Hi All,

how can i smoothly ice cake with non crusting buttercream like the IMBC.
will the paper paper towel method work?

ANy help is greatly appreciated
TIA
Swapnil

no it won't i need that answer tio

Use a pastry bag to apply an even-depth layer of icing to the sides and top of the cake. Then take a long, straight-sided spatula or a bench scraper, depending on the height of the cake, run it under warm water and dry it off. Hold one edge of it against the side of the cake, being sure it's straight up and down. Reach around your turn table with the other hand, as far as you can, and begin turning the table in a steady, smooth rotation until you get completely around the cake. Rinse off the spatula and hold it against the back side of the top of the cake and rotate the turntable to smooth the top of the cake. The less fussing you do after the first pass, the better. Touch ups seem to make it all worse. It takes practice. You can chill the cake and then use a small spatula to make corrections once the butter in the icing has firmed up. It will never be as smooth as a crusting buttercream, but IMHO, it's worth living with the imperfections, because I so much prefer the taste of SMBC or IMBC to anything with Crisco in it.

Mmmm, warm water don't cut it for me, die hard SMBC user here. I do the Sugarshack method until the point where you need paper/paper towels. Hot bench scraper, and hot spatula. Woooo, razor sharp edges, and glass smooth surface.

Good tips all! Jamie -- I've found that if the scraper is too hot, I get a melty-shiny starting point and an uneven texture by the time I get around the cake. How can I avoid that -- move faster?

for the sides, i use a room temp bench scraper to get the cake as smooth as i can, THEN i take my bench scraper and get it just warm, not hot, for the last pass and it smooths out all (ok, most...) of the imperfections without changing the icing color or texture.

i find that just barely warm does the trick beautifully.

i still struggle with the top a bit, but i usually have decorations on the top, so that helps

diame

I do the same as other....hot spatula or bench scraper. But I want to ask a question....sorry to hijack the thread...I tried SMBC for the first time this weekend. I liked the texture and the taste was good...I just added a little bit too much vanilla, but overall it was good. Is there anything I can do to make it whiter. The icing comes out with a bit of a yellowish tint to it?

I don't add much vanilla when I want a whiter icing, but that said, it's butter. It's gonna be a bit yellow. The cheaper the butter is that you are using, the more likely it is to have color added to it so it "looks like butter". Most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, but it's true. I use Land o Lakes exclusively. I won't use Challenge because of those annoying a$$ foil wrappers. Now that I say that....I wouldn't be surprised if LOL has color.

Thanks Jamie. I actually used Challenge butter lol!! I knew that it was going to have a yellowish tint to it since it is butter...but I thought I heard somewhere on a thread that you can use white coloring. And I wasnt sure if you could. I am going to use land o lakes to see if I have better results with the color

you can buy white butter at a cake decorating store that sell's supplies

And then this kinda falls into the category of people asking for "not so sweet icing/cake/cookies".....seriously? It is what it is.