So I tried my hand at my first FBCT....and let's just say it didn't turn out too well. It was just a trial thing that I was making just to make, so it's not a big deal. I do need to learn from my mistakes, though! So here's what happened:

I did the transfer, with BC frosting on a piece of waxed paper, just like the example said. I froze it on a cutting board so it woud be flat. It looked great at this point!

I took it out of the freezer, and it was still looking good. I flipped it on my cake, and then carefully smoothed it out.

Finally, I went to CAREFULLY and slowly remove the wax paper, and low and behold, it looked like crap. Half of the buttercream stuck to the waxed paper.

I did this all in under a minute or minute and a half, so I don't think it had anything to do with the BC thawing out.

What on earth should I do next time??!!

did you smooth with your hand?? If so that started to melt it, if you place the transfer on to your cake leave the waxed paper on and pop the whole thing into the fridge, you should be able to peal the waxed paper right off with out a problem.

There are a couple of reasons for this...

Make sure you use a part butter/ part shortening buttercream. They freeze differently. I think if you use all crisco it won't freeze hard enough.

Make sure you freeze at least an hour. It should be hard to the touch.

When you flip it on the cake, quickly press it into your buttercream base coat. You can press it down more with a fondant smoother, but the previous poster is right, if you use your hand it will melt your buttercream very quickly and you have a huge mess. Remove your paper and it should be good to go!

When you pipe your image, make the base colors kind of a thin coat and then you should go over the entire back with a thin layer of the color of your background. (I use a flat tip) Then wait a couple of minutes, cover with a viva towel and lightly press down with a fondant smoother. If you don't have a thick enough transfer, sometimes it is hard to smooth it on the cake. (too thick can be bad too, looks not so great!)

Practice, practice!! Once you get the hang of it, you will love it!

I used an ALL crisco buttercream and my transfer turn out fine... both the above posters are right about the basics of a FBCT...

one you outline your picture and fillin, i usually let it crust for a few minutes, then use another piece of wax paper to push the filling in a bit, so there are no holes, but dont push down to much, you can distort your picture.. the filling should be a bit of a thinner consistency from your outline too. once your ready to freeze, freeze for at least an hour like the first poster said. you want your transfer to be hard. And once you place the transfer on your cake... as the others has said... hand smoothing warms up the buttercream, I use my fondant smoother to just to help press the transfer onto the cake, if the buttercream does stick to the wax paper still, stick you whole cake in the freezer for a few minutes until the paper comes off clean, you can always retouch it after...

but Do keep practicing...

Thanks for the tips. I think I know now where I went wrong.

First of all, I used my hand and I probably warmed it up too much.

Secondly, I FORGOT to cover the back with more icing! I didn't put a back on it, totally missed that step. That's a great tip to use a flat tip. I'm going to try that tomorrow and see if it works better.

I did use all crisco, and tomorrow when I try again I'm going to do 1/2 butter 1/2 crisco. I let the transfer freeze for a few hours so I think it was totally frozen.

Jeeze, wish it wasn't getting to be bedtime so I could start trying this again

I tried kind of a difficult transfer too, I was trying to duplicate the Detroit Red Wings winged wheel. It's pretty detailed. I think I'll try something more simple for a trial next time!

i make tons of frozen buttercream transfers, and i make mine very thin with no extra icing on the back because i like the look of them being more flush with the cake. my trick is to work FAST. freeze that transfer as hard as possible, take it directly to the cake and flip it on, and immediately remove wax paper! i would never try to smooth the thing before removing wax paper. once it has thawed and crusted you can take a viva paper towel to it and smooth out any kinks. this process has worked for me time after time!