How to Create a Fondant Pebbles Walkway Effect on Cake Boards

Fondant pebbles walkway effect on cake boards is not only an excellent way to decorate a cake board, it is also an awesome way to decorate a cake. I created this effect for a flowers and butterflies themed cake. The pebbles walkway was an excellent complement to the overall design of the cake.

This pebbles walkway is super easy to make and hardly requires any special skills. The best of all, it does not require any special tools or cutters, yet it creates a stunning effect to not just cake boards, but also cakes if it is used on cakes. 

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How to Create a Fondant Pebbles Walkway Effect on Cake Boards

These are the main supplies used to create this pebbles walkway effect using fondant.

And like I mentioned above, there were no special tools used in creating this effect on the cake board. These two supplies were all I used to come up with the pebbles walkway effect:

• Fondant – For this project, I used Satin Ice Chocolate fondant. 
• Shortening – I used shortening to stick the fondant onto the cake board. 

And this was how I create the pebbles walkway effect:

• Since I created this fondant pebbles walkway on the cake board, I did not cover the entire cake board so as to save time. Instead, I placed my fondant covered cake on the board, decorated it first, and then went on to decorate the board. 
• First of all, I brushed the cake board with shortening. Shortening helps to stick the fondant to the board. At the same time allows the pebbles to be removed and re-positioned when required.

• Next, I took the chocolate fondant and pinched out small pieces in random sizes and shaped them roughly into balls. At this point is it not necessary to shape the fondant into perfectly smooth balls. In fact, they should not be rounded so much as the not-so-round form will help in creating more natural shaped pebbles. And to avoid the fondant from drying out as I am covering the cake board,  I worked on the cake board in sections. 

• Next was to flatten the fondant balls. There are 2 ways to do this. The first method is to take the fondant balls in the pointer finger as shown. And press them flat with the thumb. 

• Another way is to take each fondant ball, place it on a mat dusted with icing sugar and then, press it down with the thumb.

Attaching the fondant pebbles to the cake board

• And that was how I created the pebbles. The next step was to form the walkway with the fondant pebbles. To do this, I took the first flattened fondant pebble and placed it on the cake board, close to the border of the cake. 

• Then I took another piece of round fondant, flattened it and then placed it next to the first fondant pebble. I repeated the process with random sized fondant pebbles.

• I repeated the process until the first batch of fondant balls have all been flattened and placed on the cake board. Here’s how I did it for the first section of the cake board.

• And before moving on to the next section of the cake board, to close the gaps between each stone, I pressed the fondant pebbles further. I moved them close to one another until the gaps disappeared.
• This is where the shortening on the cake board helps. I could move the pebbles so that they filled up any gaps that show the cake board underneath. This is simply because shortening does not dry hard or become sticky.

• And this was how the cake board looked like upon completion.

And that was how I made pebbles walkway effect on the cake board without and cutters or tools.

Click on the image below to see how I decorated the rest of the cake:

Hope you enjoyed this technique.

Happy cake decorating!