Which cake comb is best? From a secret tool to get your frosting super smooth, to cake combs that make gorgeous texture and patterns on cakes, you’ll definitely want to try these 4 trending cake combs!
This first cake comb has become trendy as people find out about the hack that will completely transform their frosting. Go from air bubbly, uneven frosting to smooth perfection with a warm metal cake comb.
Hold the edge under hot water or run a blowtorch flame along it a few times to warm it up. If your tap water takes forever to warm up and how don't have a blowtorch, use a hair dryer!
Once the metal is warm, use the comb or scraper as normal on any kind of buttercream or ganache frosting. I'm using my 4 Minute Buttercream. The warm metal will glide over the frosting, filling in any air bubbles and shallow imperfections along the way. It will leave the surface of the frosting impossibly smooth. This is my favourite metal cake comb and you can use the code BGB10 for 10% off! Look at the difference in the frosting after being scraped with warm metal:
Once you can use a cake comb to smooth frosting, you can use any comb with a patterned edge because the process is exactly the same.
Before starting, smooth the frosting on the top of the cake. The sides need to be straight but not smooth, so scrape around them a few times.
Then press the bottom of a textured cake comb down on the cakeboard to line it up straight. Scrape around the cake with it but don't panic! It will leave the textured pattern in the frosting but it won't be neat… yet. Scrape the frosting off your comb to clean it before using it again.
Then scrape again two or three times with your textured car cob. Spread the frosting you've scraped off to cover any gaps or indents and then use the comb again. You'll see the textured pattern get neater and neater until it's perfect. Then just tidy up the top edge and voila!
This cake is from my free course on 10 Frosting Techniques. To dive deeper, my Layer Up program takes your cake decorating skills from beginner to professional with 14 and a half hours of easy to follow video modules!
Use the short end of any cake comb to make this gorgeous wavy frosting. After covering the cake with frosting, smooth it just once or twice. Then, instead of holding the cake comb normally, flip it sideways. The short end should be facing the sides of the cake.
Push the bottom corner slightly closer to the frosting as you spin the turntable and wiggle the comb up and down. Slowly drag it up the sides, leaving elegant waves behind.
By pointing the bottom corner closer, you'll keep the sides straight instead of digging deeper and deeper into the frosting as you work your way upwards. Add mermaid or ocean decorations and you have a simple but stunning design.
If you've seen perfectly neat striped buttercream and wondered how it's done, here's the trendy tool. It's this strangely shaped cake comb:
But before using this, use a straight edged cake comb to get the sides of your cake really straight. Then use the striped comb to imprint grooves like this:
Press the base of the comb down on the cakeboard so the stripes are in the same position every scrape. Repeat again and again, scraping the comb clean after each time you use it. As the grooves get neater, use a towel or paper towel to wipe off any buttercream left on the comb. You want the texture to be really clean when you press it against the cake again.
Tidy up the top edge and then put the cake into the freezer for exactly 15 minutes. You need to set these stripe grooves so that they firm up and hold their shape. Then pipe another colour into the gaps and smooth again straight away using your straight edged cake comb.
You'll smear the second colour of buttercream all over the cake! But keep scraping and the stripes will appear.
The stripes will get neater and neater as you take off all of the excess buttercream. For more in-depth instructions, check out this striped cake tutorial.
What's your favourite cake comb? Tell me in the comments and to learn more cake decorating techniques visit my cake school!
You can also watch a video of this tutorial on 4 trending cake combs to try:
