Smbc And Abc Users, Tell Me How Abc With Fondant Works, I Don't Remember!

Decorating By AZCouture Updated 25 Apr 2014 , 3:54pm by -K8memphis

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AZCouture Posted 24 Apr 2014 , 10:39pm
post #1 of 32

Just out of curiosity, I want to know how you get fondant to stick to American butter cream, and use any pressure to smooth it. I made it a couple of times years ago now at this point, and I don't remember how it worked. When I put fondant on my smbc or ganache cakes, it's a very firm surface, and it just naturally adheres right away (thin jam layer with ganache, nothing with smbc), and I can put a good amount of pressure on it with my hands and little plastic cards I use to smooth and trim the edges. But....how do you do it with an ABC? Whether or not it's crusted over, if it's not chilled, doesn't it just squish out and smoosh around underneath the fondant?  I have been wondering this for some time now. :roll: I'm just thinking of the pressure I can put on a cake with what I use, and how if I did the same thing to an ABC, it couldn't possibly work...could it? Don't laugh! I seriously don't remember!:D :D :D

31 replies
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AZCouture Posted 24 Apr 2014 , 10:40pm
post #2 of 32

I titled it the way I did, because I know there are some "dual users" out there that know what I mean, my emphasizing the pressure and whatnot. 

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AZCouture Posted 24 Apr 2014 , 11:51pm
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Oh come on, someone tell me I'm an idiot and there's no difference. I'm going to be wondering about this even more now!

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thecakewitch Posted 24 Apr 2014 , 11:58pm
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It has been a long time since I used ABC. But I don't think there's any difference (pressure) because I always refridge the cake before covering with fondant.

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MBalaska Posted 24 Apr 2014 , 11:59pm
post #5 of 32

Finally !! something I might have been able to help you with (after reading your posts greedily and learning books full of cool stuff from you !!!!) and I can't help at all....:ouch:

 

It's funny because when I made tons of ABC I never used fondant on it, ever.   I either made a fondant cake with fondant decorations, or an ABC cake with piped ABC decorations.

 

But with the wonderful discovery of SMBC (mmmmmmm good)  I put fondant on it a lot!

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MBalaska Posted 25 Apr 2014 , 12:00am
post #6 of 32

ps: if your an idiot.......I'm a prima ballerina  HA

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AZCouture Posted 25 Apr 2014 , 12:07am
post #7 of 32

A

Original message sent by MBalaska

But with the wonderful discovery of SMBC (mmmmmmm good)  I put fondant on it a lot!

[IMG ALT=""]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3225625/width/350/height/700[/IMG] :-D:-D Just a little Portlandia reference there....lol

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AZCouture Posted 25 Apr 2014 , 12:08am
post #8 of 32

ASo cakewitcj, I would do the same. But I know a lot of people don't, because you see it referenced all the time, about never putting a cake in the fridge, so I assume that means EVER for some. Not even whilst decorating. Hmmmm.

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costumeczar Posted 25 Apr 2014 , 12:30am
post #9 of 32

I use both, and I also cover cakes with fondant both cold and at room temp, depending on how much time I have. I actually prefer covering them at room temp because if anything's going to blow out or sag you'll see it right away and not when the cake warms up when it's too late to fix it.

 

Fondant sticks to ABC just fine. It it's been sitting in the fridge it will get some condensation on it when you take it out, so that makes the fondant stick. if it's at room temp it might crust over a little, but not enough to prevent the fondant from sticking to it when you press it onto the cake. There's nothing mysterious about it, you just cover it as usual and move on.

 

To throw another wrench in the works, I also use ABC that's all butter as well as one that has both butter and shortening in it, depending on how hot it is outside and whether the cake will be in or out. Fondant works the same on all of them.

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thecakewitch Posted 25 Apr 2014 , 12:31am
post #10 of 32

AThe hell with the no fridge! :D I fridge after bc, fridge after fondant and I have never have any problems.

