairing them completely. Cracks are due to the paste being stretched too far. Most cracks can be repaired by simply rubbing around and moulding the sugarpaste together.

12. Smoother operator

You now need to smooth and polish the surface of the sugarpaste to perfection. Use a ‘smoother’ to achieve this finish, this will stop you leaving marks and finger prints in/on the paste. Once you’ve smoothed the cake, cut off the remaining excess paste, then using the straight edge of the smoother neaten up the cut.