So, I am making my brother & fiance's wedding cake in March and she wants perfectly smooth buttercream with the roll sides. I seriously doubt I can get that. Many people have trouble doing this! So, she doesn't want MMF....rrrgg....So, I was thinking maybe I could talk her into White Chocolate Modeling clay. Do you think that would look good? I know it will make it look much smoother.
Hello.
You said you're stressing out about doing buttercream and making it super smooth, so maybe I can help. Here's how I frost a cake with Earlene's buttercream (this should work on any crusting icing):
What I do is frost my cake with one of two items. Depending on my mood, I either use a plastic spackling spatula (from Lowe's, a hardware store here--I use a 4" and 6" for the sides of my cakes) or a plastic dough scraper (I've also heard this called a bowl scraper). Using these tools, you can get your icing almost perfectly smooth with very little effort. (And I can wash them in the dishwasher). I think the dough scraper is my favorite, but I go back and forth. The 6" spatula is definitely better for the sides of tall cakes, though. I like the plastic better than metal because it molds to the cake.
I do the top of the cake first. I use the cake icer tip to apply icing to the top of the cake or I just dump a bunch of icing on the top of the cake. Using the cake icer tip will help ensure a crumb-free icing. Then I spread it out and smooth it with a few strokes of the spatula or scraper. Don't worry about fine lines from the sides of the scrapers, those will disappear later. If I have extra icing on the top, I either remove it from the cake or (what I usually do) smooth it down the sides of the cake.
Then, I apply frosting to the side (or sides, if it has corners) of the cake. For round cakes, I then wrap my arm around the cake and take the spatula or scraper at a 90 degree angle and run it around the cake to get a uniform side. You don't have to be able to run it around the whole cake in one swipe. I use several overlapping strokes to do this. For cakes with side edges, I try to smooth each side with one stroke. If I have applied too much icing at points, I may have to do this several times, removing blobs of icing in places, to get the look I want. Then, I go back and gently smooth the corners with light, short strokes. Once again, don't worry about fine lines. The extra icing at the top edge simply gets gently smoothed onto the top of the cake (sometimes I gently press the rim with my finger to achieve a gently rounded edge), while the excess icing at the bottom edge gets wiped away with a paper towel or q-tip.
I then let the icing sit until it is touch-dry. Then, I place either computer paper or a Viva paper towel (smooth side on the cake) on the top of the cake and gently smooth with the palm of my hand or a fondant smoother. Next, I do the same on the sides of the cake. I don't try to do all of the sides at the same time. I smooth section by section (even on round cakes) so I can control the paper or paper towel more easily. If I discover a section isn't dry like I need it to be, I smooth over the boo boo area with a scraper or a finger, let it sit a bit longer, and then apply the paper or paper towel again.
This is what I do. Maybe it will work well for you, too.
Also, be sure to mix your icing on low (with the beater) so you have very few air pockets in the icing. This will give you very few or no air bubbles to smooth out on the cake.
I'm sorry, I don't know anything about white chocolate modeling clay, so I can't help you there.
I work with chocolate modeling clay a lot! BUT, I have only covered a cake with it once! It worked well. Nice and smooth, but, you can't let it sit very long before you roll it and put on the cake, BECAUSE, sometimes little "flecks" of candy form and can cause your surface to look a little bumpy! It will definitely taste good!
Happy Baking!
Beth in KY
You can also try the Viva paper towel method and the roller method. One of them is known as Melvira's method, but I'm not certain which one.
Here are some things I decided I should add to my instructions earlier, in case anyone out there tries to follow them:
I should have included in my post that when you ice each tier, you can apply the icing on the top and sides of the tier and then smooth in the order I listed. You don't necessarily have to ice the top, smooth, ice the sides, and then smooth.
Another thing I should tell you is that since you are doing a stacked cake, you should ice and smooth the bottom tier, apply the hidden pillars or dowels, then immediately ice and smooth the middle (or next) tier, apply dowels or hidden pillars to it, and then stack it on the bottom tier. Have a a strip of viva paper towel or computer paper handy so you can smooth out any fingerprints or baubles caused by stacking the cakes. Then ice and smooth the top tier and place it on top of the middle tier, fixing any marks immediately. If you ice them out of order, wait too long to apply pillars, or wait too long to stack them, you run the risk of the icing being too dry and cracking or turning "leathery" when you try to smooth out the finger indentions.
One more tip: When preparing the cake for stacking, if you are using hidden pillars (I do because they make your cake very sturdy), first push them all the way into the cake plate. Mark where the cake hits each one ( I use a sharpie and then remove the mark with alcohol before I put it back in the cake). Take the pillars out and stand them next to one another. Using the shortest mark as a guide, cut all of the pillars for that tier to the same size. That way, if your cake isn't perfectly level, the cake above will still have a snug fit when resting on top... OK, once cut, reinsert the pillars into the cake, but only push them in half-way (this gives you room for your fingers). Then, take the cake that will be sitting on the pillars and line the feet of its cake plate up with the pillars. Gently, carefully, and quickly let go of the cake and move your hands out of the way. The weight of the top cake will push the pillars the rest of the way into the bottom cake and you will have little or no finger indentions to fix.
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