I really have a difficult time icing a chocolate cake-even after doing a good crumb coat-I seem to have to make a THICK coating then do another one after the 1st dries and I have smoothed it out. Anyone have any tried and true instructions or ideas? I spend more time doing a chocolate cake than anything else!

If I make sure I grease and flour the pan REALLY well and then have the bottom side of the cake up when icing, its not so bad at all. I do have to go thick around the sides, and then scrape some extra off once I apply it very generously first.

I always use Duncan Hines devils food and it usually comes out of the pan pretty smooth, so the only place I fight crumbs is on the sides, which if I am careful to go heavy on the icing, its ok.

You might try thinning out your icing to see if that helps. But if it will make you feel better, I can NEVER get a white cake out of the pan in one whole piece.

Debbi

Do you use Duncan Hines? And lots of Crisco and flour? Hmmm...

If nothing else, parchment on the bottom helps too.

I've cheated,
I combine a Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Mix of which they have several chocolate variations, and a Pound Cake Mix from Betty Crocker.
Combine both recipes on the boxes,
For example If one cake calls for 2 cups of water, and the other 1 1/2 cups, I add 3 1/2 cups of water, and so on.

The cakes are moist and firm. And are not uber crumby, and take a frosting without a crumb coat very very well.

I have used thier other flavors as well. The Red Velvet is my ultimate favorite.

But if you'd like to make it from scratch, you may want to try this one I found on the Wilton website. I've used it for quite some time and also had good results, with a crumb coat, not as crumb free as the mixes but very delicious.
        
Recipe Box
Chocolate Fudge Groom's Cake
  

Served as a groom's cake or as the main cake, chocolate gives guests a great alternative look and taste to traditional wedding cakes.

* 2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 3/4 cup butter or margarine (room temperature)
* 2 cups sugar
* 3 eggs
* 1 teaspoon Wilton Pure Vanilla Extract
* 1 1/2 cups milk
* 3 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Cream butter and sugar together until light in texture. Add eggs and vanilla to creamed mixture. Beat thoroughly. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Add melted chocolate and beat thoroughly.

Brush two 8 or 9 in. cake pans with Wilton Cake Release or generously grease pans with solid vegetable shortening and flour, or use Wilton Cake Release (Click here for complete instructions on preparing baking pans.) Pour batter into pans. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until top springs back when touched lightly in center.

Makes 6 cups batter.

If you were to make just a one layer cake, it's easy to divide.

~~ Nicole

Oh yeah I love to do that...I always use DH yellow mixed with one pound cake mix for any 3D cakes as they are very sturdy but also moist and pretty tasty too.

My WMI said that she uses wax paper to line her pans (not parchment)...especially with a chocolate cake. She said that she sprays the pan with a little Pam or uses butter. Then cuts a circle out of wax paper, using the cake pan as a guide. Then she cuts a strip as thick as the pan is deep and as long as the pan is around (did that make sense? ) and puts that around the inside too. Before becoming a WMI, she had a cake business in Michigan for over 30 years...so I guess she's tried lots of things. This works for her.....I haven't tried it, but probably will sometime.

I'm guessing that it's partially an icing problem, too. When I was switching my buttercream recipe, I really noticed that when I used a stiffer consistency, I had a crumb problem.

Now that I finally have decided on a bc icing recipe, I thin it down and don't have a crumb problem at all. I don't even crumb coat----never have, never will.

Oh, and I don't use any grease or anything on the sides of my cake pans, either. No problem with sticking, etc. (Of course, now that I've said this--I'll probably have a cake disaster. lol!)

Lisa

Thank for the hints. I do spray my pans well, they come out very easily I use the 1/2 butter and 1/2 Crisco BC recipe-I do thin it down for the crumb coat but while it keeps in most of the crumbs (most of the time!) there are those that sneak out and seem to multipy(like Zits on promnight). I may try making the poundcake in the the mix for a double recipe cake and see what that brings, I do it for my 3-d cakes but very few of those have white icing. Thanks again for the hints!

You know what else I just thought of--don't work your icing too much. Pretty much you need to spread it and be done with it. The more you play with it, the more chance you have of getting crumbs.

Lisa

I HAVE ALSO FOUND IF YOU GO IN ONE DIRECTION IT MAKES IT A LITTLE BIT EASIER

I just thought of something else...have you tried using the icing tip? I tried it for the first time at my Wilton class and it made a HUGE difference! The cake was very spongy & crumbly and I was afraid it was going to be a mess, but the instructor showed me how to use that tip and I only had 1 crumb pop up...seriously. It's the icing tip for me from now on...LOL

The wilton icing tip does work well. And, freezing the cake before hand seems to help also with the crumbs.

I put my chocolate cakes in the fridge for about 20 minutes and then I do a very thin crumb coat, and I do mean thin. You can see the cake right through it and it's also loaded with crumbs. I either let that crust really well or pop it back into the fridge for another 15 minutes. Pull it out and do a much thicker coat of icing. I used to HATE icing a chocolate cake however this seems to be working much better for me now.

I will try ALL the ideas and see what works for me! Thanks everyone for your help-I really hated to use my trusty toothpick and pick out the crumbs but I did!

I had the worst times w/ crumbs when I started decorating. The first thing that really really really helped me was thinning my icing down, it was just too stiff and was pulling up cake as I spread it.

And then it got even better when I started using pan goop as I call it instead of spraying or oiling/flouring pans. You can buy the Wilton cake release but I just make my own, it's equal parts flour, oil, and shortening. I mix 1 cup shortening, add one cup oil, then one cup flour until it's nice and smooth and have a perfect sized little bowl I store it in next to my oil in the cupboard. Just spread a nice layer on your pans with a pastry brush and it makes a nice smooth surface for icing!

Hope some of our tips help you, good luck, you'll get it!!!

Thanks everyone! I do appreciate the input! Most of the chocolate cakes I have done have been with different designs on it-not just white icing like a wedding cake so I've not run into issues with the crumbs before-I have taken notes and will be trying things to not have to deal with crumbs again. I don't every have problems (now that I've said that.....)with other flavors or combinations-just the chocolate.

Since we are on chocolate cakes--- Does anyone have a particular boxed mix or recipe they use. I dont like chocolate cake that well, but have never found a recipe or box mix that I've thought "wow this is awesome cake." So. any suggestion I would appreciate.

I feel your pain. There should be a rule that chocolate cake can only be covered with chocoolate frosting. I dislike cakes with heavy frosting (people just leave 1/2 of it on the plate anyway) and was dismayed to discover that it would have taken a heavy coat of frosting to hide all the chocolate. I don't sell cakes so I decided to keep my usual thin layer of frosting and live with a few crumbs.

I use the Wilton Spray! I love it! BUT----I do NOT ever spray the pan until the mix is ready to pour into the pans! Any time I do - it doesn't come out as well! Immediately after spraying-pour in your batter! I never have a problem with white or with chocolate! Happy baking!