How to do a crumb coat

Once your cake is crumb coated, place it in the fridge to set for 15-20 minutes, or until firm to the touch.

A thin layer of frosting called the “crumb coat” seals in stray crumbs before fondant, marzipan, or a second frosting layer is applied. Remember to chill the crumb-coated cake until the frosting is set.

It’s simply a thin layer of icing applied to seal the cake layers, trapping errant crumbs. It’s all too easy to jump right in with a generous dollop of frosting, but skipping the crumb coat isn’t recommended. It’s a baking frustration easily avoided with the crumb coat.

If you‘re short on time though, it’s perfectly fine to refrigerate a crumb coated cake overnight. Even though the crumb coat layer of buttercream is thin, it helps preserve the cake layers beneath and keep everything moist and fresh.

Honestly, the frosting should ideally be no more than 1/8” thick. It’s fine for the cake itself to show through in places. If you do find the frosting too thick in spots, a bowl scraper is the perfect tool for smoothing and “trimming” your crumb coat.

Whipped cream might look like light, fluffy icing, but the appearance is misleading. It’s relatively unstable, quickly deflating and returning to its original condition as heavy whipping cream. This means it’s ineffective in immobilizing crumbs, since it won’t bind them to the cake.

It may take up a bit of time, but this stage really is crucial if you want to achieve a perfectly iced cake. What is a crumb coat? A crumb coat is the first layer of buttercream icing — it is an extremely important step in decorating a cake.

Once the crumb coat dries, you are ready to continue icing and decorating. At this point, continue icing the cake as you normally would and count on your trusty crumb coat to keep your cake surface from getting into your frosting. It’s a beautiful crumb-free thing.

Once you have done a crumb coating of the cake you will find that refrigerating the cake overnight, or for at least 2-3 hours will help the icing to firm up.

This is why I like to freeze the layers first and then assemble the cake. Take the frozen cakes out of the freezer and let them thaw a little while still wrapped. Next, dirty icing or crumb coating and place it back in the freezer for about 20 minutes before adding the decorative layer of frosting.

When you whip or beat butter and icing sugar together you are creating a little network of sugar crystals and air pockets which makes the colour paler the more of them there are. This will also increase the volume of buttercream. You can’t overbeat butter.

White Food Colouring

I was as sceptical as you are at first, but adding a tablespoon of this Sugarflair Superwhite Icing Whitener to the buttercream after the icing sugar really did make it seem a whole lot whiter. It’s white buttercream’s new best friend.

An American buttercream or other buttercreams based on butter, powdered sugar, and liquid are easy to thicken by adding more powdered sugar a teaspoon at a time and beating in between with a paddle attachment on your mixer set to a medium speed.

Tips for Successful Buttercream

Try not to overbeat the buttercream after all the ingredients have been added or you might add bubbles, which will ruin the texture of the icing.

Simple (American) Buttercream – A runny American buttercream is usually caused by adding too much milk (or other liquid ingredients). If your buttercream has additional ingredients, such as sour cream, it will have a softer consistency than frosting made with butter alone, but extra sugar can still help thicken it up.

So, whether your buttercream is a veritable soup or just a touch runny, the answer is to cool it down. If the buttercream is thin enough to run off a spoon, refrigerate the whole bowl for 20 minutes, just until the frosting begins to harden around the edges.

STEP #4 – ADD FLOUR MIXTURE

Slowly add the (room temperature) flour mixture, about 1 Tbsp at a time, while the butter is whipping. This is kind of like adding butter to a Swiss meringue buttercream. Incorporate it slowly.

Use flour for cooked frostings.

Sprinkle 1 tsp to 1 Tbsp (5 ml to 15 ml) of flour into the frosting and stir over low heat on the stove until it begins to thicken. Remove it from the stovetop and keep stirring until the frosting cools down. Do not use flour in cold frosting recipes, however.

In most instances, buttercream frosting will harden when cold. But should remain flavorful as long as it is covered properly or the cake is covered. Time left in the fridge more than several days may also change the frosting.

The amount of time it takes for the buttercream to crust depends on a couple factors, especially the temperature and humidity inside your kitchen. Generally, it will take your buttercream anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes to develop a crust. If it’s a particularly warm and humid day, it may take longer.