Okay, I feel dumb for asking this, but....whenever I ice a cake frosting gets all over. Well, not totally all over, but it gets on the stand or board that I'm icing the cake on. I have some cake orders coming up in March that need the cakes to be on a nice presentable surface. So, if I ice the cake, how the heck do I transfer it to the new base without messing up the icing? Or is there another way besides transfering it? Experts, help me out here cause I am at a total loss. LOL.

I decorate on the surface that I am presenting the cake on. I have heard of people putting strips of wax paper under the edges of the cake to help with the mess at the bottom of the cake. After you are done decorating, pull the wax paper out, and then put on your border.

HTH

I use plastic wrap on my board and i put it slightly under the cake, when i'm done i just pull it away and then do the border.
(sorry english is not my first language)

I've tried the strips thing..but whenever I go to ice around the cake...I end up pulling one of the strips up. I must be icing impaired. Lol...so I was wondering if there was another way...I guess, I could stop just tearing the strips and try cutting them, and maybe lay them kind of overlapping? Hrmm...lol..

i just take a paper towel and wrap it around my finger tip and "wipe" up all the icing as close to the cake aspossible so it isnt on the board anymore.

OOhh..swingme83..that's what I do now. LOL...that makes me feel better. I thought there was some great secret to how the cakes get presented so nicely...and I figured I was on the cutting edge with the strips thing...but found I make it harder on myself that way So I've been using the paper towel around the finger method..and was thinking I'm a dork. Now not so much. LOL...You guys are awesome.

I do the wax paper and the paper towel thing. With the wax paper I have found that if I use a little wider strips and overlap them that works a little better. But then I almost always have to go back and use the papertowel on the finger thing!! lOL

depending on how much frosting it is, i do the paper towel thing! just whipe it up as much as possible. wax paper is great too if your doing a cake thats not too heavy and you can lift it up and pull it off quickly. when i first started decorating, everything was always covered, but im getting better. so will you!

I do the paper towel wipe up thing as well!! Although I used to do the wax paper triangles under the cake. Don't know why I stopped, guess I just forgot about it.

I have also done the wax paper thing and it works really good. Also, I have to say that I used to make such a mess when frosting the sides of my cakes and doing the wax paper thing takes a little bit more time (especially if the cake is round) so since I have NO patience I just started being real careful and not glob the frosting on the sides but to just do a little to get the area covered. Also since I always put a border around the bottom then there is no need to get the frosting/icing all the way to the bottom of the cake where it meets the board. I don't make any messes now and no need to used waxed paper.

I don't mess with the wax paper or anything else. I just take a damp paper towel and wipe the board as necessary after I do the crumb coat and again after I do the final coat.