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costumeczar Posted 25 Apr 2014 , 12:49am
post #11 of 32

Quote:

Originally Posted by thecakewitch 

The hell with the no fridge! icon_biggrin.gif I fridge after bc, fridge after fondant and I have never have any problems.

it can be fine, but refrigerating them will harden the icing and trap air if it's inside the cake, and when they warm up and the icing softens the trapped air can expand and escape. If you cover it with fondant when it's cold then let it warm up you do run a higher risk of a cake tumor...Not that it wil happen every time, but it's a risk factor. I like to let fondanted cakes sit at room temp for a while to make sure nothing's going to expand and cause a tumor to start, but I do a pretty good job of being paranoid and pressing the layers down to get rid of air, so it isn't usually an issue.

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AZCouture Posted 25 Apr 2014 , 1:19am
post #12 of 32

ASo do you just use a light hand, and as long as you smoothed the bc down very well, don't have to put any muscle into it to get it smooth? Maybe I'm over thinking it, and it's thicker than I remember.

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costumeczar Posted 25 Apr 2014 , 2:50am
post #13 of 32

Quote:

Originally Posted by AZCouture 

So do you just use a light hand, and as long as you smoothed the bc down very well, don't have to put any muscle into it to get it smooth? Maybe I'm over thinking it, and it's thicker than I remember.

You mean if it's at room temp? Yeah, just don't smash it. I never learned to cover anything from the fridge, that isn't how we did it back in the olden times. You iced the cake then covered it with fondant, no big deal. I think people started doing it when the cake was cold because it's easier to press the heck out of it and not smash the cake.

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MBalaska Posted 25 Apr 2014 , 3:08am
post #14 of 32

Quote:

Originally Posted by costumeczar 
 
""........ that isn't how we did it back in the olden times. ........""
 

 

:lol:   The olden times, they weren't that long ago were they???   

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AZCouture Posted 25 Apr 2014 , 3:20am
post #15 of 32

AYep, that's what I meant, covering when it's room temp. Huh. I'm so heavy handed with my chilled cakes, I'd really have to be cautious if I tried an ABC.

Olden days...oh my word, one of these days I'm gonna refer to the olden days too! Look here missy, back when I was doing it, we didn't have those fancy schmancy piping machines and robots to cover our cakes! We had to use rolling pins, and piping bags! Arrogant whipper snappers!

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James M Posted 25 Apr 2014 , 3:38am
post #16 of 32

I constantly have the issue with the ABC that you are talking about as far as it coming out the bottom. I am not sure where I go wrong with this because I just can't get it right. I am starting to change over to SMBC because I am just getting frustrated. I have been icing the cakes with the scraper against the board and then I put it in the fridge and by time I get the fondant on there and try to smooth it with the fondant smoother it just starts coming all out of the bottom. I am not even putting that much buttercream in there and so I just don't get it.

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cazza1 Posted 25 Apr 2014 , 6:49am
post #17 of 32

Forget the olden times, I harken back to the age of dinosaurs, almost.  And that doesn't seem that long ago, either, until I think about how much cakes have changed.

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Smckinney07 Posted 25 Apr 2014 , 6:53am
post #18 of 32

AThis might be backwards for many, especially newer decorators, but I hated the crusting or ABC. I'll use it on cupcakes when my daughter remembers last min that she needs treats for school but I always had such a hard time smoothing it using the Viva method.

Not that, that helps in any way :)

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AZCouture Posted 25 Apr 2014 , 6:58am
post #19 of 32

AI also like the fact that all the issues with bulging, or trapped air bubbles, or sagging fondant...just don't happen with ganache or smbc, unless I'm just lucky. I dam with the same consistency I ice with (when using smbc), fill it, ice it right away, pop it in fridge, take it back out for another go round on the turn table and to clean up any rough patches, and it's good to go! Very "labor time" friendly. I see all these threads complaining about bulging and "cake farts" and say a silent thanks that I don't have to deal with that. Knock on wood!

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Smckinney07 Posted 25 Apr 2014 , 7:20am
post #20 of 32

AYou don't let your cakes settle? I've noticed it isn't necessary with ganache but I usually make my cakes settle out of habit. You just saved me an extra step! It makes sense as it firms up.

