Prevent Air Bubbles In Your Icing With This Technique | How I Ice Smooth Buttercream Cakes

you ice your cake in buttercream icing and decorated and it looks beautiful and then you have an air bubble right on the front how do you prevent that from happening i'm gonna show you hi it's carolyn i'm back with another video and if this is your first time here welcome to my channel and if you want to see the ways that i bake and decorate cakes then hit the subscribe button and the bell notification so you can get notified whenever i release a new video so like i said earlier air blow out bubbles they are just so annoying and for me they always happen on the front of the cake so i came up with a little technique which ever since i've been doing icing my cakes this way i have not had this issue so i forgot to mention when i started you want to start with a room temperature cake before you ice it okay i have a video that i will link below on how i fill my cakes so you can check that out and the cake is wrapped in plastic wrap and has been sitting out so the cake can settle and then i start this process so it is not a refrigerated un-iced cake that i start with its room temperature so if you want to see how i ice my cake to prevent that stinking blowout in the icing then just keep on watching okay so to do this you need a hot pot of water it's not boiling but it's just really hot i have a turntable i got this on like ebay probably 20 years ago so i'm not sure where to recommend that you get something like this but i can link a turntable below i always put a piece of non-skid pad on top of the turntable to prevent the cake from shifting around i have my cake here filled and ready to be iced also need an angled spatula and a bench scraper everything will be linked below so i'm going to remove the plastic wrap now i do this a little differently than other videos that i've posted i've changed my technique so i wanted to film this for you so in order to not get bulges or for any of this to show through i do a crumb coat and then i'm going to do another coat of icing in order to prevent air bubbles from forming in your icing you have to make sure that there is no air in between your icing and the cake when you ice it so in order to do that take a little bit of icing on my spatula and i'm going to press it against the side of the cake and really push it down right so you don't want to just slop it on and leave some space in between right you really want to push the icing against the cake to make sure that there is no air in between the cake and the icing and just keep doing this around the whole cake take a little bit spread it on really push it against the side of the cake so i take a glob of it and i press it down so it adheres and then i start to spread it out because if i just see there's a little pocket that formed back here if i were to just wipe this up here there's there's an air bubble back here i don't know if you can see it there's an air bubble here so if i were just to ice this then then the air bubble can form underneath the icing so keep pressing this crumb coat really good against the side of the cake now when i get to the top i always make sure some icing comes over the top of the cake and then i'll just take a dab in the middle and spread it around to cover the top now that i have the crumb coat on i'm going to smooth it out just take your bench scraper dip it in the hot water so it gets the metal really hot wipe off the excess water and then take your bench scraper so it's straight up and down against the side of the cake and smooth out the icing so i'm just holding the bench scraper straight up and down and i'm taking my hand and i'm turning the turntable and i'm right-handed and trying to do this left-handed for the camera so it is a little weird so holding it straight up and down and kind of on the 45 degree angle against the side of the cake and just turning the turntable with my other hand to smooth it out now this doesn't have to be perfect this is just your crumb coat and then i'm going to dip my spatula in the hot water and just push back the icing that is sticking over the top of the cake so i'm going to press straight back just to get rid of the excess icing and form an edge it does not have to be perfect we're going to make it perfect on the next step and now there's a crumb coat on here i'm gonna stick this in the refrigerator why can't i talk i'm gonna stick this in the refrigerator for 30 to 60 minutes just so the butter can solidify and then i'm going to put on the next coat okay so i'm filming this again because my phone decided to cut off in the middle of me filming the last part so cake is on a different cake board but it's basically the same thing it's the same size i did the same thing i crumb coated it it's been in the refrigerator for about i don't know 45 minutes to an hour the icing is solid and now i'm going to put on the next coating you want to do the same thing take a little bit of the icing your spatula and press it against the cake to make sure that there's no air bubbles and smooth it around the sides or spread it around the sides and keep repeating the process press it make sure there's no air and then spread it being mindful that you're not getting any air pockets between the icing and the cake you also want to make sure that you don't have too thick of a layer of icing on the outside of the cake you want a nice ratio of icing and cake so just keep an eye i'm doing about a half inch thick layer of icing around the whole thing and just do this around the cake so keep taking a little bit of icing press it against the side making sure there's no air bubbles and then spreading it together so i usually do the bottom half and then i start and do it on the top you half to make sure you just take little bits of icing not too much so you can press it in and not form any air bubbles i find if i use too much icing on my spatula that little air bubbles will form underneath and as always as i'm icing the top of the cake i want to make sure that the icing comes up above the top of the cake because i'm going to even it out and get a sharp edge after i do the smoothing process and now i'm just going to go around there's parts where it's a little low here and i just want to make sure that the icing is really sticking out over the top of the cake so i can make it level the whole way around usually have too much icing at the very top i don't want all that icing this is an unnecessary step but it's necessary for me so i just like to take my spatula and scrape a little bit of the icing off so i don't have too much to push back onto the cake and then i'm going to take a little dollop of icing and spread it around the top just to get a little thicker layer of icing on the top of the cake now i want to take my bench scraper and dip it in the hot water so i make sure that the metal gets really hot and wipe the water off on the napkin and then hold the bench scraper straight up and down like we did before pressing it against the side of the cake moving the turntable with my other hand to scrape off the icing and keep repeating the process getting the bench scraper hot wiping the water off and wiping off the excess icing smoothing everything out usually three or four times i do this around the cake and that looks pretty good now i'm going to take my viva paper towel and press it against the side of the cake and just smooth up and down with my fingers i'm just using light pressure i don't want to