I read about her spackling paste in her Well Decorated Cake book and it sounds neat and tasty. I wondered if anyone has tried it. She mixes cake pieces/scraps, filling and icing together to make a paste, then uses it to fill the sides and flaws in her cakes. She sometimes crumb coats under this layer. For fondant she applied a crumb coat, spakling coat, a thin layer of icing and then the rolled fondant. Can also be used between the layers. She says people think it's a nutty filling.

I saw a question on here recently about pecan filing, but couldn't find it again to ask if it might have been this spakling paste from Toba.

I'm going to try it on the next cake I make for the family.

I have used it and I think it works great! It also hides the areas where the layers were torted and gives a smoother finish.

I've tried it and it really works haven't really noticed the nutty flavor. I use to just fill the holes with icing but it was to mushy adding the cake scraps and letting set a few hours in fridge firms it up and it holds really well. I do the crumb coat after the spackling then ice.

my first thought when i read the book was "eeeew" and it seems like just an extra unnecessary step...but i havent tried it so i dont know, it may be an amazing thing worth all the extra effort...?...

i posted a thread question a couple of weeks ago about coconut pecan icing/filling....could that have been what you saw? anyway' nope mine was good ole' homemade german chocolate pecan frosting- which by the way, was AMAZING!

I have started using this instead of icing for the dam for the filling in the layers. Since it is so thick I don't have to worry about the filling bulging. I also use it to fill in the crack from where the layers of the cake are put together to make a smooth surface. I had to use it this weekend on the top of one of my cakes where a small part of the middle stuck to the pan and made a hole. Worked great! To me it just tastes like a cake ball!

I use it to fill in holes and it works great. I think the "nutty" idea comes from the texture more than anything.

this spackling paste sounds great! please share the recipe.

Dandelion - it's just a matter of adding cake crumbs to frosting and filling, to make it like a "spackle" (thick paste). I usually only use frosting, as I don't always have a separate filling.

use it for fondnaT cakes; like it!

Just tried it for the first time today. I am making a princess cake, which is something I have wanted to do for a long time. I was making the Swedish type that is a dome shape covered with green marzipan or fondant and decorated with white flowers and scrolls. I saw it by chance while looking through her book at my local Barnes and Noble. I thought it sounded interesting and decided to try it to see if I could get a nice smooth dome. It worked great. The cake is currently setting up in my refrigerator waiting for the final coat of mock French buttercream, the fondant layer and the gumpaste and fondant decorations which I will do later today.

My Spackle for this cake consisted of two cups of almond cake crumbs, 1/3 cup almond filling, and about 3/4 cup mock French buttercream. I processed everything in the food processor and stirred in about a 1/2 cup of powdered sugar to get the desired consistency since I really should have had 1 more cup of crumbs. It turned out kind of a tan color and had the consistency of a sticky clay, It smoothed on very will and covered the imperfections and where the layers joined. Thanks to the color, right now my cake looks like one of those straw bee hives. Once I get the buttercream and fondent on though,  it will look great.

For those of you who might be interested in the mock French buttercream, here is the recipe. I adapted it from the book "What's New Cupcake" by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson. It tastes and feels amazingly like true French buttercream but without all the hassle. I wouldn't try to do elaborate decorations with it, but it is stable and supports decorations and fondant well, and it tastes good as well.

3 sticks (1 and 1/2 cups  or 3/4 pound) butter. You can use salted or unsalted it doesn't seem to make much difference.

 2 14 oz oz containers marshmallow cream

1/2 cup confectioner's sugar plus more for consistancy

1 teaspoon of your favorite extract or 1 tablespoon of your favorite liqueur, rum or brandy. (skip artificial butter flavor. It really doesn't work it this frosting.)

Soften the butter,( about 15 seconds on high in the microwave works for me) cut into 1 inch chunks and beat until fluffy. Scrape bowl. Add the first jar of Marshmallow cream. Beat until smooth. scrape bowl. Repeat with the next jar. Add the sugar and flavoring and beat until light and fluffy. At this point you can add powdered sugar based on the  taste and consistency you need. I used two cups to make it a little stiffer this time but you could probably get away with adding up to 4 cups if you needed to.

Got my cake covered with the buttercream and the fondant and it looks great. The Spackle mix really helps keep it smooth.