I am in my third week of the Wilton course 1 and last night I made what I call "My cake of firsts".
This is my frist time using...
the flower nail as a heating core. WHAT A GREAT TRICK! 
Collaring my cake pan. Another great trick but my parchment pulled a bit off my cake side. Was I supposed to wait till the cake cooled to remove it?
the crusting buttercream recipe listed in the "Melvia Method" tutorial.
Problem #1 it would not crust at all... But man is it TASTY!!! it's very creamy too, I think I may have put too much Crisco by mistake. I used 3 of those sticks of crisco, I thought I read each one is 1/2 a cup plus 1 stick of butter. But now thinking back those sticks of criso are way bigger then the stick of butter. I'll have to reread the package next time I buy them.
Problem #2 I have flakes of butter in my frosting. I don't know why.
The Melvira Method. LOVE IT!!! It was kind of hard to get it to work because my BC wouldn't crust but I just kept putting it into the fridge till it worked out.
Finally, sifting my boxed mix. This didn't work AT ALL, I have a sifter that has 3 screens at different levels and the mix got suck in it and took me about 20 minutes to get it out.
Although it took me longer then I expected, thank heavens I started early just in case, I think so far it has come out pretty well! Here are the results so far. 
Any feed back is appreciated! Thanks for everyones help thus far!!!
Reesesob..........your patience paid off! Your cake looks nice and smooth despite the frosting not crusting. I just started using the high density roller to smooth my cakes with too and boy does it work! Glad to know it works well on non-crusting bc by just refrigerating it as you did.
The crisco sticks are 1 cup each. The flakes in your frosting are usually caused by not mixing enough. Next time try blending the butter and crisco together until they are perfectly smooth. Then add the rest of your ingredients.
I have been baking cakes for many years (not decorating them though) and had never tried "sifting" the cake mix first until I read here on CC that it can help make the cake more dense. So, I tried it and didn't find one bit of difference in the way my cakes came out. I went back to my old way of making cakes without sifting the box mix first. I do make sure I break up all the clumps though and make double sure I have no lumps of mix in my cake batter before pouring into pans.
Great job on your cake!!! 
Your cake looks great!
I also use the Melvira method and love it! There's a great crusting buttercream recipe on here - it says it's great for the Viva method and that's what I use everytime. It crusts very nicely and tastes great. I add a little more almond extract though.
I am thinking that your buttercream did not crutst because you actually put three cups of crisco in and half a cup of butter. There was too much fat and not enough icing sugar for a crust to form. It turned out great though! Isn't Melvira a godsend with all her great cake ideas!!
This is the one:
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-2075-2-Crusting-Buttercream-Icing-VIVA-Method.html
Hope the link works!
I don't mean to laugh because I probably would've done the same thing! I always buy my crisco in the big cans so I have to measure it out. They don't sell the "sticks" of crisco here. Just sounds like something I would do!
Anyways, the buttercream recipe is great and does crust very well. I add about a teaspoon of almond extract though because it flavors it nicely.
Good luck with your next batch!
Reese,
Your cake looks really good! I have my last class coming up on Tuesday (am doing the rose cake). Please share the flower nail trick with me....I haven't heard that one. Isn't this site great?!?!?!
Reese,
Your cake looks really good! I have my last class coming up on Tuesday (am doing the rose cake). Please share the flower nail trick with me....I haven't heard that one. Isn't this site great?!?!?!
Thak you so much! I love these classes! I was really amazed at how simple some of the things are to make.
The flower nail trick is for when you are making a deeper or larger cake, you place your nail in the bottom of the pan before adding your mix and it act as a heating core, with no big whole and small mark that you can cover quite nicely with frosting.
I am soooo glad that I stumbled across this site!
Thanks! I'll have to try that one!!! I was not happy with the baking strips on my 14 and 10" rounds I made. The 8 & 10" that I did not use the strips on came out much better.
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%