I was up until 4 this morning trying to smooth the buttercream on this daisy cake....okay, so are cake decorators perfectionists or what???? I know by 2 in the morning it was simply a quest! A dual between me and the buttercream!!!! I was getting really frustrated because there would always be one line that wouldn't smooth, and the corners just wouldn't come together...ARRRGGHHH!!! I cleaned my spatula and used hot water, i made sure my crumb coat was chilled....I just don't get it!
i've watched DVDs, read the books...but i'm really struggling with this, what should be a very basic skill....
also this is my first "floral"...i made the daisies out of royal icing...still working on that, after 50 daisies you sort of get the hang of it...though they really didn't look quite like the photos....i'm left handed and i must be getting the technique a little confused...how to hold the tip, etc.
...it seemed that in order to get the daisy petal to stop merging with the other petals and have any definition at all, i needed to have the icing very very stiff....boy was my hand and wrist sore this morning from squeezing that icing out of a 104 tip!
would really really appreciate some suggestions....for the buttercream and the daisies...thanks!!!! (see my photos for a picture of it...light royal blue with daisies. For some reason it wouldn't attach here...)
on a side note, i emailed close friends and family and asked them to keep me in mind for smaller occassions so i could get more practice....i'm only charging expense for ingredients....i emailed the photos i have so far, and not only did i get a birthday cake, but i got an order for a baptism, a wedding, and a dedication! (I'm really excited and grateful, but really nervous too..
I know how you feel. It seems like the more I try to get cakes perfectly smooth, the worse they get. I should just leave them alone...
Also understand the frustration of being left handed! As for the daisies, I got them down pretty good with royal icing, I haven't tried them with buttercream. But I found that they look best when made with fondant.
I think your cakes look great! The daisy cake is really cute. You mentioned having trouble with the smoothing....I think that has been the hardest thing to learn (I am pretty new at this and still have a ways to go with perfecting the smoothing skills) but have you tried the viva paper towel method? That certainly cleaned up a great deal of problems for me. Also there is a thread on here by Sugarshack where she describes her method of getting her cakes so smooth...hers are amazing!
Over all you did a great job. I too get frustrated with square cakes. I don't crumb coat. I put the buttercream on thick enough the first time to eliminate crumb coating. I put my buttercream on one side and extend the icing out beyond the corner of the cake and "turn" the corner with the buttercream. This seems to help out with getting the edges preaty good. If anyone knows a better way I'm all ears!
Your daisies need just practice! Control of the pressure of the icing through the whole petal is the key. Keep your tip perpendicular to the nail. Hope this helps!
Sometimes when you are getting really frustrated it's better to just walk away and come back later, like in the morning. Then when you try and smooth it out it seems to work.
I have also tried taking a piece of saran wrap, laying it on top the cake, and then taking my finger and smoothing the line in the frosting out. It doesn't work for making your cake/frosting level, but works for perfecting your frosting.
Get Viva papertowels that are white--no pattern or color. Let your frosting crust (air-dry) for about 5-10 minutes then lay the papertowel on the cake. Lightly with your hand or fondant smoother, run over the papertowel, lift and move to another spot. repeat all over the top and sides.
Bless YOU! I'm going to try the paper towel method...the daisies...well, i do know that my tip was more slanted rather than up and down....i tried it so many ways....i think it's time i took a class...I love self-help...but sometimes it's good to have someone right there!
thanks for all the help!
here is the link to sugarshacks buttercream tips...
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-19948-sugarshack.html
I am curious to know if anyone has ever tried this "upside-down" method. I've wanted to give it a try but i never do. same with viva...not sure why i am so resistant as i suck at buttercream... posted my own thread earlier today expressing the same frustration...
http://www.cakecentral.com/article6-Upside-Down-Icing-Technique-for-Perfectly-Smooth-Icing.html
I had the same frustration yesterday!! So glad to see this post today. I made a cake just for fun and to try a few things I have been reading about. I tried the viva method and it did not work too well. I am not sure what went wrong. First, the Crusting buttercream that it said to use was really full of air so the icing never got smooth. Second, even after a crumb coat and chilling the crumb coat, the icing was just pulling off the cake. It was really frustrating! At heast my hubby doesn't care what it looks like, only what it tastes like! 
