How do you get your buttercream cakes so smooth?

I've seen BC cakes that I could have sworn were fondant because they were so smooth.
I am new at cake decorating & have been practicing... my cakes are coming out smooth enough, but I know they could be better. I have been using my spatula & parchment paper to smooth them.

Also, what is a really good BC recipe to frost cakes?

Many people swear by the SugarEd productions intructional DVD for flawless buttercream. I haven't gotten myself one yet but I have heard that it's extremely helpful. It's titled "Perfecting the Art of Buttercream" and you can buy it from their website.

I use viva paper towel and a fondant smoother. Viva is the smoothest paper towel and does not have any quilted patterns on it. Just jet your butercream crust for a few minutes (just long enough that the paper towel wont stick to it) and lightly go over it with the fondant smoother and do a section at a time.

This is my favorite method as well. Works nicely, and helps to round off the top edges if you like that look. Just be careful not to "over smooth" once your bc has crusted.

Also, look at edna's (c/cer) (Designmeacake.com) She has tutorial on this and other things. Great site to help you.hth

I use the viva towel and fondant smoother too...didn't like using my hands with the towel, I couldn't
judge how hard to smooth with my fingers. Love using the fondant smoother...I tried the parchment and fondant smoother, but went back to viva!!

I recently bought the SugarEd DVD Perfecting the Art of Buttercream and have done a two cakes using the techniques. I also used the buttercream recipe provided. I found that my smoothing is already much better and think with a little more practice, I can get even better . For me it was very helpful to have the visual that I could stop and re-play.