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In this cake decorating tutorial I'll use five cakes to show you the 10 most common struggles with icing or frosting a cake, and how to prevent or fix them!
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0:00
i'm going to use five cakes to show you
0:02
the most common struggles with icing or
0:04
frosting a cake and how to prevent and
0:07
fix them The first and maybe most
0:10
important hack is to spread or pipe a
0:12
bit of buttercream onto the middle of
0:14
your cakeboard before you place your
0:16
first cake layer onto it This
0:18
buttercream acts as glue and it will
0:20
attach the cake to the cakeboard so it
0:22
doesn't slide around while you're
0:23
layering it and then frosting or icing
0:25
and decorating it Let's look at what
0:28
happens if you skip that buttercream
0:29
glue As soon as you apply any pressure
0:31
to the cake as you flatten any filling
0:33
bulges around the cake and then spread
0:35
frosting on even just pushing lightly
0:38
against the sides of the cake will push
0:39
the cake across the cakeboard Add a dot
0:41
of buttercream as glue and ta The cake
0:44
is anchored down onto the middle of the
0:46
cakeboard and it won't slip and slide
0:48
around as you decorate it Of course to
0:50
get smooth frosting on cakes you'll need
0:52
the cake to have straight sides And you
0:54
can do this even if your cake layers
0:56
fall apart as you turn them out of the
0:57
cake pan Here's the hack to fix broken
1:00
cake layers Use buttercream to attach
1:02
any pieces that fall off the cake so
1:04
that each layer is level and straight
1:06
And after layering and frosting the cake
1:08
it will have a neat shape ready to frost
1:11
The next step is to chill and crumb coat
1:13
the cake which is a thin layer of
1:15
buttercream or any other frosting spread
1:17
to completely cover the cake to trap any
1:19
crumbs that come off It's best to do
1:21
this when the cake is cold after it's
1:23
been in the fridge for about 30 minutes
1:25
for two reasons The first is that dot of
1:28
buttercream underneath the cake in the
1:30
middle of the cakeboard which is acting
1:31
as glue to hold the cake in place When
1:34
buttercream gets cold it gets very firm
1:36
So that dot of buttercream will keep the
1:38
cake the most securely in place when
1:40
it's cold even as you're spreading and
1:42
scraping the frosting around it The
1:44
second reason for chilling the cake
1:46
before frosting it is that when cakes
1:48
get cold they get much firmer and less
1:50
crumbly So as you're spreading frosting
1:52
onto the cake it will pull off fewer
1:54
crumbs than when it's at room
1:55
temperature Don't worry about getting
1:57
the crumb coat very neat because it's
1:59
going to be covered up in a minute So
2:00
it's fine that you can see dark brown
2:02
cake through the buttercream down here
2:04
at the bottom Scrape around the cake a
2:06
few times so that there aren't any big
2:08
bulges of frosting sticking out around
2:10
the sides and so that the top is flat
2:12
and level Put the cake back into the
2:14
fridge for 30 minutes And now once the
2:17
frosting is cold and firm not sticky
2:19
it's time for hack number four Spread
2:22
another layer of frosting over the cake
2:23
And the hack here is to prepare the top
2:26
edge of the cake After covering the top
2:28
of the cake with a layer of frosting
2:30
spread that frosting around the sides up
2:32
so that it makes a wall or lip sticking
2:34
up above the top of the cake And this
2:37
will allow you to create neat sharp
2:39
edges around the top edge of the cake I
2:41
like to spread frosting all the way down
2:43
to the cakeboard and then scrape a few
2:45
times And if that wall at the top isn't
2:47
as thick as the rest of the frosting go
2:49
back up to the top to spread on some
2:51
more buttercream pushing diagonally
2:53
upwards again with an offset spatula to
2:55
make the wall or lip thicker And you'll
2:57
see why this is so important when we get
2:59
to hack number nine The next hack is
3:02
really patience but broken down into
3:04
scrape spread and repeat Which means
3:07
first scrape around the cake with your
3:08
cake comb and then spread more
3:10
buttercream over any areas that are
3:12
shallower or where you see indents or
3:14
holes or gaps in the frosting Then
3:16
repeat Scrape spread and again scrape
3:20
spread When you scrape push the cake
3:22
comb down onto the cakeboard to line it
3:24
up straight against the side of the cake
3:26
Spin the turntable with your other hand
3:28
so that the cake spins around and your
3:30
hand holding the cake comb doesn't move
3:32
It just holds the cake comb still
3:34
Pressing very very gently against the
3:36
side of the cake to smooth the frosting
3:38
Swipe it away when you can't spin the
3:40
turntable anymore Be patient The
