So I was a little bored at work (shhh don't tell the boss!) and I was watching Edna's videos on Youtube about how to smooth icing. She was showing a cake that had a crumb coat on it, but it really looked like it was frosted! It could have been white cake with white icing but it looked thick.

When I do crumb coats I do a very very thin layer of icing, almost nothing there at all and then ice over that. Am I doing this wrong!?! Should I be putting more icing on for the crumb coat?

Thanks for your time!

It doesn't matter as long as the icing holds your crumbs , and you're able to ice easily.

I wondered the exact same thing when I watched her video! Hmm...

I use a very thin coat of icing. If I go any thicker, then I have a tendancy to tear the cake to shreds. I think Toneda is so talented, she probably doesn't even need to crumbcoat and she's just showing us how to do it.

I have always done a very, very thin layer of b'cream.

A good way to get a great sealing crumb coat is to take about 1/4 to 1/2 cup b'cream (depending on the size of the cake) and melt it in the MicroWave oven. This only takes a couple of seconds - like less than 10 - again depends on how much you are working with. Watch it closely because you don't want to actually get the icing hot - just want it to melt. You need to work quickly - pour most of this melted icing on the cake and smear it around & down the sides w/your spatula. Use the rest to finish the sides making sure you get the entire cake covered. You will be able to tell if any spot(s) are not covered as this icing will turn sort of white - like the glaze on a glazed donut.
Any leftover is UNusable so don't melt too much. It cannot be re-heated or added back into your b'cream.

hmmm.. I have never heard of melting the buttercream before....I will have to try it this weekend!

I always crumb coated my cakes just with a thin layer of buttercream as well but just the other day i decided to use the icer tip and i did not crumb coat the cake at all and it worked really well and saved me about 20 min or so i don't think i will ever crumb coat again loved the icer tip it was so easy to make sure all the icing was even.

I read a while back from another cake baker how to make a crumb coat out of the buttercream you use. It's really easy and it seems to work well so far with all of my cakes. You just thin it down with some water until it's too thin to write with but not soupy like. Spread over the cake, pop into the refridgerator for a just a little bit and then ice your cake as normally.

Putting bc in microwave. I think this will work alot better and easier for me. Thanks