Do you use a thin layer of buttercream icing to crumb coat a cake?

How long do you freeze a cake for (after baking, cooling, and wrapping it)?

How long do u let it unthaw before icing it?

Do you crumb coat before freezing it? then unthaw and ice with buttercream then put then fondant on it before the buttercream hardens?

Can you get the smooth look on a cake (like the one in my photo) using only buttercream?

What do you prefer to use to smooth buttercream?

After I ice with buttercream how long do i have to let my cake set before i decorate it? (w/o it falling apart)

When everyone made their 1st "fancy" looking cake, did you do a practice cake 1st?

How much buttercream would it take to cover the cake in my photo?

Thanks in advance to any1 who answers, Im new to using buttercream and fondant

I let my cakes cool completely. To get them level I level them in the pan..to the top of the pan...then tip out onto a cake rack and let cool. Then I torte if I'm going to torte, wrap each layer seperartly in press and seal wrap and then wrap both layers together with another layer of press and seal. I do not use foil, it leaves marks. Then I freeze for at least overnight. then I unwrap, fill, crumbcoat and let settle for AT LEAST three hours before putting on the final coat of BC or Fondant. I do not wait for any thawing before filling and especially not before carving. The more frozen the easier it is to carve and crumbcoat...and I want to keep all that moisture inside the cake.

I also don't refridgerate after the final coating goes on the cake. I have an A/C in the kitchen and at home and don't need to protect it from heat and I don't want to deal with condensation from the fridge. BUT if you have to do so just put your cake in a cake box, wrap the box in plastic and then put it in the fridge...the condensation will form on the outside of the wrap, not your cake.


To answer some of your other questions...I'd been decorating for about 10 years before my first fondant cake so working with cake was not new for me. I didn't do a test run but I also didn't do my first fondant cake for anyone but myself...learning to work with fondant is hard and takes a lot of practice to get it right so I would never have used that on a client or even for a big event for my family...that waited till I'd done about 5 cakes for practice first.

You can't do everything with buttercream that you can with fondant but you can do alot with it. As for smoothing..I use Indydebis recipe and smooth it with an offset spatula first and then with the viva papertowel method after and it works great.

Didn't see the cake in your photo but a double recipe of Debis BC would covere a two tier cake.

You sound like you are a real newbie in this whole cake business...well, this is the place to go...here and YOU TUBE...you can find anything you need in order to practice and learn to make incredible cakes! HTH

Cat

My crumbcoat layer is kind of thin, just enough to barely see the cake.

I freeze up to two weeks but mostly a week, (some swear that cakes frozen for up to 3-6 months tasted like they were just made). This also depends on when I bake; I've baked and froze cakes on Wed. for a Sat. cake , taking out the freezer the next day.

Cakes can thaw within an hour. You can torte and fill before it fully thws out. Don't ice a cake until it is fully thawed and room temp.

After I thaw a cake I don't put bake in the freezer. I always crumbcoat at least 1/2 hr or more before I ice, depending on time I might have to do it right away. If the bc crusts you can spritz the cake with water, brush piping gel or apricot glaze on the cake to make the fondant stick.

Yes you can get a smooth look with bc.

Fondant smoother, viva paper towel or printer paper and the Melvira technique ( foam roller).

I use a crusting bc (less damage to icing when applying decorations). I would wait at least 15 mins. Fondant decorations will stick if you use piping gel, bc, or water to the back.

You should do a practice run if it;s things you've never done before (stacking a cake, piping, a topsy turvy cake, stenciling etc.).

Bench scrapers: http://www.bakedeco.com/dept.asp?id=194

After seeing the cake you want to make, I don't think it is fondant at all. I think it is all BC, and any of the smoothing methods given by previous posters can work well. You should have no trouble doing that cake if you can make a good, solid buttercream and have some patience!
The decorations are fondant, cut out with cutters. You can buy or make the fondant, then use cutters you can purchase at the craft store. Use buttercream to fasten the decorations to the cake.

okay i dont freeze any of my cakes... Is this something i should be doing? if so what does it help with why are the cakes frozen? THANKS

I've been a box-mix baker for 30 years. Works fine for me!