Hi guys, I run a small baking business and it's my passion. My usual orders are cupcakes, traybakes and brownies. Fully iced buttercream cakes terrifying me.
I've always used a ratio of 1:2 of stork and icing sugar for my buttercream, gives me a nice sweet, stiff buttercream but impossible to smooth out as it's riddled with air bubbles.
I'm really trying to perfect what I do and I want to get better. So I've been watching and reading lots and tonight on my practice cake I used a ratio of 1:1 of unsalted butter and icing sugar. The result is a lot better than what I was working with before but it's far from perfect. I really need some help.
I heat up my cake scraper/palette knife to help smooth the butter icing.
I just feel like I'm missing something. Please hit me with any advice/tips/feedback you have. Any is much appreciated
by tiedarmour668
15 Comments
It looks fine.
Have you tried doing a crumb coat? That will catch the crumbs and give you a nice solid base to work with after it’s been frozen. Also when my buttercream has a lot of bubbles I use a spatula ( or my hand with a glove!) and smooth it out in a bowl over and over until it’s super creamy and smooth
Have you tried mixing your icing on low with the paddle attachment for 5+ minutes to help get the air bubbles out?
Other ideas:
– temp your frosting it should be no colder than about 70/72 degrees
-Try different bench scrapers, some people prefer plastic, some metal.
-i personally don’t like chilling my cake after the crumb coat. I just let it setup for a bit. People have different preferences on that.
-Add a few tablespoons of heavy cream to your cake icing to make it more spreadable.
Your cake looks pretty darn close. Once decorated no one will notice your flaws, but I understand wanting to improve!
You can temper your buttercream by heating up a little bit so it’s liquid and then mixing it into the main batch, mix on low. This helps make it smooth and help with air bubbles.
I temper mine anytime my buttercream batch needs to sit before use or if my kitchen is colder. I’ve done this with American and Swiss.
How hot are you heating your knife? Have you tried it without heating? Are the cakes 100% chilled before icing? To me, it looks like some of the butter is melting. I would try leaving the buttercream out at room temperature to soften it, then beating it in a mixer to get it back to spreading consistency and then use a room temperature spreader/knife. Only use a little heat at the end to smooth if necessary. You need your butter soft, almost like super soft modeling clay consistency, not melting.
Try using imitation swiss butter cream! I had this same problem until I switched my butter cream recipe.
3/4 cup pasteurized egg whites
1 bag powdered sugar
6 sticks of room temperature butter (4 unsalted, 2 salted)
mix on high for 10 minutes and then on low for another 20
and then temper your buttercream so I usually take 1/2 cup and microwave it for 20 seconds and add it back in, comes out perfect every time and it tastes amazing! Also make sure your cake is completely cooled before frosting.
Remove 1/3 of the buttercream and microwave for 2 15-25 second bursts. Reincorporate into the remaining buttercream. This tip changed my life.
I am a mere baking mortal just here to marvel at everyone’s beautiful work, and that includes yours! Maybe it seems not quite right because it never will – because you are chasing perfection and it is your passion. Either way you’ve impressed at least one person!
Doesn’t look like you’re struggling
First of all, we are our own biggest critics. Your cake looks wonderful but I understand as I am very critical of myself. Have you considered other mediums like ganache or ring molds using acetate? Or a different approach like naked cakes?
You might just need to work with the temperate. COLD cake. Make sure your buttercream isn’t too warm.
It looks amazing!! Water is buttercream’s best friend, spray the iced cake with water or dip your tool in it and it’s like magic
The first bakery i worked at would add a few tbsp of shortning to theit exterioring buttercream.
So fill, crumb coat, and thin coat with regular, and then do a final coat with the shortning BC, it was ungodly levels of smooth. Did not affect taste very much
I am a rookie baker so take my comment with a grain of salt. Your cake looks absolutely fine. From what I can see in the third picture, it looks like you are abruptly stoping your smoothing motion. As you come to an end, you should lift your smoother while still rotating your cake stand. I am really bad at describing things so hopefully a much experienced person will explain it better.
I think you are being too critical. Besides, every cake has a back. Your piping and decorations will hide the small imperfections
ETA – this [video](https://youtu.be/rq5nAvevRL8?si=bKWoIn3UM4OjwqHU) at the 7:30 mark shows what I am trying to say.
I have seen people mixing their buttercream for a good while on the mixer and with a hairdryer or something to heat it up to get a smooth consistency