Resource: Theresa Happe is a baker, cake decorator and co-creator of CakesWeBake.com, a social network for cake decorating where you will find thousands of cake photos, cake decorating videos, a live chat and forum.
The Perfectly Frosted Cake
When you start out cake decorating, tackling the buttercream can be frustrating. If the icing isn't smooth, it affects the whole look of the cake. While it does take some practice to get it down pat, there are a few things you can do to get better results.
Chill the cake before you start frosting. A warm cake is more apt to break apart. Chill before and after filling it. Often, if you frost the cake right after you fill it, later on the filling will bulge out of the middle of the cake. By chilling first, the cake has time to settle and anything that wants to squeeze out of the sides can be smoothed with the spatula.
It's very helpful to use a lazy suzan. It allows you to turn the cake continuously while icing so you have fewer lines from stopping and starting again. One way to ice to apply a crumb coat. This can either be a thin coat of butter cream or an apricot glaze. To use an apricot glaze, thin apricot jam with hot water and press it through a strainer. Then brush it on the cake with a pastry brush. Chill it and give it time to firm up.
A quick way to get the icing on the cake is to use a large cake decorating tip to pipe it all over the cake before spreading it. The #789 Wilton cake decorating tip works great for this. It's such a big tip that you'll need to devote a cake decorating bag to it because the hole is much too big to hold a coupler. Once you cut the hole, just drop the tip right into the bag. If you're not using this tip then carefully place the icing on the side of the cake and push from the middle of the icing outward. You don't want to drag the spatula across the cake. That pulls crumbs into the icing and can tear the cake. Medium consistency buttercream works best. If it's too thin, it will slide off the cake. Too thick and it will tear the cake and be very difficult to spread.
Hold the tip so the lines are facing the cake. Pipe a line around the base of the cake. Move up and pipe another line around. Continue until you get to the top but let the icing go a little bit above the top. (This helps you create a nice edge to the cake). Smooth the sides with either a metal spatula, a bowl scraper or a spackle knife by holding it vertically and at a 45 degree angle to the cake. Spread while turning the lazy suzan. Scrape off the excess icing. Repeat until the sides look pretty even.
Now pipe icing on the top of the cake. With your spatula, pull the icing from the edge towards the middle of the cake, scraping off the excess icing as you go. Once you've done this to the entire top of the cake, hold the spatula flat against the cake and pull it straight across from one end to the other. If icing sticks out off of the edges, carefully scrape it away with the spatula.
Not every type of butter cream crusts. If you do use crusting butter cream, you can do the next step to get the icing really smooth. Let the cake sit for at least 15 minutes. Touch the icing and see if it's hardened. If it comes off on your finger, wait a little longer. Now, take either a Viva paper towel (patterned paper towels won't work for this), wax paper or parchment paper and lay it on the side of the cake. Use the spatula again to smooth across the paper towel a few times. Move the paper towel to the next spot and repeat. Do this to the entire cake. The wax paper and parchment paper don't bend as easily but they will still work.
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