The Contemporary Buttercream Bible (6 page)

and it is very cheap. You can use any other similar

non-woven fabric as long as it is really smooth and

has no holes or ridges.

1 Make sure that you use either a palette knife or a

scraper to smooth and get rid of most of the lines or 60

ridges in the buttercream before the surface crusts.

This will be very helpful later during the actual

smoothing process.

2 Since our buttercream recipe is a ‘crusting’ type of frosting, it is important that you wait until the

surface is dry to the touch, usually 10–20 minutes.

Test this by gently touching the surface (A). If it still sticks on your finger, it means you have to let it

stand for few more minutes at room temperature.

Don’t chill it in the fridge as this is a moist

environment and will obviously not help in drying.

A

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3 Using the smooth side of your non-woven cloth,

place it onto the surface of the cake and rub the

cloth using your fingers to flatten any ridges and

unevenness (B).

B

4 Slowly peel the cloth away and check if there are

still parts that need smoothing. Instead of rubbing

again, use a plain edge cake scraper gently and with

a little bit of pressure (C), running it over the cloth and all the away around the cake until perfectly

smooth (D).

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C

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D

Tip

When smoothing the side of the cake we

usually start from the bottom and work

upwards. We then scrape horizontally all

around the cake before smoothing from the

bottom up again until we get a perfectly

smooth finish.

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Sharp Edges

A couple of wise men and women of the cake

decorating industry once told us that if you want to

create sharp edges on your cake, they must be

absolutely flawless. This can be a little tricky to

achieve in the beginning, but as we always say,

practice is the only secret.

It is very important to remove any excess

buttercream to achieve sharp edges, otherwise you

will find yourself in an endless repetitive loop:

smooth the side, excess goes to the top, smooth the

top, excess goes to the side
ad infinitum
!

1 Using a palette knife, scraper or a small kitchen

knife, trim the bumpy excess buttercream around

the edge of the cake. (A)

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A

2 Apply the non-woven cloth on the surface and

smooth again with a help of a cake scraper (B).

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B

Tip

Fresh buttercream gets exposed when you

trim the edges, so wait for it to crust again

before applying the non-woven cloth.

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Before you decorate...

Let’s make it clear that the steps for covering

your cake with a smooth finish are as follows:

1. Crumb coat

2. Apply a layer of buttercream and level/

smooth with a palette knife

3. Smooth with a cake scraper

4. Smooth further with non-woven cloth

5. Create sharp edges

Important!
In the chapters that follow we have created at least one couture cake to

demonstrate the technique we have shown in

that chapter. It is assumed in the instruction for

creating the cake that you have already crumb

coated it. Note that you will need about

200–300g (7–101⁄2oz) of plain buttercream to

crumb coat each cake. This quantity is not

included in the requirements list for the cake.

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Textured Finish

Rather than making the surface perfectly smooth,

here is another way of covering your cake. The

results can be achieved in a flash just by using some simple tools.

Fork

Simply run the fork over the surface of your cake in

whichever direction you wish. You can even do a

wavy motion.

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Palette knife

By using a simple palette knife, you can give

another textured finish on your cake. Different

stokes will result in various lovely effects.

Cake comb

Cake combs are another fantastic tool for creating

texture. They are made of either thin plastic or

metal and have different contoured edges – waves,

ridges and swirls. You just run the edge of the

scraper around your cake to form ridges. To get the

best result, comb your cake when the buttercream is

freshly applied and use a cake turntable.

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Impression mats

Impression mats (also called texture mats) are

plastic or silicone sheets with fantastic designs that will allow you to emboss prints directly into the

surface of your cake. They are mostly used for

sugarpaste

(rolled

fondant)

but

since

our

buttercream recipe is a ‘crusting’ type, you will be

able to use these sheets. Just make sure that surface of the cake has already crusted properly by touching