15 Frosting Mistakes You're Making And How To Fix Them!

Smooth frosting is easy when you know what  mistakes to avoid. I'll show you the most common   15 mistakes and how to fix them! The first mistake  is to put your cake board straight on a turntable.   When you apply any pressure at all to the cake  as you frost it, it's going to slip and slide   all over the turntable making it impossible  to frost. Look at this. I think this is the   most frustrating mistake for frosting combined  with this next mistake: not using buttercream as   glue. If you place your cake straight onto your  cake board there's nothing attaching it to the   cake board so when you spread on your filling and  frosting the cake is going to wobble around and   tall cakes can even topple over with the pressure  from your offset spatula. Here's the solution:   spread or pipe a generous dot of buttercream onto  the middle of the cake board and press your first   layer of cake down onto the dot, which will act  as glue and attach the cake to the cake board   so it doesn't move around. To stop the cake  board from sliding around use a non-slip mat   or a ring of masking tape to stick the cake board  to the turntable so the cake board stays in place   while you frost the cake. Look how much easier  it is when you use a non-slip mat and a dot of   buttercream on the cake board - this cake is so  much quicker and easier to assemble and you'll   see in a minute how easy it is to frost. If you  choose to frost your cake when the layers are at   room temperature look what happens: the cake is  wobbling around even though it's attached with a   dot of buttercream to the cake board and there's a  non-slip mat on the cake board. Compare this to a   cake that's been chilled in the freezer for just  15 minutes before frosting. The cake layers firm   up so the cake doesn't wobble around and since  the layers are firmer they're less crumbly which   makes frosting easier and neater. The cake layers  will still be moist and delicious when they warm   up to room temperature. The consistency of your  frosting is key and if you're using buttercream   that's too stiff it will be almost impossible to  spread it onto your cake because it's so thick   and even if you can spread it on it will be very  difficult to smooth with a cake comb later. If you   find out that the buttercream is too stiff scrape  off any that you just can't spread and add a few   tablespoons of milk or cream to the rest of the  bowl of buttercream so it's a thinner consistency   and that will be much easier to spread. This  thin layer of frosting is called a crumb coat   and a common mistake is to skip it and only  apply one single layer of frosting, like this.   The reason it's a mistake is because the purpose  of the crumb coat is to catch all of the crumbs   that come off the cake while you're spreading the  frosting on so that those crumbs get stuck in the   crumb coat and then when you add the final layer  of frosting the crumbs don't get into that so you   have beautifully smooth crumb-free frosting but  here where the first layer of frosting is also   the final layer of frosting you can see all the  crumbs that come off the cake and are getting   into this frosting which will be visible specks on  the outside of the frosting on the finished cake   and because there's only one layer of frosting  you can see the dark shadowing of the cake layers   underneath the frosting even though this is a  vanilla cake so the colour of the cake is light   compared to say dark brown chocolate cake. There's  a simple solution for this mistake: apply a crumb   coat and let it set for 30 minutes in the fridge  before applying a final coat of frosting and   the frosting will have no crumbs in it and it'll  cover up the colour of the cake underneath. If you   apply the final coat of frosting too thinly like  this, after using your cake comb a few times to   smooth the frosting you'll scrape off all of the  frosting and expose the cake layers underneath.   The solution for this is to spread the frosting  on more thickly which feels excessive but you're   going to scrape a lot off as you smooth it so  it won't end up being nearly as thick. Check   out my cake school for lots of courses to improve  your cake decorating skills and to learn hundreds   of cake designs and techniques. The mistake I see  most often is when the frosting doesn't go up high   enough. If the frosting stops before the top edge  of the cake you're going to get indents or gaps   around the top edge of the cake when you smooth  it because the frosting on the sides of the cake   doesn't meet with the frosting on the top of the  cake to form a neat join all the way around the   cake. Look at these gaps here and here. If you  spread the frosting higher so that it sticks up   above the top edge of the cake, when you tidy up  the top edge you'll create sharp corners with no   gaps or indents along the edge. If you use your  cake comb once or twice to scrape around the cake   the frosting will be smoother than when you first  spread it on but it won't be perfect yet because   it takes quite a few scrapes to get a flawless  surface. If you stop now your frosting will look   like this. Instead, do some touch-ups by spreading  more frosting over any indents where the frosting   isn't as thick as it is on the rest of the cake.  