Try to mix your frosting on a lower speed or run a spatula through it before frosting. Crumb coat and let it set a couple of hours if possible. If you freeze it, as soon as it starts to warm up, the frosting or crumbcoat becomes wet again and it will pull off the cake.
I have tried the upside down method but I didn't like it--took too long for me...I'm impatient.
HI maemae!
Sure - all cake decorators are perfectionists, haven't you noticed by now?
To answer your smoothing question I guess I need to know first how big this cake is, and also how big is the spatula you're using to try to smooth it. My experience is that you have to have an implement that is at least as wide as your cake surface.
To really get this good and smooth I'd suggest a trip to your local Home Depot and look at the tools drywallers use. I have a super wide drywall knife (I think it's about 18 inches long...) and once I have my icing lopped on, I just go back over it with the knife. I do use the hot water technique with this.
The other thing you might want to try is refrigerating your cake for a little while, like 15 minutes or so, and then rubbing with parchment paper or a smoothing cloth.
oh yeah...like for spreading mud??? Wow...what a great idea! So you wipe it, dip it and then smooth? Or do you wipe the water off too? I thought the idea was to heat it, not necessarily wet it.....
about the parchment smoothing...what happens when you lift the paper off...does the frosting come along??? I did chill the crumb coat for 30 minutes...but, still...it looked like the frosting had little holes or else would just get "that line"....
what is a smoothing cloth??? So let me make sure i understand....crumb coat, chill, frost as smooth as i can, rub with parchment or smoothing cloth?
(thanks for all your help!!!!)
To get a lot of the air bubbles out I usually "smash" the icing against side of a bowl in a figure 8 motion with a rubber spatula. It is also easier to do this with small amounts at a time. Also make sure that your icing isnt too stiff. Sometimes I find that makes the icing want to pull off the cake like you mentioned. I ususally add some corn syrup to my icing, that seems to help make it easier to smooth.
Using parchment to smooth is the same concept as the viva papertowel. Some people even use computer paper. you will just have to experiment to see which method you like best. the icing shouldnt come up off of hte cake. If it does you need to wait a little longer for the icing to crust. But dont wait too long, because the icing will have a tendency to "crack" if it has crusted too much.
I have spent very many sleepless, frustrating, angry nights trying to get BC frosting to smooth. I would put the frosting on and work at it so hard to get it smooth I would end up taking it all off again! Put it on, take it off! That was my night. Then one day while looking through a Wilton yearbook I had a "lightbulb" moment. I looked closely at a cake in the book and their was bubbles in the frosting, and the corners weren't perfectly smooth. I immediately showed my husband and said "if Wilton can't even get it right, what the h*** am I worried about?"
I still try and get it "perfect" but I don't spend hours, and I don't lose sleep over it anymore! Good luck to you. My next quest is trying to get the Viva method to work for me!
yes it will still crust with a thin consistency.
AMEN!
Ah yes, the VIVA method...so many people talk about this...though the more articles i've read it sounds like the basic idea is, after you frost it, let is crust and then either use Viva paper towel, parchment, or computer paper....
the parchment paper sounded good to me, i'm gonna try that one next...but you have to make sure to use a crusting butttercream. I just made the daisy cake (see photos) and I used a buttercream that i got off of this site but it didn't seem to crust. I did something that someone suggested by using a prepared filling and mixing it with buttercream. The cake was VERY sweet. Between having buttercream on the outside and raspberry buttercream filling on the inside....whew! We were all on a sugar rush! Next time i think i'll keep it simple, just a spread of preserves or perhaps a lighter "cool whip" type filling...
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