Everytime i cover my cakes in frosting I always end up with a lot of crumbs in the frosting any tips or ideas how to get a crumb free frosting finish?

i pipe my buttercream on the cake, then just smooth it out. that way i dont have to touch the cake with my spatula and risk spreading the crumbs.

Put your thin layer of buttercream (crumb coat) on a frozen cake. Your crumbs won't be as 'crumby' and your cake won't stick to the frosting as bad. I fill and crumbcoat frozen cakes all the time.

Put your crumb coated cake back in the refrigerator and let the thin buttercream layer harden then take out and frost over that. No crumbs in your frosting!

Also, I clean my knife every time I make a stroke and make sure that I scrape off that excess frosting that may have crumbs in it, on the side of a bowl that is separate from my frosting bowl.