Then scrape around the cake again with your cake   comb to flatten that touch-up frosting and pull  off any excess, leaving a beautiful smooth surface   behind. If your cake comb has been dinged or  dented the surface on the straight side of   the comb isn't going to be perfectly straight and  smooth and the ding will leave a trail behind in   the frosting as you pull the comb around the cake.  This can happen with plastic or acrylic combs and   once you realize it's happened you can try sanding  down the edge or buy a new cake comb. When you   pull your cake comb off the cake at the end of a  scrape you'll have frosting on the comb. If you   use the cake comb again straight away you'll drag  that frosting back onto the cake and leave a line   of texture going up and down the cake. Instead,  scrape that frosting into a bowl and wipe the   cake comb clean on a towel or paper towel after  every scrape and that way the only seam you'll   have on your cake is from when you pull the cake  comb away from the cake on the final scrape and   you can make that the back of the cake. If you're  enjoying this tutorial please click the thumbs up   button to like it and subscribe to my channel  for a new cake decorating tutorial every week!   The kind of turntable you use really matters.  This is a metal turntable or a spinning cake stand   but they also come in plastic and plastic spins  much more jerkily than metal so you'll notice   little vertical lines from the top to the bottom  of your cake which are caused by the cake comb   pressing into the frosting with each shudder  of the turntable. For much smoother frosting   a metal turntable provides the smoothest spin  and you'll notice the difference on your cakes.   Your technique for tidying up the top edge of the  frosting is important. Look what happens when I   push downwards to take off that excess frosting -  it creates a bulge in the frosting on the side of   the cake. If that happens scrape around the cake  again with your cake comb to flatten the bulge and   then tidy up the top edge by pushing sideways with  your offset spatula, not down, and that will push   the excess frosting across and lift it off the  cake and leave a neat top edge with no bulges.   After you push and lift this frosting that's  sticking up above the top edge of the cake   you'll have that frosting on your offset spatula.  If you continue working your way around the cake   you'll drag that frosting back onto the cake and  you'll leave extra texture around the top edge of   the cake. You can see a little line here which is  that frosting sitting on top of the neat top edge   of the cake. To prevent this scrape your  offset spatula on the rim of your frosting   bowl after every time you use it and then wipe  it completely clean on a towel or paper towel.   Then it will create a smooth neat angle  from the side to the top of the cake.   Patience is really necessary for smooth frosting.  If you stop after just a few touch-ups with your   offset spatula and a few scrapes with your  cake comb your frosting will be just okay.   Keep touching up and scraping, touching up  and scraping, and then spin the cake and   get down to eye level to see if there are any  parts you've missed and touch those up, too.   The extra minute or two you put into this now will  make a big difference in the finished result of   the cake because almost every decorative  technique looks best on smooth frosting.   When you're happy with your frosting you're not  finished yet. If you walk away and leave your   cake at room temperature look what happens. This  cake was in a cool room overnight and the cake and   filling and frosting sank, making the cake lean  and bulge and in a few more hours the frosting   will crack and the cake might even fall over  sideways. Put your frosted cakes in the fridge   until you're ready to transport them or until two  hours before you're going to serve the cake. The   fridge will keep the frosting firm and pretty and  taking it out two hours before serving will bring   the cake to room temperature, when it tastes the  best. I hope this has been useful! Check out my   cake school for courses to take your cakes to the  next level. Thanks for watching and happy caking!

Channel: British Girl Bakes

Views: 705,999

Keywords: buttercream cake, easy cake decorating ideas, cake decorating, cake decorating videos for beginners, cake decorating ideas, buttercream cake decorating, cake decorating tutorial, british girl bakes, smooth frosting, cake frosting, frosting hacks, frosting troubleshooting, how to get smooth frosting, smooth icing, icing cakes

Id: -d3eVn2d7D4

Length: 8min 15sec (495 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 04 2022