Perfectly Frost a Cake: Make Buttercream Smooth like Fondant
Learn to Frost a Cake Using Wax Paper and Tools from the Hardware Store
Buttercream is most people's favorite frosting. You can add flavorings to it, even chocolate. It can be colored as well. It is harder to make buttercream smooth on the cake though. There are many methods and tools to make it easier. I am going to explain the method that works best for me.
You will need:
*a round cake to be frosted
*cardboard cake round to fit your cake
*serrated knife
*waxed paper
*pen
*offset spatula (a butter knife will do)
*a large cutting board
*freezer space
*4 inch tape knife (find one at the hardware store)
*cake turntable or Lazy Susan
Let your cake cool. Most cakes will form a dome on the top. Level the top off with a serrated knife. The next thing you need to do is lay out a piece of waxed paper. Put the cake on top of the waxed paper. Draw a circle around the cake. Draw the circle slightly bigger than the cake. Now lift your cake off and lay the paper down on a cutting board or other flat surface that you can lift. Make sure your paper is smooth and flat and then frost it. Using your butter knife or spatula spread your buttercream frosting in a layer. Make it as even as possible and make sure there are no air bubbles, especially right next to the paper. You will want to spread the frosting just over a quarter inch thick and large enough to cover the line you traced. Don't worry about how smooth it is, this will be the part next to the cake. The part touching the waxed paper will be the top. Decide which side of your cake will be the top. I usually turn it upside down since the bottom is usually more even. Carefully place the cake on top of the frosting with the top side facing down. Your cake should be centered on the frosting. Gently pat your cake down with your hands to stick it to the frosting. Now dab a bit of frosting onto your cardboard round and press it centered onto the bottom of your cake. Lift the entire cutting board and place it in your freezer. Let it sit for at least an hour. You are waiting for the frosting to get hard. Get out your frosting, tape knife, waxed paper, turntable or Lazy Susan and a cleaned spatula or butter knife before you remove your cake from the freezer. Set the cutting board onto the counter and using a butter knife remove the hardened extra frosting from around the edge. Do not remove any frosting very close to or under the cake. Lay a piece of waxed paper onto your turntable. Now turn your cake right side up onto the turntable. Lift off the cutting board and carefully peel back the wax paper. The frosting on the top of your cake will be perfect and smooth. Now using your spatula or knife add frosting to the sides of your cake. Add much more than you think you will need. It is easier to remove frosting than it is to add it. You will use your tape knife from the hardware store. Since the knife is 4 inches you will be able to sweep it around your cake in one motion. They have a big flat blade so they are easy to handle. Spin your turntable slowly and smoothly while holding the tape knife parallel to the side of your cake. Start by getting the frosting even and then on the next few turns work on getting it the right thickness. It is okay for your frosting to be a little thick. It will be better than getting it too thin so you see crumbs. The corner where the sides meet the top will be crisp and clean. Using your spatula or butter knife remove any frosting on the wax paper that is excess and pick up your cake and slide the wax paper out from under it. Your cake is now smoothly frosted and ready for decorating.
Published by Susie Lee
I am a photographer in Utah. I specialize in wedding and glamour photography. I also work for a wedding and event rental company. View profile
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12 Comments
Post a CommentJust made my daughter's birthday cake and was wondering how to smoothing the icing. Quickly went online and found this, the warm water method worked for me....thanks everyone for sharing.
Awesome! I have always wondered how to do this and have used fondant in order to get the clean look. I agree though that the taste is not the greatest
Being a decorator for over 40 years I have never heard of putting a cake in the freezer and going through all this. My cakes are always mistaken for fondant icing and I never use it ecept to make cake toppers. I ice the cake with an icing bag and tip and smooth it with a metal scraper, and soon as Iam done with the scrapper I smooth the icing with a VIva paer towel, and am done. Beautiful and I have my own business making 80 wedding cakes by myself May-Sept.
Anyone else have a problem with the buttercream "sweating" after it came out of the freezer? I probably left it in too long, but just wondering if anyone else had the same problem...
sarahs way work best for me :)
I don't exactly enjoy the flavor of fondant either and have tried some of these ideas to frost buttercream smoothly..however I also have a trick that I use that isn't really smooth but it leaves a nice pattern on the cake and makes it flawless. It is using a paper towel instead of wax paper or a heated knife...it leaves the pattern of the paper towel on the side of the cake when you rub your hand over the paper towel that is placed on the side or top of the cake. I love to try different brands of paper towels for different cakes..I have a heart patterned paper towel that it adorable on wedding cakes that look smooth until you get close up. Be sure to let the frosting set for a few minutes so the towel doesn't stick to it..enjoy!
Not enough characters allowed...continued from below... Smooth the knife over the top of the cake first using a little water on the knife to help smooth it out. To smooth the edges, take the knife and smooth over in one continuous motion. Then take your tape knife or long icing knife and smooth the icing on the sides. This is a much easier technique if you do not have a large freezer as required in the above solution.. (Mine is about 12" wide and really tall, which sucks for the above technique.)
Another way to do this which takes less freezer space: Level the cake with a sereded knife(remove the dome). Take your cake and put it in the freezer until it is almost frozen. This will not dry the cake out as long as you do not leave it in the freezer for days on end. Remove the cake from the freezer and place the bottom half of your cake (if layered) on the cake turntable or lazy susan. Apply your filling (again if layered) and place the top half of the cake on top of the filling. Now the issue of icing: To smooth the icing, take a really long icing knife and apply the icing liberally all over the cake (top & sides). Make sure the cake is covered evenly. Then rinse the icing knife off so there is no icing on it. Take a bowl with warm water, dip the long icing knife in the bowl of water. DO NOT drench the cake in water, you only need to wet the knife a little bit so that the water helps smooth out the frosting. Smooth the knife over the top of the cake first using a little
i dont know how to do it coz' i didnt see the steps on how to do so!
fondant is not the most delicious choice on a wedding cake, I'm glad there is an alternative that looks just as good. thanks for the info, great job on this :)