Hello,

I did a couple cakes a week or so ago, project for myself only, and I used indydebi's buttercream. Loved how it crusted so firm, after it was all done! Great taste! I was using some new (for me) tools, like my bench scraper and tried viva and melvira etc. for smoothing.

However, I have seen threads on here where people said they loved melvira method and they got the cake "smooth as glass" really fast.  I felt like the buttercream was easy to spread but wasn't super easy to smooth, especially not quickly and I am wondering what that might mean I did wrong..  When I did the step with the bench scraper (taking off lot of icing), I did see a basic smoothing effect, like I got my tops flat quickly and the sides pretty even... but the texture of the icing was still very rough. And the viva or melvira (I tried both) needed a lot of passes to remove the rough, how can I describe it? spackled? texture.

Soo does it sound like..

A) Icing needed to mix longer?

I used a KA Pro HD (it has a 5qt bowl) and I filled the mixer to the top with 3 batches of buttercream. Followed the recipe/tips I have seen here quite closely. Beat the crisco first for 15 min, etc etc. Overall beating time for whole recipe was like 35min I expect.. 

or B) icing needed to be a thinner consistency?

or C) is the bench scraping the problem? if I did the hot water+dry the scraper, would that produce a smooth surface faster, to then use the viva or melvira on?

or D) perhaps I need to let it crust even longer... would it smooth faster if it has crusted a couple hours or would that be too firm to smooth easily?

Thanks!

Disappointed to see no tips! :( Sorry I didn't have photos, maybe that would help someone understand my questions...  Anyone have a few words of advice? Icing some more cakes this week. Thanks!

Ahttp://cakecentral.com/t/1353/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-buttercream

AWhen using the viva towel I let my cake crust up somewhere from 10- 15 minutes no longer then that. ...hth

Ahttp://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vgcx5GZTnM

Ahttp://cakecentral.com/a/perfectly-smooth-buttercream-icing

Thanks very much for the reply! I have seen those links you shared, accept not that youtube vid, thanks.

My questions weren't really about basic smoothing how-to but rather about the icing consistency and its effect on the smoothing process. In the youtube video you linked, her icing is very creamy/smooth. When its spread on the cake it looks rather like she is spreading a thick crisco.  The indydebi BC I mixed up, I didn't find to be so creamy, although as I said it was spreadable, but didn't quickly smooth like glass (with either melvira or viva) and I was hoping some lovers of indydebi's BC might speak from experience to help me decipher what I did wrong...  As I asked in my original post.. I am not sure if I needed to have thinner icing? or some other issue was at a fault? etc.

The recipe says 1/3 to 1/2 cups half and half depending on consistency needed.  For icing a smooth cake, I wonder if people find it is more consistent to need the 1/2 cup amount?

For those who use indydebi's BC (I know there are tons who do!!), do you find it be a recipe that smooths really easy, and is creamy/smooth in the bowl?  If yes..then I probably didn't have mine the right consistency.

The photos I saw in thread where indydebi posted example of what her frosting looks like, I thought was close to what mine looked like however, so I am little unsure.

AI have found that using whole milk instead of half and half make for a better consistency for icing a whole cake. I also use 1-1/2 cups, as opposed to 1-1/3 cups for a triple batch. My 6 qt. KA barely handles a triple batch. Maybe you should try milk and a double in a 5 qt.?

AIf you have a stand mixer, run your icing on low with the paddle for about 2 minutes. Knocks the air out of it for me