press too hard to mess up the icing i just want to get rid of all the little lines and imperfections that are in the icing then i'll take my fondant smoother with the paper towel and i'm holding it straight up and down you don't want it to be on an angle in or out so look and make sure it's straight up and down and i'm using light pressure just to press against the cake [Music] and now i want to get eye level with the cake so i'm sitting down in front of it and i want to level this out so i'm going to take this a tico spatula and i will link this below dip it in the hot water wipe it off so the metal is hot and hold it perfectly straight so get down on eye level hold it perfectly straight and then push the icing straight back and then i tilt it down and press the icing down on top of the cake wipe off the icing dip in the water and keep repeating the process the whole way around the cake just making sure that you're holding the spatula level so i'm taking the spatula i'm using this line as a guide here i'm holding my spatula even here with the previous line that i made in the cake i hope that makes sense it always makes sense in my head so holding it here pressing down and back now i'm going to set this aside i'm going to just let this crust for about 10 minutes and then i will finish the smoothing process now i'm going to do the final smoothing process i have some um butcher paper a roll of butcher paper that you can cut up into little squares you don't want to use regular paper because there's chemicals in regular paper so you want to use the food safe paper and just do the same thing as we did with the viva paper towel just put the paper against the side of the cake and take your fondant smoother and smooth out any of the impressions that the viva paper towel made on the cake so the paper will really smooth everything out and as the paper gets greasy i'll just flip it over try to use different sections of the paper so it doesn't stick to the cake and i'm using light pressure but enough pressure to push against the cake so the paper can take away any imperfections in the icing so now this is getting a little greasy i'm going to grab another sheet and do the same thing making sure you're holding the fondant smoother straight up and down okay now for the final smoothing process i'm going to sit level with the cake and do the same thing dip this in the hot water so the metal gets hot wipe off the water and then find the lowest spot on the cake and start from there so hold it even i like to rest my forearm on the counter top so my hand doesn't shake and then just press it straight back and then down and up okay and just do that the whole way around the cake using your line as a guide i'm putting half of this on where on the part where i just made a line to keep it even and go straight back and this will really refine your edge and make it perfectly straight and sharp [Music] okay and that looks pretty good now i just want to smooth out the top what i'm going to do is take a little bit of water it's just a little weird i get a little bit of water on top of this spatula here make sure you don't spill it as you're moving it so use a steady hand or you can use like a little teaspoon or something and just put it on top of the cake and then spread it out and it smooths out any imperfections now i had someone ask me before what happens when you do this on a colored cake if you do it on on colored buttercream it will leave a spot so if you if this is the top tier of your cake you're just going to gonna want to put the water on and spread it out right away that way you don't get a dark spot on the top of your cake if you're doing it on a bottom tier like if i'm gonna put a cake on top of here then it doesn't really matter what the buttercream looks like in the middle there may be a dark spot i hope that makes sense and then i'm sitting level with the cake just taking the water all the way to the edge and using the heat from the metal using the heat from the metal to just smooth all the icing down on the top and there is your pretty iced buttercream cake i'm going to put this back in the refrigerator and let the butter solidify and then i will start decorating it so here you go here is your beautiful smooth iced buttercream cake and people are going to look at it and think that it's fondant and you're going to say it's not fun and it's buttercream thank you thank you very much all right i'm the worst i'm putting this down i used to have the issue with the air bubble when it was very humid ever since i've been able to control the temperature and keep my climate that i'm working in and delivering cakes in cool i really have not had this issue sometimes it does pop up pun intended that i do get that little that i do get that little bubble and if i do what you do is take a little toothpick to pop the bubble and then carefully press the icing back down i did a video a couple weeks ago where i did get an icing bubble in the middle of making the video it was a swiss dot pattern and i showed you how i corrected that i can link that below just so you can see that but um this is basically to prevent that from happening in the first place so you want to make sure you press that icing really good against the side of the cake and also you want to make sure that no condensation forms on the crumb coat before you put the second coat of icing on so make sure your your the what am i trying to say so make sure that the climate like where you are icing your cake is cool so you don't get condensation on the outside of your cake i know there are some people who say that they don't have a refrigerator or they don't have air conditioning so from my experience i only work with air conditioning and refrigeration i'm not too sure what to recommend if you don't refrigerate your cakes and i know it's a long process because i see these videos people use these icing tips and they just like put the icing on the outside of the cake and just one fell swoop and smooth it out and whatever but i've been doing my icing this way for years i learned from sharon zambido at sugar productions and i always say old dog new tricks i just stick with what i know because it works and i hope it will work for you too so i really can't think i say so a lot and i'm trying not to say so as much i really can't think of anything else to say about this if you have any questions please leave them below i will get back to you as soon as i can i try to check my youtube comments um once a day in the morning before i get started and please like this video if you liked it hit the subscribe button if you haven't already and you want to see more videos like this and you can follow me on social media i am on facebook and instagram and i have my website i will link all of that below thank you so much for watching the video and i will see you on the next one bye

Channel: Karolyns Kakes

Views: 59,714

Keywords: royal icing, icing, how to remove icing air bubbles, icing (food), air bubbles in fondant, how to avoid air bubbles in fondant, how to prevent buttercream bubbles, royal icing cookies, icing bag, icing piping, icing consistency, piping bag icing, royal icing (food), perfect royal icing, vegan icing, icing air bubble, icing blowout, icing bulge, prevent icing bulges, bubble in buttercream, smooth icing, perfect buttercream icing, smooth buttercream icing, smooth frosting

Id: 55pm-mfs99A

Length: 18min 41sec (1121 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 07 2020