How to frost a professional looking cake with pourable faux fondant in minutes!
Feb 27, 2013, Updated Sep 19, 2023
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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!
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!
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
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:
And for a pourable home-made icing, please visit this new post:
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.
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!
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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.
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.
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?
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!
Please show the cake from the front so we can see what it actually looks like when frosted this way. Thanks!
Added a side shot!
I LOVE this idea! Frosting is my nemesis. Thank you for the inspiration!
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?
I’d try warming the icing a tad more so it runs off more.
How about trying to lift the rack a little in a circular motion to gently encourage the frosting to continue its journey. 🙂
Kathy- you sure could!
Maybe you could frost the two layers separately, then put it together.
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!