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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I was wondering if you could use this method and then still spritz it with water when set to put on an edible cake image?
If you cooled it in the fridge or preferably the freezer it should be hard enough, but I would make sure it is VERY well set and you’re gentile. I haven’t done it before but should try!
Gross – Pillsbury canned frostings (ALL of them) contain a high amount of trans fats.
They do. I very rarely use them, but I know a lot of people like the convenience.- I also have a recipe for homemade pourable icing with natural ingredients. You can find it above!
Have you ever tried to color the icing? I need red for a spiderman cake…Thanks!!!
Maura, this will be perfect! Its actually easier to mix the coloring in after microwaved. It will be great!
Probably too late to help Maura. But in my past experience trying to color icing red, you have to use A LOT, so it will make it quite runny. This was using regular food coloring though. I’m sure if you buy dye made for frosting it would work better.
I f you add coccoa powder along with the red coloring you will get a deeper red!!
Great idea ! I never thought of that….
Try an already pink dyed frosting like strawberry. That way, you don’t have to use a lot of coloring. Gel colors work best so it doesn’t get too runny. If you were to start from white and use a LOT of red coloring, it might end up tasting bitter so be careful and make sure you taste it.