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5 Tips For Perfectly Textured Cakes
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Sep 6, 2024
In this cake decorating tutorial I share 5 tips for perfectly textured cakes, including which combs to use, how to prepare and frost your cake, how to position the textured cake comb and the process to use to apply texture to your cake. I used my 4 Minute Buttercream (https://youtu.be/MFKfXbnU1Lw) for all of the cakes in this video. I used these cake combs: White plastic frosting smoother: https://amzn.to/36qWRiU White plastic texture cake combs (zig zag and striped): https://amzn.to/2GkYofQ Acrylic frosting smoother: www.cakesafe.com (use code BRITISHGIRLBAKES to get 10% off yours!) SUBSCRIBE to my channel for new cake decorating tutorials every week! If you buy any of the products I've linked out to, the price you pay won't change but I will make a small commission on anything you buy. Thank you for helping to keep the British Girl Bakes tutorials FREE!
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0:00
Hi, I'm Emily of British Girl Bakes and I'm going to use these three cakes to show you step
0:05
by step how to use cake combs for texture, with a few tricks for super smooth texture, and after
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that I'll show you some fun variations like double textures. First, a few notes about the comb
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It should be at least as tall as the cake, so you can scrape the entire surface of the side of the
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cake with each stroke. And it can be any material, plastic, acrylic, metal, try them all and see which
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you like best and which works best with your frosting. I've used all three materials
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with my four-minute buttercream and I don't have a preference, but you might find one more
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effective or easier to use than others. Next, here are some basic tips on how to prepare your
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cake before using a textured cake comb. Your cake needs to be straight, so that the comb only removes
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excess frosting, not part of the skeleton of your cake as well. So make sure as you're assembling
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your cake that each layer is sitting directly on top of the layer below it, and that the
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sides of the cake are nicely vertical, not leaning over to one side. It's important to mention
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here that your cake needs to be at room temperature or just slightly chilled, but definitely not
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frozen. If your cake is too cold, after you apply the coat of frosting, it will set very quickly
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and then when you use the textured cake comb, you won't be able to get a nice, smooth finish
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You'll definitely need a crumb coat before the final coat of frosting, and this first
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This thin coat of frosting traps any crumbs that come off the cake, so later, if you accidentally
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go too deep with your cake comb, you'll see the crumb coat as a warning, instead of gouging
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straight into the actual cake and digging out crumbs that will then get into your final coat
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of frosting. Ideally, this crumb coat should be a different color to the final coat, so you notice if
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you expose it. And it should be a lighter color than the final coat, so it doesn't show through
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Now that your cake is ready, you'll need a thick, even final coat of frosting
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This layer of frosting will probably be thicker than you're used to. It needs to be at least as thick as the grooves on your cake comb, so that the entire depth
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of the texture on the comb can be imprinted into the frosting This is my 4 buttercream frosting and I put the link for that tutorial and recipe in the link at the top of the screen and in the description below this video
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After applying buttercream to the top and sides of my cake I'm smoothing it with a frosting smoother
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filling in any air pockets and indents with more buttercream and then smoothing again
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This frosting doesn't need to be perfect because we're going to use the textured cake comb over the top
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but you need to make sure it's applied evenly all over the cake, so it's applied evenly all over the cake, so it's
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straight and also thick enough, which you'll get used to judging with practice, but you'll
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also find out in the next step if it's thick enough, or if you need more frosting, and you'll have
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a chance to touch up then. It's important that the frosting goes all the way up over the top of
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the sides of the cake, so that there aren't any air pockets there later. So after smoothing out the top
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if there are any gaps in the frosting, you should fill those in and smooth over them before
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starting with your textured comb. Now it's time to use your texture
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cake comb and there are a few tricks for this. I'm going to be using this zigzag cake comb and I'll
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point out each step of the process. First, position your comb. To use the comb correctly, you need
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to line it up vertically so that it's flush with the sides of the cake, but it might work better
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if you slant the side of the comb towards you at a 45 degree angle against the side of the cake
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instead of pressing it straight into the sides of the cake, because depending on the consistency of
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of your buttercream, when the grooves of the comb are at an angle, they might scrape the
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cake more smoothly and create fewer air pockets. If you're enjoying this tutorial, please click
3:47
the thumbs up button and subscribe to my channel for a new cake decorating tutorial every week
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The process of imprinting the texture is simple and very repetitive, but it's essential that
