Help!!! I am learning how to decorate cakes... It is taking me forever to ice my cakes and it is so frustrating!!!!! I crumb coat it, but it is still so hard to get to the flawless Viva paper towel point - where you can walk away with that flawless look. I must also mention that I am left handed. Which way should I be icing - towards me - away from me???? I iced a little kitchen cake tonight and it took me an hour and half!!! I was using a 1/4 sheet with rounded corners and it took me forever to get those square corners. Please, help me because tonight what took me an hour and a half - took my teacher - 5 minutes. I was so frustrated with myself that I was crying. It is also frustrating watching a right hander teach a left-hander how to ice when we do not go in the same direction...

Please, help me!!!

God bless all of you on Cake Central!!!! You, all, are the greatest.

I use a large drywall scraper purchased at the hardware store that fits almost completly across the cake and you don't have to fuss with it much after that. Do you use the large icer tip that helps too. I think there should be some left handed instructions around somewhere to help you.
This link says you should be working from right to left.
http://www.cakesnthings.com/instruction/preparing_to_decorate.htm

The simple answer is it takes practice, practice, practice. I remember the first cake I iced took FOREVER. As I have done more it has gotten much easier. Some things I have learned

1. Make sure your icing consistency is right. If it is too thick you will never get it smooth, if it is too thin it will slide right off the cake.

2. Don't be afraid to use the icing. Apply a thick layer that way when you use your bench scraper you have something to work with.

3. Give the icing time to crust before using the Viva. If you put it on the icing and it sticks to the paper towel give the icing a little more time to crust.

4. After using the Viva give it all a once over using paper just like you used the Viva - it is amazing how smooth the cake gets.

5. Most importantly - be patient, and practice, practice, practice.

I go from left to right rotating my cake clockwise. Just make sure your icing is nice and thin and use hot water. long single strokes; taking care not to lift away; when you do push in lightly in the icing; you can then correct this later.

Dmaam, I'm a left hander too. I started the Wilton courses last fall and finished Course III last night. I'm still working on getting a smooth BC coating. But I have gotten better with practice. Sometimes it goes well--sometimes not quite so well. Be patient though. You WILL get better at this with practice. You might also want to search the articles on this website for the one on the upside down icing technique. I just printed this off tonight and plan to try it with my next BC cake.

I'm not sure being left handed is a disadvantage when you ice the cake, but some of the decorating techniques can be a little tricky to figure out. Just hang in there. If something isn't working, get your instructor to watch you do it and help you figure out if it's a 'left handed' problem. Once you get the hang of it, though, it's kind of fun turning out a left handed cake--everything goes in the opposite direction so your cakes will always be unique.

Good luck!

I just finished with all 3 courses not too long ago and it still takes me awhile to ice a cake smooth. I do notice improvement in time with each cake. I also want to take my time at it.

What I do is...I use the icer tip and smooth it out a bit until it looks halfway decent. Then I wait about 1/2 hour and go back and smooth with Viva or whatever. I find that if I walk totally away from it after icing, when I get back I feel refreshed and not to frustrated. I do get frustrated alot with icing. But it helps.

After practicing you will improve your technique. I have only done about 6 cakes. And those were all class ones.

Practice and patience.

LinB

Thank you all for your help hints and words of encouragement. It is so frustrating and the cakes that I am doing it on are actual cakes that are for paying customers so that puts a little more stress on me.

I am blessed to have the opportunity that I have, but the mother and daughter team that are teaching me take no less than perfect, so that puts on a added stress. And then when they assist me and they do it flawlessly - I just want to scream. But, you are right - practice makes perfect, so I will just keep practicing.

Again, thank you ladies - you, all, are the best!!!!!