I have had a few comments recently on my frosting, people saying it is very smooth and wondering how I did it... Well, since I love you guys so much, and you've done so much for me, I want to share with you.
I used to have a terrible time with air holes. I think I even did a thread on here once about it. If you look at some of my earlier works (grape vine cake) you will see tiny little air pockets. That irked me to no end. Like many others I used the wooden fondant roller and that smoothed it, but didn't get rid of air bubbles. And when I used it on the top of a sheet cake it left indents from the edges of the roller. ERGH. Which is the lesser of the evils? I tried the paper towel method and that works to some degree, but I was always leaving finger dents. So, one day I am sitting here and it hits me... this idea. I fly to the home improvement store and I find the painting supplies. I am specifically looking for a thin paint roller made of foam. I find them... I choose the 6" width because that sounds good. I take it home, my mom is laughing at me about how that is NOT going to work. I use it. She chokes on her own spit over how smooth that cake turned out. After poking her eyes back into her head she smiled and said, "Hey, when I'm wrong, I'm wrong."
What is the beauty of this tool? Because it is foam it doesn't leave those little indents on the edges. Because it is foam, it gently pushes the icing in on itself if needed to fill those nasty little air pockets, but without actually moving any of your icing. It leaves a satiny texture that I think looks marvelous. The foam is easily washable (Make SURE it's dry before you use it again! Hehehe!) and they come in varying widths. The only thing you have to be sure of is that the icing is WELL crusted before you do it, or you will end up with a spackle texture on the cake, which is actually cool and I have purposely done a few times. 
I hope this helps even just one person who is struggling like I am (was!). I am not knocking ANY of the other techniques people use here, I just know that what works like magic for one person can stink like yesterday's trash for someone else. I just hope somebody can benefit from this!!
Happy decorating to all my wonderful CC friends!! (BTW... when you have someone with as much talent at Wendoger comment on how smooth your icing is... you know you've done SOMETHING right!!) 
Hope she doesn't get mad that I used her name!!
THank you soo much....
I have aluminum bench scrappers, stainless steel bench scrapers, squirt water bottles, viva paper towels, copy paper, parchment paper, wax paper, fondant smoothers, long blade spatulas, short blade, curved, not curved and a zillion others I'm sure and so far and have some issue with all of them! THe squirt bottle works pretty good with the buttercream but the other techniques haven't been so great. I like this idea and THANK YOU for sharing!!!! Paint store here I come!
Mary Jane
Wow that beats my typing paper method that leaves those little lines. I guess if you can use a plastic pipe to roll out fondant to cover a cake a foam roller can smooth BC 
Why could I think of that. I will have to try this 
One day Home Depot will have "Cake Supplies" sign hanging over the paint department!
Melvira, I have SO much respect for you for sharing such an AWESOME tip. I also love the idea of saving at least one person a lot of time and frustration. Decorating cakes is so much fun for me, but I have to admit I've wanted to quit a few times because something(s) just didn't work right resulting in me staying up all night. But after discovering CC I am SO back!
Thank you Melvira, for that awesome tip! You know I will be trying that next week when I'm knee deep in wedding cakes.
I think most of us have been out shopping, and looked at a non-cake gadget and thought "I wonder if that will...".
Wouldn't that be a great cake challenge? Using only tools not made for cake decorating?
Well, I just went and got mine 
but I don't have a cake for this weekend to try it on 
Anyway, I have a question, how long do you wait for the icing to crust to do this. I use edible images alot and usually add the picture as soon as I've got a smooth enough surface 
which mean I don't wait of the icing to really crust.
Any thoughts???
You are the bomb...the mistress of the "cool". 
Thanks so much for sharing. I'm going to try this on my very next cake!!!
CAN YA'LL BELIEVE THAT MY DH ASKED ME Y I TRY TO SMOOTH MY CAKES, I TOLD HIM BECAUSE THAT'S HOW IT'S SUPPOSE TO BE--HE SAYS NOT THE ONES I SEE IN THE STORES---I'M THINKING EXACTLY 
THAT TURKEY I LIVE WITH DOESN'T LIKE MY SMOOTH LOOKING CAKES 
THANKS FOR THE EXTRA TIP--I REALLY NEED IT
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