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you do repeat it again and again until your texture is neat and smooth. Scrape until you get a lot
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of build-up of frosting on the comb. wipe that frosting off from the comb and then repeat your texture will probably be messy
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at the beginning but as you go around the cake again and again it will get smoother
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and the texture will become more defined after several goes touch up any big indents or air pockets in the frosting by filling them in with more butter cream and then repeat the process with the cake comb
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Again, don't worry if your texture looks messy at the beginning. Here's a reminder of what this cake looked like after the very first scrape with the cake comb, and here's how the texture looks about ten minutes later
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Just be patient, going around again and again and touching up. any gaps in the texture with more frosting until the texture is nice and smooth
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Now I'll show you a few variations with textured cake combs
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This cake is going to be a striped cake, so I'm using a striped cake comb following the same process of frosting the cake so it's
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straight and has a thick coat of frosting, scraping a section of the cake at a time with my
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comb pressed down against the cake board and held at a 45 degree angle against the side of the
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cake, going around several times, but wiping off the comb in between each scrape, and touching up
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any air pockets to get a smooth coat of frosting imprinted by the texture on the comb
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The 45 degree angle is really essential for a striped cake comb, and you'll notice much
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smoother grooves when you hold it at this angle. Here's a quick look at the difference
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between the first scrape and the last. So if your cake looks messy at the beginning
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don't panic, it will come together after a few minutes of scraping. Now I'm chilling
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the cake in the fridge for 30 minutes before filling in the stripe grooves I made
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with the comb, and meanwhile mixing up some colours of buttercream for the filling
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I have a very detailed tutorial on four secrets for perfect stripes and I've put
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the link for that tutorial at the top of the screen in case you want to want to more in-depth video on stripes. I'm filling in these stripe grooves with fuchsia and
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orange buttercream, not worrying too much about how neat it is, but it is important
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that the buttercream completely fills in the grooves, otherwise you'll have air pockets
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later on I using a large round tip for the fuchsia a Wilton 1a tip and for the thinner stripes for the orange butter cream I using a small ribbon tip You can use any tip you like but it needs to be as close to the size of the grooves as possible so that you completely fill them in
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When you filled in the grooves, use a frosting smoother to go around the cake several times
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smudging the buttercream at first as it spreads out, but as you keep going you'll take off all of the excess buttercream and leave these neat stripes behind
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behind. Smooth out the top as normal and decorate however you like. You can watch my online
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class on decorating this cake from start to finish on my online cake school, and I've put the
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link for that at the top of the screen and in the description below. Another fun variation once
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you're confident with textured cake combs is to use two different textures for different parts
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of a cake, and I'll show you two examples of that now. You can apply different sections of
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textured frosting to the top and bottom of the cake, or divide it down the middle and use
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different textures for each side. For this cake, I'm frosting the top and sides as normal
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and decorating the sides with some buttercream carving, and I cover various techniques and
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styles for carving images, patterns, and designs in my online course on buttercream carving
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and I've put the link for that in the top of the screen and in the description below this video
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After decorating this first layer of frosting, chill the cake in the fridge for at least an hour to
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to set the frosting and then apply a second layer of buttercream to the bottom of the cake
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You can spread it on with your offset spatula or wrap parchment paper around the top section of the
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cake to create a neat division between the two sections before spreading it on. Or you could even
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create a patterned edge like zigzags or waves by cutting the parchment paper into that design
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Smooth the second layer of frosting to expose any air pockets where the frosting isn't
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thick enough and fill those in by spreading on some more buttercream and then you can use
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the textured frosting comb to imprint texture into it. To divide the frosting vertically requires a
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few more steps but I use a very straightforward technique and I share all of the details in my
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online class on textured half and half cakes and you can find out more by clicking the link in the
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top of the screen or in the description below. Thank you for watching. Please click the thumbs up
8:53
button and subscribe to my channel for a new cake decorating tutorial every week
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