I decorate cakes with my neighbor. When she mixes the icing, we can never get the cake perfectly smooth. It seems to look rough. We use the Viva towel, but can't get it perfect. I have mixed up the icing before and gotten it perfectly smooth. The only difference is I use Crisco and she uses generic. Could that be why?
I have heard that the cheap shortening does not do as well, but to be honest have never tried it....I wouldnt think that would be the case but who knows....have you tried the "melvira" method? Its using a foam paint roller (I use it over the top of parchment paper to ensure that its food safe) and it works wonders!
Thanks. I will try the foam roller with parchment paper. Right now, we use a Viva towel and a fondant smoother to iron out the wrinkles. There just are way too many. We have a bc wedding cake coming up, so we need to master this!
I used to do the same thing....I had trouble with Viva though....its like I would smudge the icing while I was trying to smooth...that is why i like the parchment paper (though I dont see why you cant use the roller over the viva as well)....many people on this site just use the roller right on the cake, but I have 2 issues with that....one it was made for painting a house...not working with food....even washed who knows what chemicals are in the makeup of the foam, and two....just one more thing you will end up having to clean if you dont roll over something like parchment.....and I certainly dont need more things to clean! Best of luck to you.
edited to say....my cakes are far from wedding cake perfect though...but I have been using the foam roller since I did the blue baby shower cake in my photos.....
I dip my metal spatula into warm water, wipe it clean and go over the icing again with the spatula. This seems to work everytime, but be careful not to get water on the cake because if you do the consistancy will change on that area.
I have also heard that if you use generic shortening that your icing will not come out good, I have just been to scared to try generic, so I dont know for sure.
Hope this helps
I always worry about trying generic. I need to tell her that we need to try the name brand. I know that it will effect our bottom line on profit, but may be worth it in the long run.
I use the warm water...let it crust and then the Viva and fondant smoother.
GENERIC!!!!! Been there done that. Crisco always (unless it is a cake done just for the heck of it!!)
I've tried the parchment paper/VIVA method and the Melvira method. Neither one worked for me, so I use the trusty hot spatula method. I boil a pot of water deep enough to cover my spatula then keep it next to the cake. Stays warm enough to finish the whole cake and cuts down on my water bill. I used to stand at the sink with the water running the whole time...duh 
Good luck 
I use crisco also. I don't do the viva method though. I smooth with computer paper it works great for me. I haven't yet tried melvira's way. I keep forgetting to get the roller. 
But if I use a cream cheese recipe not as good results. I know when useing cheaper shortening for other things in the past, They haven't given me the results that crisco has. I know I have heard people talking about high ratio shortening on the site. I believe that is probably even better but for now I will stick with crisco.
I think that maybe I will have to go bake a cake just to try it out. We don't have a cake order any time soon, so I will make up a reason to fix one. We are snowed in today, so great day to turn on Christmas music, light the tree, and bake.
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%