I went to lowes yesterday and purchased the rollers and they are marvelous!!!!!!!!!!!!

I made a cake last night and it was sooooooo easy to smooth the icing....I had other issues, but my base coat was pretty smooth.....until it got too warm in the kitchen, but that's another story!

How does the crusting buttercream taste? Does it taste just like buttercream frosting? I'd hate to ruin a good looking cake by having it taste so-so because of the frosting. I heard fondant is pretty yucky.

Crusting buttercream is great if you use generous flavorings in it. I love it. It's all I use. It's easier to work with and doesn't require any refrigeration.

As for the food safe issue, I heard back from the company. The representative told me that he cannot legally advise me to freely use them on consumables only because there has not been independent testing for that purpose, since they were not manufactured for that use. (He is covering his heiny as we would expect him to!) He is now researching for me to find out if they go through any chemical processing that would leave non-safe traces behind. Again, I will let you guys know the minute I find out anything.

This may be a stupid question, but I'm going to ask it anyway. Am I to assume that you go ahead and smooth your icing as much as possible with a spatula then let dry and then use the foam roller?

TIA

If you're really worried about it not being safe you can always use wax paper or paper towel under it. I've read of people using computer paper and and I've never seen that to be proven food safe either. I don't know that all the stencils people use are food safe either but they are being used. I guess it all boils down to what you're comfortable with. If you think it's a problem don't use it. As for myself I love it and will continue to use it. I throughly clean it after each use and it's probably more sanitary than the pastry bags I see laying around supermarket bakeries. Just my 2 cents.

Hey Tiggy, ditto on everything you just said!!

Luby: I usually use my icing tip to apply a thick layer of icing, then use my spatula to evenly distribute it and remove an 'excess', then let it crust and roll it. If you have any more questions, don't be shy... they are not stupid at all! I'd rather know you had all the info you need!

I was like a kid in a toy store while shopping for my rollers. I had a huge multi cornered grooms cake to roll and couldn't wait. I must had had my frosting too thick because it moved it around and made wrinkles everywhere. what did I do wrong?

I tried this method and absolutely loved it and I didnt have any excess icing sticking to the roller either since it was well crusted. I dont think we have any paper towels in canada without designs on them lol So I was never able to do the viva method I even emailed the company to ask if they sold any in canada and was told that they dont. So Melvira thanks from the bottom of my heart for making my life easier and my cakes prettier. lol

Luby you are very welcome!

AlamoSweets: Let me think... I am not sure what would cause the wrinkles unless the icing was just TOO dry. Overly crusted perhaps? There is kind of a window between not crusted enough and too crusted that you have to do it in. How long did you let it sit? Thick frosting should be ok, I put mine on kind of thick, but you have to use a nice light touch. If you press too hard it will push the icing around. I suggest that you use very light strokes, and move quickly, but not FAST if you know what I mean. Don't try to set any speed records. I have found if you go too fast it can cause 'accidents'. Do you have a roller that rolls very smoothly? Other people have come across lesser quality rollers that don't have a very fluid movement, and this can cause it to drag through the icing. Ugh, what a pain!

Does anyone else have any other ideas on what might have gone wrong for Alamo?

My only thought is maybe using too much pressure. That's what happened to me when I pushed too hard. Just lightly roll it across the top once it is crusted and you should be fine.

Darcat - AWESOME!! You just made my day...

Tiggy - That's what I thought as well.

AlamoSweets - Maybe try again when you get the chance and let us know if that helps. We want this to work for you too, so we will stick with you!!

OH I AM SO EXCITED!!! My Hubby and Dad think I'm a freak but just look how nice this turned out. AND SO FAST. Light light touch and this is the whipped cream buttercream icing posted hrer. I have used this much longer than it has been posted here but so nice. I love this THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for sharing!!!!!!
Look at he photo of chocolate roses that has the spiles on it!!!!!!!!!!

my husband is a painter by trade and I have asked him to get me a 6in. and 2 inch roller......more to come later!!!! Thanks for a good idea. The article was very precise and informationl. A section on roller care and shelf life would be great as well as pics of the product and maybe some demmo pics as well.

This Melvira method is great.

Told my DH we needed to go to Menards. No big reaction. Told him I needed a paint roller. He asked what I was going to paint. I said I wasn't. I need it for my cakes. He says, "Been on the website again, haven't you?"

Do I really talk about you guys that much?!?!?

Thanks Melvira! Great job with the explanations!

LOVED THIS METHOD, had my Hubby, a painter, get me one of these rollers and it was awesome! Work SO well. My newest cake was flawlessly smooth and it was an easy method. And clean up of the roller was a breeze, just some dawn direct foam and squeegy action and it was done.Newbie deff encourged to try this and you pros got a new cool tool to play with!

AWESOME!! Thanks for the feedback!!

You are a star. I can only find one kind of roller. Rubbermaid foam roller. I don't have much choice here. Hope these will be OK.
June

Hey Superstar, as long as it is dense foam it should be just fine!! Good luck and let us know how it goes!!

I can't wait to try this on those torturous sheet cakes I love so much!

The first time I used my roller, I was in love!! It took only a couple of minutes to smooth the cake, and I could move on to the fun stuff . . . decorating! Here are the pictures I took to show the difference. Sorry the pictures are in reverse order, but, you can see the difference that the paint roller makes. Any good ideas for getting rid of the curled edge?

Wow, that's incredible! I really can't wait to try it!

I'm a newbie and i can't wait to try this technique. It sounds AND looks like a great method!!!

Thanks for sharing, Melvira.

OMG, I JUST LOVE THIS SITE SOOOOO MUCH!!!!

I have 3 cakes for this weekend and I cant wait to try it, Im running to homedepot!!...see you

I have my first wedding cake coming up and my final for Wilton III so I'll be getting my roller(s) ASAP... thanks for the great tips and instructions!

- Paula

Hi, I will be going to Home Depot tomorrow to pick up a roller. Thank you so much! I've always had a hard time making my cakes look smooth.

I do have several of questions:

1. What's a crusting bc recipe? Is this some sort of special type of bc frosting? Or does this refer to using any bc frosting recipe and allowing it to crust a bit before you use the roller?
2. How do you know the roller is high density? Does it say on the tag??

Thank you!!

Melvira,

When I went to Home Depot the lady in the painting area didn't know what I was talking about. Is it in a different area than the painting/staining area?

Thanks