How to Properly Ice A Cake

One thing I get asked a lot is how to ice a cake nice and smooth. As with all things it takes a little patience, technique and having the right tools. There are a lot of people out there who hate the taste of fondant so this is a good option if you want that smooth professional look in your cake but don't want to feel like you are eating chewing gum.

The first thing you are going to want to do is level your cake. To do this you can use a long knife or a nifty little cake leveling tool that you can buy at any craft or baking supply store. They are inexpensive and easy to use. What you want to do is to remove the dome from the tops of your layers. The dome prevents your cake from sitting properly making it hard to fill the middle and making it shift when attempting to ice the top.Cake leveller tool

Before you put your first layer onto your cake board you may want to consider using a dap of icing underneath the layer to help prevent shifting. Also a turntable or Lazy Susan is a WONDERFUL investment. It doesn't need to be a fancy tilting one...as long as it turns it will be your friend in this venture.Once you have leveled your layers you are going to want to make what is known as an icing dam. This prevents your center filling from seeping out into your icing. You take an icing bag with a number 12 round tip and create a bead of icing all around the outer edge. Then you can go and fill your cake with whatever filling you choose.

FYI: on an 8" round a pudding cup is the perfect size for cake filling if you are short on supplies!

The next step has two options. You can do what is called a "dirty ice" which is to take a super thin layer of icing to the whole cake to catch cake crumbs and fill in gaps....but if you did the first two steps nicely you can also do what I will show you here. This tip is called a cake icer tip. It looks a lot like the tip you use to do lattice work but on a much larger scale. It is serrated on one side which helps the icing grip the cake. You essentially want to go around your cake until it completely covered with icing. Should you get and crumbs on the tip make sure you clean them off as you see them so they don't get mixed into the icing.

The next step is to take an offset spatula and smooth out the cake. Again if you see crumbs wipe them off. Crumbs ruin that professional smooth appearance. You want to try to get your icing as smooth as you can. It won't be perfect, not yet. That part comes next.

Here is where patience comes in. What you need to do is wait. Most buttercream recipes will crust over once they have been exposed to air for a while. What that means if they get a little dried out on the outside so you can manipulate it carefully to get it smooth. What you need for this is your offset spatula again or a fondant smoother, and parchment or wax paper. What you are going to do is lightly lay the paper onto the cake and then with your smoother lightly go over the entire cake until it is totally smooth. I tend to spend forever on this part! Don't press to hard or it will break the crust and you will get icing on your paper.

Voila! One smooth cake!

Once you are done you are ready to decorate and serve! It really is easy once you learn the tricks of the trade. You too can make your very own beautiful pieces of edible art! Happy caking!