1St Fancy Birthday Cake

Decorating By suzie1962 Updated 20 Oct 2008 , 1:14am by cylstrial

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suzie1962 Posted 15 Oct 2008 , 3:30pm
post #1 of 9

Hi all:

I made this cake a couple of weeks ago for my twin nieces birthday. It is a copy of a cake I found on here by Mary-Ann. (I hope she doesn't mind me copying it) It was really fun to make, but I am not that happy with the buttercream. I used a powdered sugar and butter buttercream that did not get very smooth and it was hard to frost the chocolate cake without it showing through. The frosting was just too thick!! O well, it was fun anyway, but from now on I will only use SMBC.

Thanks for looking.
LL

8 replies
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mommakristin Posted 16 Oct 2008 , 12:57am
post #2 of 9

I think it looks good!

The question I have for you is which buttercream did you use?

Was there too much air in the bowl when you were mixing the icing?? I know that I learned from Sugarshack that in order to have wonderfully smooth EXCELLENT Buttercream icing you have to get all the air out of your icing when mixing it. It works like magic! Then you won't have problems getting it smooth enough.

Also did you crumb coat it first? I always crumb coat even when using BC. i crumb coat and let it set a good 10-15 minutes before i final coat. That seems to help me get the corners and edges to look great!!

If you haven't already you might want to check into getting SugarShack's buttercream icing DVD. I use that like my bible!!!!!

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TyTy78 Posted 16 Oct 2008 , 3:22pm
post #3 of 9

I think it looks really good. We are our worst own critics sometimes....And others tend not to see what we do. Keep up the good work!! I love the colors!!!!

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cylstrial Posted 17 Oct 2008 , 2:51am
post #4 of 9

I know this might sound like a dumb question...but it is sincere. How do you know when you have too much air in the icing (when it's in the mixer). I can tell once it's on a cake.

Thanks!!

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mommakristin Posted 17 Oct 2008 , 2:59am
post #5 of 9

I didn't know either at first. After watching SugarShack's buttercream DVD I do now. Sharon shows you how to fill your bowl so that no air gets into the icing while you are mixing.

She says the trick is to use all the available space your mixer (this is a stand mixer). When your paddle is mixing the icing you should not see any spaces. It should glide through the icing and not make "kissing or sucking" sounds.

I do think that SugarShack has a demo on Youtube. I have not seen it but I have heard that they do.

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cylstrial Posted 17 Oct 2008 , 3:10am
post #6 of 9

I'll have to check it out or get the video or something. Thanks for your help. (Suzie1962 --Sorry for taking over your thread).

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Chippi Posted 17 Oct 2008 , 6:32am
post #7 of 9

I believe I watched that video on youtube....maybe another one....in the video it showed mixing in a stand mixer, and watching for large open tracks that the beater leaves while going around.....they said to stop it move the icing down and continue to beat but not on a fast speed, faster it beats more air is incorporated, and you need to beat longer than you normally do. Once your done beating take a spatula and run it through your icing, it should look smooth and no breaks in it or air bubbles. Mine had air in it the other day and I know the reason was because I was beatin the heck out of it and wasn't beating it long enough. Hope this helps. Good Luck to YOU!

Chippi icon_smile.gif in the making!

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Chippi Posted 17 Oct 2008 , 6:34am
post #8 of 9

OOps.........that cake looks great! The colors are outstanding, I bet you made one lil youngster happy!!!

Chippi icon_smile.gif

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cylstrial Posted 20 Oct 2008 , 1:14am
post #9 of 9

Thanks Chippy! I appreciate the info!! I'll give it a try tomorrow and see if I can tell!

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