I was wondering if someone can tell me how to smooth out a FBCT. I've made a few of these, but I still get squiggly lines in them.
when you're done piping it just give whatever you're making it on (I use a piece of wood) a good whack on your countertop this will help...then once you apply it, let it thaw completely and get a crust and then go over it lightly with a high density foam roller (aka melvira method) if there are a lot of colors or a lot of black lay a viva paper towel over it first or computer paper and then roll over it lightly, it will get just about every line out.....on this cake the cow and moon were fbct's and I went over them with the roller
I am doing my first FBCT this weekend. I've already made the transfer (Ariel, The Little Mermaid) on a piece of plexiglass - thank you to whoever suggested that (sorry, I can't recall). It's so awesome to be able to see through the underside of the plexiglass and watchthe pciture come together. However, I can see plainly that a good feew knockings on the table didn't get out all the "ripples" caused by the icing tip. I am somewhat nervous to decide what to do when I get it on the cake. I was afraid to try the Melvira method (which I use to smooth my cakes) on the actual transfer even after it's crusted because I fear perhaps smudging the transfer around, especially the thinner black outlines. Will that happen with just a light rolling?? Please help!
An FBCT is a frozen buttercream transfer. There is a tutorial on here for how to make one under "Articles."
Thank you Tracey! Since i am new i will stick with the ones i can purchase! (for now) hahaha
i did one for the first time this weekend. i ended up doing it twice because I was not happy with the first one - partly because of the 'squiggly' lines. I was also dealing with a lot of black.
The second time around I piped the black and red then froze it before I filled it in. That way I didnt have to worry about pushing around the color and was able to swirl and get into every crack. it worked much much better and i only had one area where I could see the line. If it was a larger area I could have smoothed over with a little extra buttercream and a spatula.
dinas27 - I did the same. I piped the black outlines first (just of her hair, head and shoulders), froze the outlines, and then filled in her red hair, froze that, filled in her eyes and "bra", froze that, filled in the skin colour of her face and shoulders, and froze that.
Then, I outlined her lower half in black, froze that (I was afraid if I outlined the whole thing at the same time, I might accidently rub my hand in some bits while I was filling in the colours), I filled in her waist area, froze that, filled in her main fin, froze that, filled in her end tail fins, and then froze the whole FBCT (I wrapped in saran after it was all frozen enough to not smudge as I was making it some time in advance and wanted to avoid freezer burn and condensation).
I did keep some of each icing colour just in case I need to do any repairs, but I am still super nervous about running a roller over it after it's thawed but crusted. It'll be too late to fix it if it messes up at that point because it will already be settled in to the cake top. I'l just go easy with it and pray for the best!
ya I dont think I would roll directly over the transfer... when I peeled off the parchment paper there it have transfered to the paper. You could probably leave the parchment on and roll over that after letting the buttercream warm slightly. I would probably do it after placing on the cake and with small pieces of parchment in large areas where you can see lines and just use your finger over the paper as the warmth will help smooth.
Great idea! I'll see how it goes on Saturday. Wouldn't you know it's supposed to be over 30 degrees plus humidity to almost 40 degrees that day - our first almost smoking hot day of the summer - timing! Darn it!
I would make the icing not so thick. With my first FBCT (Winnie the Pooh in my photos) I had the squiggly lines too.... then someone told me to not make the icing so thick... so that is what I did with the other ones... and they turned out much better. Hope that helps!
Oh and the other thing I do is take a toothpick and swirl it around in the icing if I feel like I am having trouble with it... that generally takes care of the squiggles.
When I do mine a use a soft medium icing. One thing I have learned that helps me is instead of piping in lines to move my tip slowly and let the icing build out from the tip.
After I put it in the freezer I will flip it over and rub over it with my finger to help blend lines. As after you put it on the cake and it crusts you can viva paper towel it.
I also pushed mine around on the backside with a paintbrush. The soft bristles pushed many of the wrinkles out of the "front"/down side of the FBCT and allowed me to push icing right up to the outline lines without gaps.
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