Blondie's Cake Tip #1: Smoothing out Buttercream on a Layered Cake

After posting a photo on Facebook of the cake I made last Thursday, I was sent a bunch of questions about the cake, and the techniques I used to make it look so clean. 

First of all, thank you everyone! Your compliments and emails have been darling. This was the first time I made a cake with that style, and I thought it turned out really awesome. 

I know that making cakes can be a bit intimidating sometimes, so I thought it would be fun to share a few little Blondie Cake Tips that have certainly helped me out last week while making the cake. On Friday, after we've gone through the little techniques, I'll share the cake itself! So stay tuned. 

As for today, I wanted to share a new tip that I'm completely obsessed with, and it has made a huge difference in my cakes, and their final, polished look. 

When I frost cakes, I get a little crazy bout of OCD, and no amount of smoothing or spreading can make the cake perfect enough. So I end up frosting and re-frosting over and over and over again. For my cakes, I charge for time (as well as the ingredients + delivery), and I'd feel bad to charge for a extra hour or so - just because I couldn't get the dang frosting smooth enough. So before I made this cake, I went on an epic search to find the easiest way to make the cake look professionally smooth. Because after all, a lot of people love the look of fondant, but don't want the taste of it. So they order buttercream with the strong emphasis on the "clean fondant look." 

I found the answer, and it works LIKE A CHARM, my friends. 

Viva paper towels. 

Yep. 

Here's how we make it happen:

1. Crumb coat your cake. Put it in the fridge for at least 3 hours. 

2. Remove cake from the fridge and add your top layer of frosting. Put it back in the fridge for at least an hour. 

3. When the cake is cold, but not rock solid, and not sticking to the paper towel (Viva. Has to be Viva. Trust me.), gently lay the paper towel right on the frosting, and with your hands moving (not the paper towel moving) smooth out the edges, top, and sides of the cake. When it starts sticking, pop the cake back in the fridge for 10-20 minutes. 

4. You may have to work in a couple different rounds. I would smooth out the top, then chill, then the sides, then chill again, and repeat until the sides are completely flawless. No knife marks, just a flat canvas for decorating. 

5. This video is really helpful (the last 2 minutes, specifically). 

Make sure to tune in tomorrow for one of my favorite fondant hacks of all time! 

xo, 

Blondie