Blue Flower Buttercream

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Comment by June Kowalczyk on March 18, 2013 at 4:02pm

Oh yes

I have seen this cake style on numerous occasions. Great tutorial on mycakeschool. Also I have a "messy" frill cake saved from YouTube. Haven't gotten around to trying it.

Comment by Kelly Chandley on March 18, 2013 at 11:38am

This is the messy ruffle cake. It's done with a rose tip used vertically. There are half a dozen videos on youtube showing how to do it but my ruffles just wont stand up. 

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=messy+ruffle+cake&go=&q...

I too went out and bought a larger drywall scrapper after watching that video...lol My biggest problem, I realized was I was taking off WAY too much bc when smoothing the sides. After watching the video it dawned on me that the point was to smooth/even out the icing that was on the cake, not smooth it to the side of the cake (if that makes sense). I was trying to get like 1/8" of icing on the cake smooth...not gonna happen..lol  I too often do "techniques" on my bc cakes to hide the fact that I couldn't smooth it for love nor money. The rosettes are my thing. I can cover a cake in rosettes like nobody's business. I also do a lot of starring for the same reason. However, now that I've got the smooth thing down pat, I need to learn to pipe and make flowers/petals/etc. I REALLY suck at piping...I don't think words can express just how bad I am at it. My birthday is in a week or so and I'm going to use my birthday cake as a bc practice cake. Just haven't decided what technique to practice yet.

Comment by June Kowalczyk on March 18, 2013 at 11:00am

My friend Linda here on CWB "talked" me through her technique... plus I'm pretty sure she directed me to a video to look at as well. That thick icing trick is also where I learned I was making a mistake.  Once I applied the huge amounts, like in the video, it was pretty easy to scrape off & get smooth.  Like you, thought it was many applications of thinned bc. Actually, when my children were very small,  I took a lessons from a very older decorator who use have a shop in town. She did the many application thing of bc, but she could really use a spatula. I think out of 10-12 cakes in her course, I might have got maybe one relatively smooth. Just couldn't get the hang of it. So that was the only way I knew how. I cheated for years and added "effects" to my icing. I used a clean scrunchie cleaning pad and patted my bc icing all around. Gave it a cool look. Everyone thought I did it on purpose... it was my "thing". I did it cause I stunk at getting my bc smooth!!!  Ha  Ha.  But when you are only using bc, and fondant doesn't exsist, as the decorator who taught me,  and you are icing 5-10 to 20 cakes a day, no matter your technique, your gonna get good at it. I must say, my dry wall spreader isn't nearly as large as heres.... thinking I might make a trip to my hardware store & pick up the bigger size. Would make taking off the icing a little easier.  Since I am a hobby baker, I don't do too many cakes for sale, and any bc cakes that were asked for, I usually used a technique, like ruffles, petal etc.

You never did tell me what was the "Messy" ruffle?  

You know I joined mycakeschool.com.  $30 US a year. Really good teaching site. Melissa does a LOT of bc techniques with video. Very easy to follow, very easy to learn.  Great feedback. If you email Melissa, owner of site, a question, she will get back to you.  She is always posting new techniques. You might want to ck it out.    :o) 

Comment by Kelly Chandley on March 18, 2013 at 10:36am

I always stick mine in the freezer after crumb coating so they crust faster. Time is ALWAYS an issue for me. I'm a full time mom and I work a full time job so I have evenings and weekends to do cakes. Putting them in the freezer also makes them firm up a bit so I can handle them easier without having to worry about them breaking. I prefer to do fondant because bc is just too unstable and delicate but people around here don't like the taste of fondant. I usually use Wilton or FondX but I always add butter rum flavoring to it and it tastes almost exactly like buttercream icing. As for the amount of effort in the video, she took like 30min to do that cake but I did the one pictured above in like 15min including the time in the freezer to get the final coat to crust enough to use a paper towel on it. What impressed me was the thickness of the bc she used. I have always thought you had to use a thin bc to get it to spread smoothly and therefor get it even. I also always started with the sides working from the top down then went back and did the top so the techniques in the video were completely new to me. 

Comment by June Kowalczyk on March 18, 2013 at 10:31am

What do you mean....  messy ruffle???  I can tell you the petal tip affect is so easy.... time consuming, but easy. Always looks good.

Comment by June Kowalczyk on March 18, 2013 at 10:26am

Just watched the video Kelly, and it is pretty much what I do when I cover my cake in bc.  Learned a couple of litte xtra tips tho I must say. I have a friend on CWB who never goes to as much  effort as what is shown in the video and rubs the heck out of her cakes with paper towel, and I have to say, they are always straight & smooth. I have always refridgerated my cakes after crumb coating, but never thought to pop them in the freezer. Good idea. But then, I don't have a very big freezer, so that could be a issue.

Comment by Kelly Chandley on March 18, 2013 at 10:25am

I always put bc under my fondant because almost no one around my area eats fondant. Very few actually want it on their cakes. However, even putting it under fondant, I have to get it smooth otherwise my fondant looks like crap...lol  I'm trying to improve my bc skills because I've had to turn cake orders away due to not having the skill to do the cake they wanted in all bc. The messy ruffle cake is my nemesis right now. I've tried and tried and I haven't figured it out yet.

Comment by June Kowalczyk on March 18, 2013 at 9:54am

Thanks Kelly

Like everyone on here.... were always looking for good tips & techniques.  Unless you do your cakes in bc icing all the time, which I don't, it can be challenging to get that lovely smooth icing. But I also know, practice makes perfect. Which is part of the problem when you don't cover your cakes in bc, but mostly fondant, like I do.  Gonna ck it out.  :o)

Comment by Kelly Chandley on March 18, 2013 at 9:19am

Laura (sorry for improper spelling on original post, was on my phone...lol)  owns a Cake Studio in New Mexico and she makes TONS of youtube tutorials. I've been doing cakes for about 18 months now and have watched countless videos on how to get smooth buttercream with no success. They were all basically the same technique. Then I stumbled on Laura's video and she does it totally differently so I gave it a try and got a perfectly smooth cake on the first try. I was so exicited, I almost cried. Her youtube name is laurapoopie and the video can be found here....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vgcx5GZTnM

Comment by June Kowalczyk on March 18, 2013 at 9:00am

Looks good.....  Who, pray tell,  is this "Laurie" who gave you the technique??   :o)