3:42
frosting won't be smooth straight away
3:44
so scrape spread and repeat until you're
3:46
happy with it But it's important to
3:48
mention hack number six here which is to
3:51
make sure your buttercream is the right
3:52
consistency If it's too stiff you'll see
3:54
lots of texture as you stir it It will
3:56
look almost chunky with lots of big air
3:59
pockets as you pull a spoon or spatula
4:01
through it Add more milk a spoonful at a
4:03
time to thin it out so it's easy to stir
4:05
And now it will be easier to spread too
4:08
gliding over the cake and looking much
4:11
smoother The opposite is when
4:12
buttercream is too runny like this And
4:15
as you spread it it will sink down
4:16
instead of holding its shape and
4:18
position on the cake To thicken
4:20
buttercream you can add more sugar but
4:22
it will make it really sweet So instead
4:25
add some stiffer buttercream And the
4:27
stiff and runny buttercream will mix
4:29
together to make the perfect in between
4:31
consistency Next up are two hacks for
4:33
air bubbles You can have air bubbles in
4:36
buttercream even if it's the right
4:37
consistency You can see lots of them
4:39
here as I'm coloring the buttercream
4:41
They happen as air is incorporated into
4:44
the buttercream as you mix the butter
4:45
and sugar together and they get worse
4:47
with changes in temperature You can
4:49
knock the air out of the buttercream by
4:51
pushing down on it squeezing the air out
4:54
and by stirring quite aggressively like
4:55
this Do you hear those slapping sounds
4:58
you want to knock the buttercream
4:59
against the sides of the bowl to push
5:01
the air out from it That's the first air
5:03
bubble hack which is the simplest But
5:05
there's another one that's even more
5:07
effective and that's heat When you see
5:10
lots of air bubbles in your buttercream
5:11
scoop about a third of it out of your
5:13
bowl and into a microwave safe bowl and
5:15
microwave it for 10 seconds It will look
5:18
shiny because some of the butter will
5:19
melt and it will be much runnier too
5:22
Pour this into your main bowl of
5:23
buttercream and stir it in And at first
5:25
it will seem really runny but as you mix
5:27
it all together the consistency will
5:29
correct itself and the combination of
5:31
the melted butter and the stirring will
5:33
make the air bubbles disappear The other
5:36
hack using heat to remove air bubbles is
5:38
to use it on the cake So as you're
5:40
scraping the frosting smooth with a cake
5:42
comb a metal comb is the most effective
5:44
for this Heat the straight edge with a
5:47
hair dryer or a blow torch or dip the
5:49
comb into hot water and rub it with a
5:51
towel to dry it and to cool it down so
5:53
it's warm not hot Then scrape around the
5:55
cake and the warm metal will glide over
5:58
the buttercream warming and softening
6:00
the very outer layer which it will then
6:02
drag around the cake to fill in any air
6:04
bubbles and other shallow imperfections
6:06
in the frosting leaving a super smooth
6:08
surface behind on the cake Once the
6:10
sides are smooth move on to the top edge
6:12
which you prepped with hack number four
6:14
by spreading the frosting up around the
6:16
top edge Push sideways with your offset
6:18
spatula or pallet knife and then swipe
6:20
away taking the excess buttercream with
6:22
you Scrape that into your bowl of
6:24
frosting and then wipe the blade clean
6:26
on a towel or paper towel and repeat all
6:29
around the cake Wiping the spatula clean
6:31
is essential because if you don't you'll
6:33
drag buttercream back onto the top edge
6:35
and leave it as textured lines along the
6:37
edge of the cake Make sure you push
6:39
sideways but not down Because if you
6:41
push down that pressure will push the
6:43
buttercream outwards and you'll have a
6:45
bulge at the top of the sides of the
6:47
cake After going all the way around the
6:49
cake get down to eye level and spin the
6:51
cake And wherever you see that part of
6:52
the top edge isn't flat swipe over that
6:55
part again After everything you've done
6:57
to get smooth frosting don't ruin it by
6:59
skipping this final hack which is to use
7:01
the fridge Putting a frosted cake in the
7:04
fridge will set the buttercream frosting
7:05
so that it's firm so that when you add
7:08
decorations that piping or stenciling
7:10
won't damage the frosting Having cold
7:13
firm frosting before adding cake toppers
7:15
is really important too so that the
7:17
weight of the toppers doesn't push down
7:19
on the frosting and cause bulges like
7:21
this I hope these 10 hacks will help you
7:23
get your icing or frosting super smooth
7:25
Visit my cake school on
7:27
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7:28
of cake decorating techniques and
7:30
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