I am a bc newbie, and last night I made my first cake iced entirely with bc and I am not all that pleased with how it turned out. Firstly, I think I over-whipped the bc, but mostly I couldn't figure out how to smooth it out as much as I wanted - to achieve the fondant effect.

I've taken the Wilton classes where the use of parchment paper is advocated as the prime smoothing agent, but I've read a lot here on CC about using Viva paper towels.

Which is better? Last night I used parchment paper (it's what I had), and like I said, I think the results were less than stellar.

I really want to get better with bc! Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks.

I dont like the parchment paper myself. I teach Wilton and I dont teach the students the parchment way. I teach them the Viva paper.
The cake looks beautiful. I never over whip my buttercream as it seems to bring more air into the mix, but that changes from person to person. And I use high ratio shortening, cause it makes the buttercream smoother.
I have a small tutorial on Youtube on how I do it

I've heard of using Viva paper towels mostly, I have tried it, I have NOT tried smoothing with parchment paper, but was told to place parchment paper in the cake pans to bake for easy removal and less likely to crumble and get bumps.....Hope this helps!
Oh, Ithink your cake looks great, super cute!

Your cake is beautiful! Remember, we are our own worst critics! I always use parchment paper too, but have thought about using viva after all of the comments here on CC. I think the best bet is to get Sharon Zambito's (sugarshack's) DVD--that's on my wish list!! That women makes perfect BC iced cakes and has shared her expertise on this DVD!

Your cake is so lovely!

I have tried both and I like the Viva so much better. I think the problem with the parchement paper is it gets wrinkles and creases quite easily whereas the Viva just drapes perfectly. Also I think the Viva conducts very little heat from your hand because the paper towel is quite thick.

I used Bounty on my LPS Monkey cake and it gave it a weird finish--smooth but with super little indentations. I thought of maybe using the quilted side of bounty to get a quilted faux fondant look too.

your cake is beautiful...but i know, we're all perfectionists and want our BC to look like fondant! i second the advice to get sugarshack's dvd. www.sugaredproductions.com. take a look at her BC cakes...you honestly can't tell some of them from fondant. i have the dvd and it made a BIG difference for me. i'm still not at sharon's level but i'm lightyears from where i was! BUY THE DVD!

edited to say...forgot to answer the OP's actual question! i've tried both and i use viva. so does sharon/sugarshack. it's really the closest thing to just having your hands right on the cake and smoothing it out...you can feel every little bump through the viva.

Okay, y'all are much more sophisticated than I am when it come sot bc.

I have a hand trowel that I got from Home Depot that has never been used on anything and I smooth out my bc that way.

My hands are so hot for parchment and I'm a bit of a clutz when I use a paper towel.

Beautiful cake by the way.

Your cake is beautiful and you should be proud of it! Here is a thread on my BC tips where I discuss hwo I make my icing with no air in it, and a clip of me actaully making a batch.

( I no longer sift)

Thanks for the advice. I will definitely look into the Sugarshack DVD. And thank you for the kind words. I am probably too hard on myself, but who here isn't?