How do I get rid of the pooch? You know...that bit of icing that when you smooth the top of the cake pooches out over the sides and then when you smooth the sides it pooches up over the top. And then you try to smooth the top to get rid of it and it pooches over the side again. So you try to smooth the side and ....... Well you get my drift. What do you do about this? I drives me coo coo chasing the pooch!!!
Thanks,
Lazy_Susan 
Hard to write it, easier to demo...
offset spatular, at a 45 degree angle, like an airplane landing, come at the "pooch" and swipe it away.
_______ \\
| (tier) | (spatula angle)
OT but how many Jan 31 bdays do we have on here? That's my bday (although the profile won't let me put it in there for some reason) and I have seen at least two others on here with the same day!
I know that dodibug shares our birthday too 
ha.. when i read the title i thought you were talking about your dog...
Excuse me just a moment... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Ok I'm good now
Guess we don't have to report you for cruelty to animals after all!
I agree, take it towards the centre to remove. And this can be a long process too, so don't despair!
Hugs Squirrelly
I do the same as Kitagrl--and you'll pick up speed doing it the more cakes you do.
And get one of the largest spatulas you can find, can't remember if it is 12 or 14 inches long, the big honking one! For larger cakes, this makes the job easier and you don't get spatula lines either. For the sides, the plastic scrapers or a new putty knife, even a bench scraper works even better than the spatulas. The flexible plastic ones are easier to control the icing as you apply. I have even used new ice scrapers for your car windshield! Even the ones with the ridges can be used afterwards to get a nice design on the sides of your cakes. Some people use paint straightedges, the tool you use when you want a straight edge close to the ceiling when you are painting? Keep playing with tools until you find what you like. Sometimes it will be something unconventional. I also use folded cardstock to get a straight edge where the crown meets the side of a cake, on a square cake.
Hugs SQuirrelly
I thought the thread was going to be on good belly exercises too!
kos
By the way, how do you get rid of that?
I just finished the Billy Blanks Bootcamp CD for Abs. I supposed if I did it more than once per year, I'd loose the pooch. 
I thought the thread was going to be on good belly exercises too!
kos
By the way, how do you get rid of that?
I just finished the Billy Blanks Bootcamp CD for Abs. I supposed if I did it more than once per year, I'd loose the pooch.
I'm reading the comments on this thread and I think somehow along the way it took a sharp left turn! LOL 
Guess we don't have to report you for cruelty to animals after all!
Hugs Squirrelly
LOL - after the day I've had with my 2 dogs...I was looking forward to finding an answer on how to "get rid" of them... 
One of my dogs has learned to jump counter-high and yank off groceries like a whole new loaf of bread while the other has learned how to step on the pedal of my trash can and reach in and get every single item out....like egg shells, coffee filter with coffee grinds, a peanut butter container, chicken fat and bones that I'd just cleaned off to cook dinner, etc. etc.
If it's not the kids, it's the dogs...if it's not the dogs, it's the in-laws...if it's not the in-laws, it's MY parents...if it's not my parents, it's my sister...if it's not my sister, it's my DH...SIGH.
Tanyap, you sound like a commercial for, "Calgon take me away"! You poor thing, tomorrow will be better, er different, we hope!
Hugs Squirrelly
I'm reading the comments on this thread and I think somehow along the way it took a sharp left turn! LOL
You are "ab"-solutley right!
My edges are not perfectly square, but here's what I do. I ice the sides first using the large spreader tip. Then smooth with a spackle tool. I then have the "pooch" or an edge that sticks over the top of the cake. Then I take the L-shaped icing spreader and push the frosting onto the top of the cake toward the middle. Then I take the large spreader tip and run circles or stripes over the top of the cake but not to the edge. When I smooth it out on top, it gives me some room so it doesn't go over. Normally it gets covered with a top boarder anyway, so I havn't run into the problem of plain edges showing yet. But I practice each time just in case. Hope this helps a little. 
OT but how many Jan 31 bdays do we have on here? That's my bday (although the profile won't let me put it in there for some reason) and I have seen at least two others on here with the same day!
I know that dodibug shares our birthday too
I was born on 1/31/57 and had my first child, a daughter on my 24th birthday, 1/31/81. 2005 was our magic year - I was twice her age... never to happen again. Happy almost birthday to all of us! 
Now the REALLY weird part... My daughter's name is Kim... and I had a coworker whose wife's name was Kim... and she, unbeknownst to me, gave birth to a daughter on Jan 31 also... and it was HER birthday too... though it was her 23rd.... we had "birthday buddy" parties for years, but have sadly lost touch as I changed companies.
An angled spatula also works very well for the top. I like the large straight one for the sides. I do the same and ease it over the top edge to the center.
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