Ahhhh! Panic time. So, I tried to do my first FBCT. I looked at several instructions and it all made sense to me. I piped the outline, added all my colors and it looked great! Put it in the freezer for an hour. Hmmmmm.... doesn't seem very stiff. Still kind of floppy. So I left in the freezer overnight.
This morning, it still seemed floppy, but I tranfered it to the cake anyway. The wax paper would not pull off!!!! The icing was totally stuck to it. I ended up pulling the paper off, which smeared the crap out of my beautiful transfer I spend 2 hours on. I scraped it all off. Ugggg. I have to do it again, while wrangling a very cranky, nosy two year old. I am not happy about this.
What did I do wrong? How can I fix it so this doesn't happen again?! I used a buttercream icing with only Crisco. Do I need to use an icing with some butter in it? HELP PLEASE. This is for a party tonight and I'm desperate!!! I don't know how I could have messed this up - all the tutorials kept saying how easy and simple this is. I feel like an idiot.
I'm not sure what happend!! I am sooo sorry! And I know how it is to try and do cake with little ones!! What if you used chocolate to make it or Royal Icing this time until you have time to figure out what went wrong. I think both would have time to dry before tonight if you started now. Oh, and I use all crisco for fbct and no problems. Maybe it was too thin? Not sure. Sorry this happened though!
Ok, I'll try with half butter. Uggg. I'm all out of butter. Better run to the store.
Does the icing need to be stiff? I used pretty thin icing, b/c all the intructions called for medium to thin consistency. Maybe I'll try stiff this time.
Thanks for the suggestions. I'm off to the store! I'm actually going to BE at the party tonight too, so I want to make sure it looks really good...
Iâve never noticed a difference whether I use butter in my BC or all Crisco. I always use thin consistency because itâs what I like to ice in and itâs easier to pipe on. If I have time Iâll leave my FBCTâs in the deep freeze overnight so they are solid the next day. But Iâve had plenty of cakes ordered last minute and I only had an hour or so to freeze the FBCT. In those cases I did loose some details because it just wasnât hard enough to transfer but I touched them up and you could never tell. The Elmo cake in my pics is one of those cakes. I lost most of his middle and all of one of his legs and foot.
The only tip I have for you is when you are ready to put the transfer on DO NOT WAIT. Get that sucker from the freezer and onto your cake immediately. The second the icing hits the warm air itâs going to start thawing out very quickly. Also the heat from your hands is going to thaw any part of the transfer you are touching. I freeze mine on a baking sheet so when I take them out of the freezer the sheet stays super cold and keeps the transfer cold for a little longer.
I also leave quite a bit of excess wax paper around the outside so I can grab a hold of that and avoid having the heat from my hands warm up the icing. It usually takes me just a few minutes to pull the transfer from the freezer and plop it on the cake. It doesnât take icing very long to thaw out so you really have to be quick about it.
i use a medium consistency bc. also, maybe try using parchment instead of wax paper. and i use an all shortening bc and never have a problem.
I use Buttercream Dream (half butter half crisco) I had a problem once with the wax paper pulling the icing off. . . . I think it was because I didn't leave it in the freezer long enough, but now, mostly for precaution, and because I'm paranoid, I crisco the waxed paper before starting on the transfer. Works like a dream! Also make sure that it's TOTALLY frozen. I left the most recent one I did in the freezer for a couple of days. (Not because it didn't harden, but because I knew I would be pressed for time) And it still worked out fine! Good luck! I love FBCTs.
THANK YOU! Honestly, I don't know what I would do without everyone's help and advice. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Anyway, I tried it again, using half butter, half Crisco icing, at medium consistency. That sucker was frozen solid in 20 minutes and the wax paper came off without a problem. YAY!!!
But I did have a a problem. The instructions told me to dip a metal spatula in hot water, dry it, and smooth out sections as I worked, to help push the buttercream down. Well, it worked ok... come sections did not get pushed down all the way. And some of my letters got pulled, so the "Happy Birthday" looks a little crappy 
Is there a better way to push the icing? Could I use a fondant smoother if I covered the FBCT bottom with wax paper?
When should you put the FBCT on the cake? As soon as it's frozen or right before it's picked up? I have no clue? I did my first one last night and it's going on a cream cheese icing cake, that doesn't have to go anywhere until tomorrow. When can I slap the transfer on the cake?
I've only done one so far but am doing another for a party Saturday. I froze it for a few hours and then placed it on the cake the day before the party. It was fine.
I pushed mine down on the cake before I removed the wax paper. Then when I peeled the wax paper off, it was already in place. I didn't use a spatula. I did use a clean finger to smooth any imperfections in the transfer though.
I didn't even think of putting it on the cake, AND THEN REMOVING THE WAX PAPER! Duh! No wonder it melted in my hand and didn't work! lol I'll know what to try the next time. My Hannah Montana cake wasn't very HM-ish without my FBCT on it! Oh well! They still loved it!
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