I'm rather new to cake deocrating and wonder how to smooth the butter cream where it looks flawless? I've tried the warm wet knife trick and it helps some but still can't seem to figure out how to get it really, really smooth.
Thanks

What kind of icing are you using? There are different kinds of butter cream and they do not all smooth in the same way. Are you using the vegetable shortening + powdered sugar stuff? It is very difficult to smooth compared to European style butter creams.

I just discovered the Melvira method and while I don't have it down perfect, it sure is making a huge difference in getting my icing smooth.

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

If you're using a crusting buttercream, I HIGHLY recommend Melvira. Prior to Melvira'ing it, I use a bench scraper for the intial smoothing. When I watched tonedna's video, I picked up some good tips from her and my icing started looking better (welll .... except for that one crappy cake in my pics where the icing just didn't work for me at ALL that day! )

Indydebi: would you please tell us again about the kind of bench scraper you purchased? All I could remember by the time I got to the hardware store was that I needed to ask for a certain kind and that the metal one worked better than the plastic one for you, which was a surprise to you.

i am in the market for one as well to use prior to using the roller .....

I use a regular metal spatula scraper purchased at the hardware store.

thank you tellis!

danielan77, you mentioned that you tried the "warm, wet knife trick". Assuming you meant that literally...the blade must be super hot from being in boiling water, then quickly wiped on a cloth so it's dry before touching the cake. And once the water starts to cool, it doesn't work as well. Does that help you with this method?

whats a good recipe for a non-crusting buttercream?

I have tried many different tricks, including the roller.....but find the viva paper towel works best for me

IMBC and SMBC are both non-crusting.[/quote]

thx!!