How to frost a professional looking cake with pourable faux fondant in minutes!

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How to frost a professional looking cake with pourable faux fondant icing in minutes– with store bought icing! Get a smooth cake frosting finish for birthday cakes, wedding shower and baby shower cakes and more!
the easiest way to frost a cake get a faux fondant look in seconds- you POUR store bought icing! #cake #party #fondant #recipe

Ever want a delicious, beautiful cake but don’t have a ton of time to make it? Take a bunch of Cake Decorating Classes, but don’t love the amount of effort you have to put in to make a beautiful cake?

Or read about pourable fondant or how to smooth icing to look like fondant- but you just don’t have the time to pull it off before a big event?

It’s time to learn How to frost a professional looking cake with pourable faux fondant in minutes!

How to pour frosting to look smooth like fondant- I love this hack for storebought frosting!

I have the most awesome trick in the world for you- you can get a smooth cake that looks like poured fondant in minutes.

And the best part? You will be using store bought icing, so you can do it in any flavor in just minutes! It is easy to color, flavor, add sprinkles, or any other decorations.

This is the perfect way to get a professional looking finish for birthday cakes, baby shower cakes, cake pops, brownie pops, shaped cakes, petit fours and even wedding cakes!

Such an awesome trick- pour canned frosting to look smooth like fondant!

Pourable Faux Fondant Icing

To do this trick, you’ll need: 

-A cake, cupcake, bundt cake, or cake pop

-A can of store bought icing (2 if a particularly large cake- more than 1 box worth), I use Pillsbury Creamy Supreme because it has a great flavor and sets well

-A microwave

-Cooling rack

-thin, flexible cutting mat

-sprinkles or other decorations, optional

easiest way to frost a cake ever- this is awesome! get a faux fondant look with store bought icing taste #cake #party #fondant #recipe

First off, set your cool cake on a cookie rack over a flexible cutting board. This will help catch leftover icing that you can scoop up and re-use if needed. 

Next, microwave your frosting for two 15 second bursts- it should be completely melted but not hot. 

Let it sit for a minute or two to cool a bit (you want it still liquid- just no warmth). 

Then, in a circular motion, pour over your cake. Once you have used about 1/4 the can of icing and it looks pretty covered, let it sit and firm up for about 10 minutes. 

Microwave the icing again, for 15 seconds. 

Repeat the icing step to get a thicker, more even layer. 

Repeat once more if needed after cool. 

Once cake has set, slide it off cooling rack and onto clean cake plate. 

If there are any large lumps or mistakes in the frosting, you can smooth them out after the icing is set by dipping your fingers in water and softly rubbing them out. Don’t have a ton of water on your fingers- but you want them to be slippery so they don’t stick. You can radically smooth out lumps and lines this way!

Decorate with sprinkles, fondant shapes, etc. Enjoy!! 

I’ve made a short video showing the process I use (detailed video coming soon!). Check it out here, and be sure to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to my channel for more easy recipes and ideas!

For a slightly tweaked version to get picture perfect faux fondant poured icing cupcakes everytime, please check out this post:

the easiest way to frost a cupcake EVER- faux fondant poured icing cupcakes! These are GENIUS!

homemade pourable icing- this is an awesome way to get a faux fondant look in minutes! So easy- why didn't I think of this!

And for a pourable home-made icing, please visit this new post:

How to get a professional faux fondant cake look in minutes- this tip at sweetcsdesigns.com is life-changing! There are also ways to do it for cupcakes with homemade frosting or doughnuts!

 

A couple of tips and tricks if you run into problems: -if your cake looks lumpy, take a knife or offset spatula and gently smooth the icing.

Then add a thin layer of icing that is slightly warm over the cake -if your icing runs like crazy, it is too warm. let it set up for a minute. -if all else fails, sprinkle that bad boy up.

Sprinkles are instant beauty for cakes and kids love sprinkles!

Wait a couple of minutes before adding sprinkles or decorations.

Such an awesome trick- pour canned frosting to look smooth like fondant!

Update: I used Cherrybrook Kitchen’s gluten free Chocolate Cake Mix and Pillsbury Creamy Supreme frosting for the people who asked.

Again, if you run into lumps or areas you don’t love, you can go back over it with your fingers lightly when still very wet or after it has set with wet fingers.

This just makes the icing spreadable, like a petit four. For a perfect result you will have to be sure your cake is level and not super lumpy just like any other cake you decorate. Love this idea? Sign up for daily emails from Sweet C’s Designs!

And be sure to follow me on pinterest where I am always finding something fun!

Sweet C’s Designs
this is the best thing I found on Pinterest- POUR ICING to look like fondant!

About Courtney

Courtney loves to share great wine, good food, and loves to explore far flung places- all while masting an everyday elegant and easy style at lifestyle blog Sweet C’s Designs. Sweet C's devoted to finding the best food and drinks you'll want to make or find, around the world!

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153 Comments

  1. lr says:

    In my teaching years, a big ol 17 year old, who probably tilted out at 250 lbs, told me that his favorite thing from childhood was that his Mom let them decorate their own birthday cakes. After that, I would make and frost a simple cake, provide some toppers, etc., and let my kids go for it.

  2. Dan Erskine says:

    Great idea, but I would suggest removing the frosting from the original plastic container into a microwave safe container before heating in the microwave.
    Thanks for the tip.

  3. Beth says:

    So after you put icing on and let it sit,, if there is any extra icing on the plate surrounding the cake is there a trick to get it off so you have a clean plate around the cake?

    1. Courtney O'Dell says:

      That is why I ice it on a cooling rack… the icing drips down below the cake. Then you can slide the cake off the rack and onto a clean cake plate!

  4. Brittany says:

    Please show the cake from the front so we can see what it actually looks like when frosted this way. Thanks!

    1. Courtney O'Dell says:

      Added a side shot!

  5. Kathryn says:

    I LOVE this idea! Frosting is my nemesis. Thank you for the inspiration!

  6. Cyn says:

    I tried this with the two different-sized layers like you show at the top. I had LOTS of frosting pool in the corner between the two layers. When I tried to “fix” it I just made it look worse. Any suggestions?

    1. Courtney O'Dell says:

      I’d try warming the icing a tad more so it runs off more.

    2. Kathy says:

      How about trying to lift the rack a little in a circular motion to gently encourage the frosting to continue its journey. 🙂

      1. Courtney O'Dell says:

        Kathy- you sure could!

    3. Lucy says:

      Maybe you could frost the two layers separately, then put it together.

      1. Courtney O'Dell says:

        You certainly could. You;d just want to be careful when adding the top cake on. Store bought frosting sets beautifully, but it wont harden unless you get it really cold, so it could smudge when moving. But I am NOT a cake decorating pro (hence the need for this method) so others might be better at that than I!