Sorry, I know any of my cake related posts always seem to be "what did I do wrong" in nature but as you can see I'm pretty much a decorating disaster - lol. I'm hoping someone can once again help me figure out another mistale.

I made a batch of half butter/half crisco BC for a cake last weekend. When I was crumb coating the icing would peel right off the cake behind the spatula. When I finally got the crumb coat to crust, I tried icing and it still brought up the crumb coat and on the corners of my squares it actually took some of the cake with it.

I thought maybe it was my cakes but I actually used 3 different mixes (one 6" square, one 10" square and 1 sculpted). I had the peeling problem with all the cakes. That is what is making thinking whatever the problem was it must be the BC. Does anyone have any ideas on what I did wrong?

Oh and also when we went to serve the sculpted cake (it was covered in the BC and then topped with MMF) the buttercream peeled right off the cake along with the MMF so it stuck to the MMF like glue but not to the cakes at all.

TIA

Sounds like your crumb coat was not thin enough nor was your icing layer of buttercream.

I always try to brush off the crumbs first then a very thin coat of watered down buttercream to crumb coat. Let it dry/crust and then apply my icing. It is also thin but not as thin as the crumbcoat.

Also if you use the icing tip it helps to keep the thickness of the icing the same so it shouldn't be to much or to little.

Be sure you do not touch the cake with your spatula and only the icing when you are putting on buttercream.

The only thing I can think of is that maybe the BC wasn't thinned out enough? Also, did you use a freshly baked cake or one that you had frozen? I find it so much easier to ice them frozen!

HTH

I'm definitely no expert and I could be totally wrong, but I had the same problem once and in hindsight I think it was because my icing was too stiff. It was too dry and not wet enough to adhere to the cake. At least that's the conclusion I came to lol!

Hi!!
Were your cakes completely cooled?
Was the BC too stiff?

These seem to be the reasons when I have that same type of problem. I am sure others will have other suggestions. Good luck!!!

Had the same problem trying to pipe stars and my icing was way too stiff. Once I thinned it out I was okay.

Thanks!

I had baked the cakes Friday morning and I did the MMF one that night and the squares I did the following morning. I'll try to add more water/milk next time. I noticed that when I make BC roses that this icing seems to be the best consistency but for icing I've always been afraid to thin it down since I need the crusting benefit for the Viva method. I was worried if I thinned it too much it wouldn't crust and then I'd really be in trouble!

If the BC is stiff enough for roses then it is definitely too stiff for icing the cake. Even thinned down though a crusting BC will still crust.

Thanks everyone! Hopefully I can give it another try this weekend.

I had a similar problem last Christmas when my mom added too many chopped nuts to a cake without realizing it increased the oil in the mix. I finally made a confectioners glaze out of water, corn syrup, and powdered sugar, than brushed on the cake, let dry and iced. No problem!

Is it possible that my cakes might have also been too moist? I used a different mix for each but now that I think about it I did add the extender recipe for each of them. I've noticed that some mixes seem moister than others but I made sure none of them were the ones that say they have pudding added. I just wonder if it was a combination of both things that contributed to my trouble (too stiff of icing and overly moist cake).

Could be. Mine was actually seeping oil! It mixed with the icing and I had to make new icing.