Last week I did a Baby Shower Cake where I used buttercream, it was also the first time I didn't cover the cardboard first. I made the cake the day before and the next morning the oils from the buttercream had created a ring around the cake.

This weekend I have a Grooms cake to do and I'm not sure the best way to prevent the oils from spreading again. I will be using buttercream but this time, I'm planning on using a piece of wood covered in parchment paper. Any advice on how I can avoid the buttercream oils from spreading out?

Thanks,
Sara

Try covering with Glad Press n Seal.

I always use the Wilton foil on my boards and have never had a problem.... you may want to consider that. They sell it at most craft stores & I've also seen it at Walmart. I've also read of others using the clear contact paper over their boards. HTH

Are the boards waxed? I use the waxed boards and never have a problem.

You can use the Wilton cake foils, heavy-duty aluminum foil, freezer paper (shiny side up), wrapping paper covered with clear contact paper, or the patterned contact paper. Basically you want something that will protect the cardboard from grease and not shred when the cake is cut.

Wilton also has grease-proof cake doilies in different sizes. I wrap my board in aluminum foil, then wrapping paper to match my cake, and a doily.

I also prevent buttercream exposure to the board by covering my edges below with pieces of wax or parchment paper while decorating. I didn't do that recently and regretted it.

Do you mean the grease just left a ring or was there a pool of grease around the icing---like the oils actually seeped out of the icing & puddled on the board?

If it's just a grease ring, use the Wilton or other papers mentioned, or if you want the wood, then you can cover it in cellophane.

If the oils are coming out of the icing I would suggest a different recipe. This was happening to me & I was getting sooo mad. I started using creamer instead of water in the recipe & it made all the difference in the world.

dandelion56602 I have a great bc icing everyone loves but in the summer I see more oil I just seen a recipe were they used creamer I did not think much about it but now with your tip I am going to give it a try Thank YOu!!!

SaraLee33 thanks for asking the question.

If you use the wax coated boards that won't happen. Some of my boards have the wax coating on top and some don't. I always cut a piece of parchment paper the size of my board and plave it on top of my boards and then decorate.

Put the board and a glob of icing in the middle to hold the parchment on.
then put the parchment.
then a blob of icing to hold the cake onto the parchment.
then decoarte as usual.

If you get extra on the sides of the parchment, just scrap it off.

This may not apply since you are using parchement paper, but when this happened to me on a simple cardboard round....I just sprayed the rest of the board in Pam and you couldn't tell, since it all looked the same. Now I perfer the waxed or parchment way, but if I run out, this is what I do when you have to make it work.

The cardboards that wilton sell withouth the wax are not meant to used just like that. Even for stacking a cake they should be covered.
You can use foils (like fancy foil for Wilton). Or you can use the waxed cake boards. If you are stacking a cake . the boards that support the upper levels, even though they wont be seen, they need to be covered in wax paper.
The grease on the board will soften it making the board not as strong.
If you are doing a few tiers.. you need a stronger cake board. They are called cake drums. Is basically between 3 or 4 cake boards put together(you can use a glue gun) and covered in fancy foil. They sell some already premade or you can use thin ply wood cut to size. But remember even the plywood needs to be covered.
Edna

I dont like the ugly grease ring either so I either cover my boards in parchment or wrapping paper. When I use wrapping paper I cover it with Saran wrap.

Where do you get the wax covered boards? I can only find the carboard ones locally & the "plastic" ones have scalloped edges & wouldn't work well for a stacked cake.

They have them at Walmart in the Wilton section. Michaels and Hobby lobby
Edna

They have them at Walmart in the Wilton section. Michaels and Hobby lobby
Edna

They don't have them here. They have the plastic separator boards (w/ the feet that fit into pillars) but no wax boards. Do you have a link to the kind you use?

I use freezer paper shiny side up It is cheap and the roll will cover even the bigger cake boards

Sue

Thank you everyone for the advice. This is a huge help!

Wish me luck as this is my first cake I'm doing for payment and I obviously want it to look amazing