Hi everyone,

I posted earlier about the timeline for thawing and icing a cake. I pulled the cake (already crumbcoated) out of the freezer to thaw in the fridge this morning. I took it out again for probably about an hour this evening and then tried to start frosting it. The icing seemed to just slide around on the top, but worked fine and looks great on the sides.

A few notes:

1. When I first assembled this cake I poured a thin layer of puréed strawberries in the middle layer and filled the middle with strawberry buttercream. Worked great. Then I had extra puréed strawberries onto the top layer. Again, very thin layer, but I had only cut a portion of that layer off so the strawberry purée didn't seem like it completely soaked in. This was apparent when I started the crumbcoat but I assumed that all would be well after the crumbcoat.

2. I live in D.C. and the weather is particularly humid so that could be a factor.

The cake is now back in the fridge with just the sides frosted.  Any tips or did I botch this by putting the strawberry purée on top?  Or maybe I messed it up by not completely cutting off the top of the top layer? I sure hope this can be salvaged and looks great!! thanks!

If I ever have problems with my buttercream not sticking it's usually because it's too thick so I thin it out a bit and it makes a huge difference. I would try thinning your buttercream and hopefully you can salvage the cake :) 

Good Luck!!!

Sorry I didn't see this sooner.  Probbly by now you have finished the cake - how did it go?  Were you able to get some solution to the problem?  Here are my thought for any future trouble:    It's that layer of puree that is causing the problem.  There is a slight possibility that the icing needs to be a thinner consistency so it spreads better but you said it covered the sides of the cake o.k.

I haven't started back again yet, I don't want to mess it up more! My other post was about the buttercream transfer, and that's still in the freezer. I'm hoping I can lay that right onto the crumbcoat and not mess with it so then at least the majority of the surface will be covered. Then I just have to worry about the remaining space on top. Maybe I should try piping icing in those areas? So then at least the surface is covered and I can gently smooth it out. Thoughts?