Thanks for this tutorial and sharing

I can't wait to try this either. Yours came out so beautifully! I've also tried the big icing tube with only moderate success. This looks much more doable. My recipe is about 3 to 1 shortening to butter because of the heat and humidity here in Cancún (just like Puerto Rico, I imagine!), and I think it would work fine. Can't get Viva paper towels here, but I'll use parchment to smooth. I don't need a cake this week, but I'm going to make one just to try out the technique! Thanks so much for the tutorial. My family hates fondant and I hate doing buttercream because I'm so bad at it. This may be the solution to all my problems!

I must have missed it in my initial read..but I found it! Thanks!!!!

I cane across this while looking for a rolled buttercream cake cause I heard it was a good alternative to fondant, so I wanted to see how it looks, but this looks soo perfect and beautiful! I must go buy some Viva paper towels now! thanks so much for giving the tutorial! I greatly appreciate it! I have so many people who just love the buttercream over the fondant... even though I use pettinice fondant, which many people thinks tastes great compared to wiltons nasty tasting fondant! again thanks!

Your welcome! I hope many of you get to try it. The tier I used for the pictures is now on my cake I did today if you want to go and look at the final result It is the one with the red fondant bow and ribbons.

Thanks for posting the 'how to', for this. I can't wait to try it!

Thank you so much. I use Sugarshack's buttercream recipe so I think that should work since it crusts really well. Can't wait to try this. Sugarshack also uses the hot spatula and Viva towels, but using the tip 18 to put the buttercream on is such a great idea. Again, thanks.

I love this; thanks TuTu! I always have trouble with too much icing on the tops or sides; this is perfect. I have a cake due next Sun., and was going to go back to the upside down technique. This definitely eliminates all those steps.

You said you used a stiff consistency bc; is there any specific reason, can med. consistency be used? I ask becauase I've never iced my cakes with a stiff consistency icing. Since the icing crusts, how is the texture and the mouth feel?

I noticed a couple of people saying that their clients hate fondant. I just tried the BC flavor of Satin Ice fondant this week and it is wonderful. Once we use up all of our vanilla satin Ice, I will be switching to the BC flavor. I buy it from www.fondantsource.com in Kissimmee since they are close by and I can go pick up the 100 pounds we buy at a time. His price is even better than buying directly from the manufacturer. Wilton BC is NASTY so I understand why some people hate fondant in general.

I have one client who only wants BC and it is not my favorite way to sell a cake. I will definitely try this Viva method. Thanks for the posting.

I am sure medium consistency would be fine but I use stiff because I don't like to wait to use the viva towel...I use it right away after the hot knife. Now that said...I am a rock climber and have really good forearms getting a stiff icing out of an 18 tip is no easy task stiff.

I make my own fondant and it has a great flavor but nothing compares to the flavor of my buttercream, plus I think I can smooth a buttercream cake better than a fondant cake...since most of my cakes are buttercream I get lots of practice.

Doing fondant is a lot faster if you buy the fondant but since I make my own by hand and the mixer makes the buttercream...the time making the fondant and the time icing a cake in buttercream is about the same. I can ice a 14/11/8/5 in about 1 1/2 hours which is not that bad.

Your method is very similar to mine, pero tus resultos son mejores. Gracias por tu ayuda.

Tutugirl how is the texture and mouth feel of the stiff bc?

thanks for all the pictures. I saw this method in Toba Garrett's book (minus the Viva), but there were only a couple of shots. This is a nice tutorial for using the bag to cover the sides. I know i'm hooked!

so do you constantly dip the spatula into hot water, how long do you leave your spatula in the water?

The water is boiling and the hot spatula stay there for a few seconds and then dry with a paper towel before passing it in sections around the cake. You keep repeating until you are all the way around the cake.

Since I don't put merengue powder on my icing the buttercream stays soft and creamy. Also it doesn't crack at all.

tuti ¿Que tiempo hay que esperar para pasar el papel toalla
¿Ese frosting se puede dejar fuera de la nevera o hay que meter el biz. a la nevera

Puedes dejarlo afuera pero yo pongo el mio en el refrigerador.

Yo uso la toalla de papel imediatamente.

Thanks for posting this! I can't wait to try it =)

I saw this technique in the book The well decorated cake by t. Garret (Not sure if I got the name right but her initials are TG. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for taking the time to share!

I like how tutugirl has modified the technique, though -- doing the sides first and then rounding the top edge before working on the top. It looks like that helps get the top of the cake and the edges really smooth (my nemesis right now). Finishing off with the Viva paper towel and fondant paddle makes it perfect! Thanks, tutu! P.S. I have many of Toba's books; she's amazing. And her latest book Wedding Cake Art and Design is wonderful (here's hoping some of it will rub off!).

Awesome tutorial. Just proves my point when I say everyone has their own method of icing a cake. It's just a matter of experimentation and practice to find the method that works best for you.

I always tell the people I train that there is no magic trick to getting it smooth. Just practice practice practice.

subbing!

My viva towel always stick to the icing and when i pull it away he spoils everything... WHY?

You aren't letting it crust, probably. If your frosting isn't crusted, then the paper towel will stick. Let it sit at least 15 minutes or until the frosting forms a "crust" then try it.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOw, gracias por las fotos y la esplicasion, estas geniales a mi me ayudaran en mucho,pero tengo una pregunta, que puedo aser para que mi cake no suelte muchas migas, a la hora de cubrirlo?????????



Usted podria sugerirme alguna receta para mejorar mi masa del cake

THIS IS SO HELPFUL. THANKS!

No te preocupes, agata, lo único que tienes que hacer es quitar las migas que puedas y ponerle al pastel un recubrimiento delgado de betún (buttercream o ganache) en el que no importa que se vean las migas. Deja que esta capa repose un rato - hasta que endurezca un poco - y luego pones el betún, glaceado o fondant que quieras. ¿Qué receta usas? ¿Crees que suelta más migas que otros pasteles?

OK I want to see some pictures