Hi all,

This is my first post and I hope you all can help me. I can't for the life of me get my icing as smooth as some of you do in these pictures. I am making a cake for a friends bridal shower and she likes it better without MMF. YIKES!!

Any help or advice you can give is much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Shannon

Don't get discouraged. I can't get mine smooth either, but it's coming along! I'm a beginner, so I'm not any sort of expert but I'll share what I've discovered here!

Here are the things I've learned on CC that might help:

First, make sure your icing is the right consistency. If it is too thick, it will pull cake with it and you will get crumbs that make smooth cake impossible. Also, the more air bubbles you can keep out of the icing, the easier it will be to smooth. This has probably helped me more than anything in getting my icing smoother.

Second, after it crusts, you can smooth it with a variety of things. Many folks swear by using Viva paper towels to smooth their icing. I've not tried it yet, but I picked up some Viva at the grocery store yesterday so it's on my list. If you use the search feature, and put in "viva" you'll get a ton of posts that will offer advice. You can also use computer paper wrapped around a fondant smoothing tool to further smooth it.

I've always learned best by watching. So here's a few videos to help you out!

SeriousCake's How to get a smooth cake:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqvL4zhVbE8&feature=channel_page

SeriousCakes's Bubbly Buttercream (this will calm a lot of nerves!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOcq4AnnwrE&feature=channel

Tonedna's method of frosting a cake:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIXHFqpJK84&feature=channel

And if you browse YouTube, you're gonna find A LOT of people have tutorials on how to ice a cake. It's worth it to watch a few different ones because everyone does it differently and there's no wrong way to do it. I've been meaning to make a video of how I ice a cake. Some will crumbcoat, some won't. I usually don't.

Good Luck! And remember there is no magical method to get a perfect cake, it just takes lots and lots of practice!

A good recipe is key; and there are many on here. but I like mine.

You can try my mom's trick: smooth the icing as much as you can, then take a clean knife and dip it in water then smooth again. I do this when my icing gives me a hard time.

Sharon Zambito's Buttercream DVD is great!!

http://www.sugaredproductions.com/

Viva paper towel baby! Works wonders for me! Forget the hot water routine!