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AZCouture Posted 25 Apr 2014 , 7:28am
post #21 of 32

A

Original message sent by Smckinney07

You don't let your cakes settle? I've noticed it isn't necessary with ganache but I usually make my cakes settle out of habit. You just saved me an extra step! It makes sense as it firms up.

Nope!

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Smckinney07 Posted 25 Apr 2014 , 7:34am
post #22 of 32

AThanks!

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AZCouture Posted 25 Apr 2014 , 8:13am
post #23 of 32

ASometimes if the bc is bit on the softer side, it will bulge out a wee bit where the dam is, but not enough that it isn't smoothed back down after a nap in the fridge. But it's not from lack of settling, it was just that the bc was a little too soft to support the top layer. But it still has the same requisite amt of butter, so it firms right up in the fridge and won't do that again.

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AZCouture Posted 25 Apr 2014 , 8:15am
post #24 of 32

AAnd I should say it's scraped down smooth, of course you know that S., just being specific for anyone not in the know. It's like scraping a slice of butter off a cold stick, like shaving it down to smoothness.

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costumeczar Posted 25 Apr 2014 , 10:31am
post #25 of 32

A

Original message sent by AZCouture

I also like the fact that all the issues with bulging, or trapped air bubbles, or sagging fondant...just don't happen with ganache or smbc, unless I'm just lucky. I dam with the same consistency I ice with (when using smbc), fill it, ice it right away, pop it in fridge, take it back out for another go round on the turn table and to clean up any rough patches, and it's good to go! Very "labor time" friendly. I see all these threads complaining about bulging and "cake farts" and say a silent thanks that I don't have to deal with that. Knock on wood!

I filled and covered a cake with imbc yesterday and i could see a little bulge starting. You've just been lucky, cake tumors can develop with any kind of covering because it has nothing to do with the icing, it's all about air inside the cake traveling out. I do press down pretty firmly on the layers to make sure there aren't any air pockets, but you never know what happens when you take a cold cake out of hte fridge, deliver it and leave. I bet there are more cake tumors than we know because we don't see them after they get to room temp.

Having said that, ganache is probably the least likely to tumorize, but it's so sweet i don't like to use it to cover the cakes.

James...what recipe are you using for your ABC? There's no reason it would ooze anywhere unless it's too thinned out. This is hte recipe I've been using recently, it tastes a lot better than the ones with shortening and there's no added liquid. I don't know how it will hold up in hot weather but I have to wait to try it. http://acaketorememberva.blogspot.com/2013/08/weird-buttercream-recipe.html

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costumeczar Posted 25 Apr 2014 , 10:36am
post #26 of 32

A

Original message sent by MBalaska

:lol:    The olden times, they weren't that long ago were they???   

I'd say the olden times were any time before cake shows on tv, when people learned how to use buttercream before fondant, and knew how to handle a piping bag. Whippersnappers.

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-K8memphis Posted 25 Apr 2014 , 1:18pm
post #27 of 32

maybe so and the precursor to that would be when caking got plugged into the internet--that made biggest difference i think amongst custom cakers

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kblickster Posted 25 Apr 2014 , 1:38pm
post #28 of 32

costumeczar - Does adding liquid flavoring change the texture of this icing?  Does it color well?  I find that I can't get my colors right with all butter icing.

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costumeczar Posted 25 Apr 2014 , 2:06pm
post #29 of 32

Quote:

Originally Posted by kblickster 
 

costumeczar - Does adding liquid flavoring change the texture of this icing?  Does it color well?  I find that I can't get my colors right with all butter icing.

Flavoring will thin it out depending how much you add and the color is definitely off-white so you coud either add some white to it or a tiny bit of purple. I don't bother, personally. Here's a cake that's iced with it, it looks white enough for wedding purposes:

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-K8memphis Posted 25 Apr 2014 , 2:28pm
post #30 of 32

pretty cake, kara-- some brides want you to match their ivory color--no freakin way--by the time you get it set up with whatever lighting it's just gonna look like a white cake anyhow--i tell my brides it's an ecru color, super pale yellow, off white--because of the butter/vanilla that doubles as unique aromatherapy --the cake is food-- i've never had one not go with smbc for that reason

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