Just how do professional bakers make their cakes so smooth? Now you can perfectly frost a cake using their secret weapons…the right buttercream and a paper towel!
As with any artistic project, it’s always best to start with a perfectly prepared canvas. This is also true with cake decorating. Unfortunately, achieving a smooth and blemish free finish with frosting can be very difficult. Not to fear, we are here to share with you a trick that is fairly common with the pros, but not so well-known amongst home bakers.
Birthday Supply Depot has put together a video showing exactly how the right buttercream and a Viva brand paper towel can get you a seamless finish that is ready for any decorations you might desire.
I promise you, this works. This technique was one of the first things that I learned when I began my cake decorating business several years ago. However, it only works with a crusting buttercream. That means the frosting has to be made with shortening, along with butter, so that it develops a soft “crust” a few minutes after frosting. The crust keeps the paper towel from sticking. I recommend an icing recipe that uses a 1 to 1 ratio of butter to shortening.
So, now to the paper towel. Invest in some Viva paper towels. They are food safe and have the perfect soft consistency to give you a smooth finish. Other brands will be too bumpy, have dyes or may stick.
Give this a try! We promise it will help you achieve bakery-quality cakes that will be the centerpiece of your next celebration!
credit: Birthday Supply Depot
WATCH: Perfectly frost a cake like a professional with this little-known technique
Here are the tools that you will need:
- a crusting buttercream (the recipe will need some shortening in the mix to crust properly – store-bought canned frosting will not work)
- large straight spatula
- a turntable
- Viva brand paper towels
- fondant smoother (optional)
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