Hi everyone! I am a 16 year old cake decorator from SC. I just love this board and have alwasy loved helping my mom in the kitchen as a small boy, but just started doing cakes for money this past summer, and now I am a ADDICT! But enough about me I just wanted to know what exactly is CRUM COAT? I hear everyone talking about it but what is it and how do you do it( if that applies). All replies are greatly appreciated. May you all be blessed.
Chezerai in SC
First of all welcome, some men make the most wonderful cake decorators! Well, a crumbcoat can be different things. But mainly it is something that seals the crumbs to the cake so that when you ice the cake, the crumbs don't break off into the icing. So basically you get a more professional finish.
Most people here use their buttercream icing to crumbcoat, but they use it fairly sparingly. You wait until your cakes are completely cool before crumbcoating with buttercream. Some professionals put almost no icing on, you can almost see through the crumbcoat, others put it on heavier. Generally you are better off sticking with using the same consistency of icing for your crumbcoat as you use for your final icing coat. If you thin it down with more liquid than your regular icing and you normally use water in your icing, the final coat of icing can try to absorb some of the crumbcoat moisture and this can result in cracking of your icing. I use milk and cream in my icing, so it isn't an issue.
So you let the crumbcoat set for about 25 minutes or so, some folks refrigerate it, I don't, then you apply your final icing.
Another method is to heat apricot glaze and apply it to your cakes once they come out of the pans or once they are cooled. You use a pastry brush and gently and sparingly brush the warm glaze on the cake to seal in the crumbs. You let it cool completely and set before putting on your icing.
Your crumbcoat not only seals in the crumbs but it also seals in the moisture allowing your cake to stay fresh and moist longer.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes
Hi and Welcome to CC!!
A crumb coat is when you lightly ice a cake after filling it in order to catch the crumbs. You let it sit for a while then put on your final coat of icing. This keeps the crumbs from gettting into your final coat. Some people use the icing they frost the cakes with and others use a glaze. Hope that helps!
Berta
Congratulations on discovering cake decorating so young! I wish I would have found it when I was 16...Anyways, a crumb coat is a thin layer of frosting that you put on your cake to seal in the cake crumbs so the crumbs don't come all the way through your frosting. To do a crumb coat, just put a thin layer of frosting on your cake, making sure that your knife or spatula doesn't touch the cake directly (otherwise you will have more crumbs) and always go in the same direction when you spread your frosting (which keeps you from pulling your frosting away from the cake). The procedure after this varies and I hope other people will give you more suggestions, then try them to see what works best for you. Most recommend that you allow the cake the sit at least 15 min after a crumb coat, before you put on the final coat of frosting.
Welcome to CC & to the wonderful addiction of cake decorating. Looking forward to seeing you post pictures of your cakes.
I really want to do my first wedding cake, but I have heard so many disasters, I think that God will send that to me when he thinks that I am ready.
A big warm welcome to you.
Squirrelly gave you the answer so no need to repeat...she is great with answers. 
Welcome! And there were already good answers to your questions.
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