• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Charlotte's Lively Kitchen logo

  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Baking & Desserts
      • Biscuits & Bars
      • Cakes
      • Cheesecakes
      • Chocolates
      • Cupcakes
      • Icing
      • Ingredients
      • Jams, Curds & Spreads
      • Meringues
      • Savoury Baking
      • Scones
      • Sweet Sauces
      • Vegan Baking
    • Lunch & Dinner
    • Side Dishes & Sauces
    • Breakfast
    • Drinks
  • Conversions
    • Grams to Cups Conversions
    • Oven Temperature Conversions
    • All Baking Tools
  • The Food Calendar
  • Subscribe
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • HOME
  • RECIPE INDEX
  • – BAKING & DESSERTS
  • – LUNCH & DINNER
  • – SIDE DISHES & SAUCES
  • – BREAKFAST
  • – DRINKS
  • CONVERSIONS
  • CALENDAR
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
  • PRIVACY
×
Home » Baking Tools » How Much Fondant Do I Need To Cover My Cake?

16 May 2018

How Much Fondant Do I Need To Cover My Cake?

One question I get asked quite regularly is “how much fondant do I need to buy to cover my cake?” So I decided to create a calculator where you enter the size of your cake and it’ll give you an estimate of the amount needed.

Skip to the calculator… Round Cake or Square/Rectangular Cake

An interactive calculator tell you how much fondant you need to cover your cake

Calculating the amount of fondant needed isn’t an exact science as it depends on how thick you want it to be, how good you are at rolling it out to the exact shape you need it and how much excess you’ll have (I usually roll mine out to be about 1cm wider than it needs to be all around, which then allows me to get it nice and smooth and to trim it neatly at the base of the cake).

This calculator gives you an indication of how much you need to buy so you know you’ll have enough, but should prevent you getting carried away and buying far too much.

It assumes your fondant is rolled out to be 4-5mm thick and you have 1cm excess fondant all the way around the cake.

In order to calculate the amount of fondant then you’ll need to measure the height of your cake. This can be a bit tricky if you’ve not made it yet! As a guide, if you’ve made one of my vanilla or chocolate birthday cakes then a 2-layer cake sandwiched with buttercream and a thin layer of buttercream on top will be about 9cm high and a 3-layer cake about 13.5cm high.

birthday present cake
A slice of chocolate birthday cake filled with chocolate buttercream and covered in white fondant icing with multi-coloured fondant dots.
Chocolate Birthday Cake
Cars-Cake
The Cake Gallery

Round Cake


Cake Diameter (cm)

Cake Height (cm)

Amount of fondant = 0 grams


Square or Rectangular Cake


Cake Size (cm)
x

Cake Height (cm)

Amount of fondant = 0 grams


An interactive calculator tell you how much fondant you need to cover your cake

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Fiona Wheldrick says

    January 20, 2024 at 5:07 pm

    HI. I am making my friends wedding cake and she has asked me to cover it in ivory coloured fondant icing to match her wedding dress. Any suggestions as to which is the easiest method or product that I should use?

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      January 24, 2024 at 12:35 am

      I’m sorry, I’ve never researched or used an ivory type colour. You might find that some cake decorating groups on facebook are a good place to start for advice. Good luck with the cake!

  2. Lyn Gibbons says

    May 17, 2023 at 1:45 pm

    Thank you so much for the calculator, it is a god send.
    Attempting to ice a 4 tier wedding cake for my great niece and just didnt know where to start with quantity.
    Interesting that you buy supermarket own brand. I have been thinking l need to buy Renshaw, but maybe l will think again.

    Reply
  3. Susan morgan says

    October 28, 2021 at 2:42 pm

    Hi have you a preferred brand of fondant?
    Thanks

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      November 01, 2021 at 10:06 pm

      I don’t, I tend to use whatever my local supermarket has. They’re all very similar.

  4. Gloriya says

    September 28, 2021 at 3:11 pm

    All your recipes have turned out to be perfect. Love them. Do you have a recipe for a home made fondant??

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      September 28, 2021 at 3:17 pm

      I don’t sorry, I always opt for ready-made.

  5. Ian Morgan says

    February 24, 2021 at 8:19 pm

    Wonderful calculator, but how thick do you roll the fondant out to?

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      March 02, 2021 at 4:18 pm

      I roll mine to be about 4-5mm thick.

  6. Polly Watson says

    February 14, 2020 at 2:31 pm

    This is a Great help – thank you very much!

    Reply
  7. Pam says

    August 03, 2019 at 4:50 pm

    Thank you, that will save a lot of guess work.

    Reply
  8. Sandra Jones says

    June 18, 2019 at 2:34 pm

    Thank you for the fondant calculator really helpfull

    Reply
  9. Claire says

    December 28, 2018 at 8:18 pm

    Really helpful article, thanks!

    Reply
  10. Kate - Gluten Free Alchemist says

    June 19, 2018 at 11:19 am

    There are definitely times when I have needed a fondant calculator! Bookmarked xx

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      June 20, 2018 at 1:52 pm

      I hope you fine it useful 🙂

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Rate this recipe




Primary Sidebar

Charlotte Oates about me

Hi, I'm Charlotte Oates. Welcome to my lively kitchen where I share delicious, simple baking recipes, baking tools and calculators, and lots of tips and tricks.

Find out more
Facebook logo - when clicked this will open the Charlotte's Lively Kitchen Facebook page Pinterest logo - when clicked this will open the Charlotte's Lively Kitchen - Pinterest page Instagram logo - when clicked this will open the Charlotte's Lively Kitchen Instagram page Twitter logo - when clicked this will open the Charlotte's Lively Kitchen twitter page

Latest Post

  • A cartoon calendar with the text The Food Calendar UK Food Days, Weeks and Months
    The Food Calendar 2024 – International & UK Food Days, Weeks and Months

Featured Recipes

  • Lemon Drizzle Loaf Cake
  • Biscoff Cake
  • A no-bake Oreo cheesecake topped with whipped cream and Oreos.
    Oreo Cheesecake (No-Bake)
  • Chocolate Orange Cake
    Chocolate Orange Cake
  • Lemon cake topper with lemon buttercream on a white cake stand.
    Easy Lemon Cake (All-In-One Lemon Sponge)
  • No-bake lemon cheesecake
    Easy Lemon Cheesecake (No Bake)
  • Lemon Buttercream
  • Easy Coffee Cake - A delicious all-in-one coffee sponge topped with smooth coffee buttercream. Simple to make and packed full of flavour. PLUS - How to make this cake in any size of round, square or rectangular tin. 
    Easy Coffee Cake
  • White-Chocolate-Buttercream-2
    White Chocolate Buttercream
  • A close up of a coffee cupcake topped with a swirl of coffee buttercream on a cooling rack with more cupcakes behind.
    Coffee Buttercream

Footer

About

Contact

Privacy Policy

↑ back to top

Copyright © 2024 CLK Digital Limited