I am trying to perfect just getting a smooth buttercream...I always get crumbs...sometimes not alot...but they always sneek in somehow. How do you all do it? Any quick tips on what works for you? I never froze my cakes before but have been the last few times and it has definately helped...but would anyone be willing to give up their ancient chinese secrets??? Thanks so much!

Well I am Chinese but really have no secret! I use SMBC that I chill between coats. I also let my cakes sit for at least a day because they crumb less!

There are two ways to avoid crumbs in your icing: ice the cake correctly by always pushing the icing with your spatula and NEVER lifting up, or just crumbcoat the cake first, sealing in all the crumbs, and then applying your final coat after the crumbcoat has set.

i put on a crumbcoat, chill it for about 20 minutes, then put on another. If I need to, I'll put on a third coat, all the while, picking out ANY crumbs I see with a small spatula. It must be done with lots of love and attention to detail.

Take out the amount that you need for the crumb coat and put it in a separate bowl. Use it only to crumb coat and toss any you have left. This is the only way that I can keep crumbs out of my BC. If I am in a hurry I am still tempted to skip this step and every time I end up with at least a few crumbs not matter how careful I try to be. Make sure the crumb coat crusts over really good before you apply the final frosting.

I always use the big icer tip from Wilton. That really helps and also makes my icing all the same thickness.

Sue

Ditto on Cakepro's advice. When I tell people, "Never let your spatula touch the cake" they look at me like I'm weird. Then I go on to explain this means your spatula touches icing only ..... it never actually touches the cake!

I tell them, "You 'push' the icing onto the cake, you don't rub in on like suntan oil on your back! " Then they get it!

I do exactly the same thing as moydear and I too use IMBC. This may sound like a "Well Duh" comment but when you crumb coat your cake have a separate bowl to scrape off the spatula, and even wipe the blade with a paper towel so you don't transfer crumbs to your nice batch of icing.

Thank you all so much....can I ask what SMBC stands for and IMBC...(I know the BC ppart =)

Swiss or Italian!

IMBC is Italian Mereigne buttercream and SMBC is Swiss Mereigne Buttercream.
As for avoiding crumbs --
I use a pastry brush to brush off any loose crumbs from cut surfaces due to trimming.
I then fill the cakes and stack. I used to use a crumb coat. let set for 30 mins or longer and then put on my finishing coat. Now I just use the large icing tip from Wilton and no crumb coat. Not a crumb in sight but it does use a lot of icing up quickly!!

I'm a fan of the icer tip too. It even keeps crumbs away when you're icing a chocolate cake, notorious for crumbs!

Never let your spatula touch the cake. . .always smooth over and if you need more just put more. I think if you do a crumb coat first that's fine. . .but there's also the psychology behind it that's setting you up for failure. . .so it's a lose-lose situation. . .did I make sense?

. . .

Okay, just don't let the spatula touch the bread! Lol.

I cant seem to figure out crumbcoating. every time i try i get chunks of hte cake that fall out. i am even freezing my cakes, I have yet to work with buttercream because i cant even seem to crumbcoat correctly i could never dream of a flawless finishing coat. so i love fondant, maybe i will try the wilton tip.

Your icing must be way too stiff. I crumbcoat all of my sculpted cakes with thin buttercream with no problems like you described.

What type/recipe of buttercream are you using?

store bought cause i cant find a recipe of a homemade on that i think tastes good, any recomendations? im making my daughters cake today so that would be nice to try something new.

Well, my personal favorite is Italian Meringue buttercream, but if you're used to the convenience of store-bought icing, you might think this is a little too labor or time-intensive.

What most of my customers and family members love is my regular buttercream, which crusts well and you can use the Viva paper towel method of smoothing it, if you like.

I'll email you the word document in a couple of minutes.

tahnk you sooo much, not about the time consumption , im more worried about taste. One thing I want to make sure when im making a cake for someone, paid or not is I want it to taste like the best cake ever. Thats why i make my own chocolate fondant too.

Oops, I couldn't email you the file so I'm uploading it here.

~Sherri

Edit: well, the .doc extension is not allowed here so if you'll send me your email address, I'll email it to you directly.