I have been practicing getting a faux fondant smooth BC finish all week and im getting no where!! iv also tried searching online for help but i can only find the viva method, which would be great but im in the u.k so no viva!! im so fed up of it now! how do other uk bakers do it? anything i use just sticks to the BC and makes a clumpy mess. also the only crusting BC recipes i can find are from the U.S! can any1 help me before i give up?!

i've seen where they use typing paper, or a sponge roller, you can go to u-tube, watch edna, and others. it will help alot. sounds like you not using a crusting butter cream, it has to crust before you do anything with it, at least 1/2 an hour. i use sugar shack's it works really good, and it not the overly sweet bc. do you have a scraper, it's good for your first part of smoothing hope this helps. don't give up

I use Sugarshack's buttercream (with or without hi-ratio shortening). Just make sure you use 1 cup shortening to 1 lb of sugar and it will crust just fine, sometimes in less than 30 minutes. Then you can smooth with the typing (plain white) paper. I've used paper towels that are not VIVA with a print design in them (if you don't mind the design in the frosting). I use Sugarshack's method of dipping my spatula or bench scraper in boiling hot water and wiping dry to smooth the cake. it also seems to help with the crusting (maybe????). It still takes practice to get it absolutely flawless, but it will be smoother than usual. Have you tried using wax paper or parchment paper?

Hi Katie.

try the melvira method

http://cakecentral.com/articles/126/quick-easy-smooth-icing-using-a-roller-melvira-method

She uses a high density roller, the not so cheap you can get at Homebase.

No paper towels not available or shortenings we don't have just your usual buttercream and a roller.

Would you share your icing recipe with us? Is it a crusting or not, because by the sound of your post, it may not be a crusting one?

we dont use shortening in the uk, only butter with double the quantity of icing sugar. (not sure if thats crusting?) i have tried wax, parchment and printer paper. not heard of the roller so im going to look at that now. maybe its my BC recipe, maybe its not a crusting one? whats the difference recipe wize? i have watched ednas tutorials and love them, but she uses viva too. thank you everyone. im ready to pull my hair out with this lol

The secret to smooth buttercream has nothing to do with a paper towel. You can use parchment paper, typing paper, the roller... whatever works for you that you can get ahold of. Your buttercream has to be pretty smooth before you use any of these or they won't really make that big of a difference. Whatever recipe you use, make sure you beat it long enough in your mixer so that it is smooooooth and airless to begin with. Then, heat up your metal scraper or spatula in a pot of boiling hot water before each scrape of the cake. That is going to give you the smooth look you want. The paper towel, etc is all just fine tuning. Good luck.

Thanks for the recipe kizrash, i would love to try that, is it a crusting one? also what is dream topping? never heard of it. thank you again!!