Making it beautiful - how to frost a cake

[pengyou]

Though much practice and failure, I have gotten to be pretty good at making cakes that taste good...but I am not so good at making cakes that look beautiful. When I frost a cake, I usually end up with a lot of cake crumbs in the frosting. I try to pick them out...if there are too many, I will crumble up a small piece of cake and put them throughout all of the frosting so that it looks uniform But sometimes I really want it to have a smooth, textured look. Any suggestions on tools or techniques to do this?

 

[Kayelle]

I never bake so I should probably bow out here, but I've seen some techniques that make sense to me.

The cake is thinly frosted and then refrigerated till the frosting sets. Then it is frosted again, for a crumb free finish.

Hope this helps..

 

[GotGarlic]

I rarely bake, and never cakes, so let me toss in my couple of pennies. What Kayelle described is a crumb coat. Works perfectly, at least for Ina...

 

[Oldvine]

A crumb coat helps and then a few minutes in the freezer to set that coat. The people eating the cake rarely notice a few crumbs.

 

[medtran49]

As the others wrote, use a crumb coat. There are cake decorating forums that explain how to frost in detail. Try the Wilton one. You'll be able to find lots of tips on getting a smooth frosting.

 

[Janet H]

Use Paper towels! Do a crumb coat and then after the second coat (assuming a butter cream icing) smooth it with a paper towel. Slightly chill the icing and then place a paper towel on the cake. Gently rub the towel, especially working on bumpy areas. Carefully lift towel and repeat on all surfaces of cake. I use Bounty...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cuIVgDqSW8

 

[bakechef]

The crumb coat is the best bet.

Also when frosting a cake, make sure that you don't lift the spatula off the cake while spreading, you'll want to use a sweeping motion, lifting will pull up cake.

In bakeries where they are usually doing a lot of cakes at a time, and don't have time to crumb coat, they pile on the icing, seal it completely then removing the excess while smoothing.

An offset spatula is the best tool for the job.

 

[Addie]

I have four spatulas. Two offset and two straight ones. Both large and small. Now if I could just conquer my pastry bag.......

 

[GA Home Cook]

I am a total amature in cake baking. Seems like when i make Chocolate Genache frosting it never hardens the way shown in the video. Maybe it's not supposed to.

 

[bakechef]

I am a total amature in cake baking. Seems like when i make Chocolate Genache frosting it never hardens the way shown in the video. Maybe it's not supposed to.

Ganache when cooled should be about the consistency of hot fudge before warming up. Think the softness of a truffle. It shouldn't make a firm, hard shell even when chilled.

I do a 50/50 ratio of chocolate to heavy cream. If it isn't pourable after combining, I warm it a little more. This will hang on to a cake nicely.



Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Discuss Cooking mobile app

 

[Addie]

The crumb coat is the best bet.

Also when frosting a cake, make sure that you don't lift the spatula off the cake while spreading, you'll want to use a sweeping motion, lifting will pull up cake.

In bakeries where they are usually doing a lot of cakes at a time, and don't have time to crumb coat, they pile on the icing, seal it completely then removing the excess while smoothing.

An offset spatula is the best tool for the job.

BC, I once dated a fellow who graduated from culinary school. He wanted to be a baker. Got a job that makes all those cakes you buy at the supermarkets and small stores. This was a company that was the biggest bakery in town. They had two plants that were the size of a factory. His job was to do the crumb coats. Tray after tray all day long as they came out of the oven and were cooled. That is all he did for eight hours. Every single day. After a couple of years of doing this, he asked to be able to go to the decorating department. The fired him. He gave up baking and became a bus driver where the pay was so much better.