Would you believe me if I told you that once upon a time it took me hours to frost a smooth buttercream cake? It was mainly due to my perfectionism, but also because I didn’t know as much as I do now about frosting techniques. I remember agonizing over every flaw and just smoothing the cake over and over again until I reached a point where I was okay with the finish. These days, I’ve got the frosting process down to about 15 minutes and I can’t wait to share my best tips with you so you can eliminate some of the anxiety that seems to come along with cake decorating.
I’ve got an older video on my YouTube channel that shows some of these smooth buttercream frosting techniques, but I’ve learned even more since then and wanted to shoot a new video with voiceover and more info. This way, you’re more up to speed on my current processes and have something more detailed to reference as you frost your future cakes. Give it a watch before you read all about these frosting tips and techniques below!
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What Kind of Buttercream Works Best?
I use this American Buttercream recipe for nearly everything I do – filling, crumb coating, frosting cakes, piping cupcakes, and beyond. I’ve purposefully tweaked it to be the best consistency for frosting cakes and to make it less sweet than your average American Buttercream. I also have a Swiss Meringue Buttercream that works great if you prefer that, or note that there are many other buttercream types out there to try.
The good news is, no matter what kind of buttercream you’re used to using, these techniques will work just fine for frosting a cake. So whether you prefer American Buttercream, Swiss Meringue, Italian Meringue, German Buttercream, stabilized whipped cream, or anything else that’s meant for frosting a cake, you can follow these tips and techniques for best results. They’ll work with all of my frosting recipes (which are all American) but feel free to use your own personal fave and follow along with this post.
3 Tools You Need
The techniques I’m about to share work wonderfully as long as you have the right tools. Here are the ones I’ve come to swear by for every cake I make:
A Cake Turntable: The turntable pictured is no longer available but here is the one I currently use. You’ll want to use an anti-slip pad underneath your cardboard cake circle so it doesn’t slide around.
An Angled Spatula: This 9” Wilton spatula is ideal for applying frosting to the cake and also achieving a smooth, level finish on top. The angle in it gives you more grace as you smooth than a straight spatula would – aka it’s just easier to create those sharp edges around the top (in my opinion).
An Icing Smoother: I don’t know if this Norpro Bench Scraper that I use is technically an icing smoother, but it’s the best I’ve found for the task. It’s easy to hold at a 90-degree angle for getting super straight edges, plus it’s made of stainless steel so it’s easy to clean and apply a small amount of heat if necessary. I’ve tried a lot of icing smoothers in my day, but I always go back to this one.
Start With a Chilled, Crumb Coated Cake
Having a solid foundation for your final layer of frosting is essential, and there’s nothing more solid than a crumb coated cake that’s been chilled for at least 30 minutes.
Crumb coating helps shape the cake’s foundation and reduces the chances that crumbs will end up in your final layer of buttercream. Chilling the crumb coated cake makes all that buttercream firm up so that the layers and fillings don’t shift while you’re frosting on top of them.
Step 1: Frost the Top of the Cake
With your chilled, crumb coated cake on the turntable, use your angled spatula to add a few scoops of buttercream to the top of the cake. Rotate the turntable as you smooth the buttercream down flat.
Holding the angled spatula as parallel to the cake as you can while you rotate the turntable will help you achieve a level finish. Keep smoothing and rotating until your buttercream reaches over the cake’s edge slightly.
If you need to add more buttercream to the top as you go, feel free! But don’t worry too much about getting the top perfect at this point. We’ll be revisiting the top of the cake during Step 3, so the most important goal in this current step is to make sure the frosting is level and reaches over the edge.
Step 2: Frost the Sides of the Cake
Next, use your angled spatula to apply about ¼ inch layer of buttercream all around the sides of the cake. I like to start at the bottom of the cake and work my way to the top.
When the sides are covered, hold your icing smoother at a 90-degree angle parallel with the cake as you rotate the turntable. The tighter you can angle the icing smoother with the sides of the cake, the easier it will be to smooth the cake.
You may find that you need to fill in some gaps in the buttercream after smoothing a few times. If so, just apply more buttercream in those areas and continue smoothing with your icing smoother.
At this point, it’s super helpful to hold your hand directly in front of the cake on the turntable and smooth as you rotate a full 360 degrees. This ensures that you begin and end your smoothing in the same place, reducing the changes of multiple “seams” around the sides of the cake.
Another helpful tip with this step is to gently heat your icing smoother (if it’s made of stainless steel) by running it under hot water, drying completely, and letting it cool slightly before smoothing the cake. This works like an iron running over any wrinkles in your cake finish, but you have to be careful not to get the icing smoother hot enough to melt your buttercream.
Keep going until you’re happy with the finish. If you just can’t seem to get to a place where you’re happy with the sides though, feel free to give this step a rest and move onto Steps 3 and 4. Trust me, moving through to Step 4 will help you get smooth sides quicker than spending too much time agonizing over Step 2!
Step 3: Create Sharp Edges
You’ll notice that Step 2 left you with a buttercream crown around the top edge of the cake. This is what you want, as it’s essential for creating sharp edges.
Using your angled spatula, swipe the outer edges of the buttercream crown toward the center of the cake. You’ll want to make sure you keep your angled spatula as level as possible as you go around the entire top.
Once you’ve got all the edges looking nice and sharp, you’re ready to move on in your decorating process unless you’ve decided that you want the sides of the cake to be smoother. In that case, move on to Step 4.
Step 4 (Optional): Chill and Repeat
If you went through all the previous steps and still feel like your cake could be smoother, the best thing you can do is pop the cake in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes. This is much better than agonizing over your cake finish and over-smoothing it. By placing the cake in the refrigerator, you’re allowing the finish to firm up and provide a really sturdy foundation for a final (super thin, super smooth) coat of buttercream.
After refrigerating your cake, repeat Steps 1 through 3, but this time apply a very thin coat of buttercream all over the cake. This coat will fill in any wrinkles and gaps, and since the buttercream layer beneath is so solid, you’re able to apply more pressure and get a smooth finish in a more failproof way.
Here’s a video that shows the process:
What to Do Next
Once you’re happy with the smooth cake finish, you can move on to the next steps in your decorating process. I’ll be applying sprinkles to the sides of this cake and adding some piping on top, but you could also do things like:
- Add a chocolate ganache drip
- Add an edible letter or number cake topper
- Add some pretty piping
- Browse my collection of cake decorating tutorials for inspiration
Want more Cake Basics? Head here to see all of the posts and learn the methods of caking I’ve come to love over the years. I’m cheering you on every step of the way!
Hi Whitney! I would like to make your vanilla cake 3 layer, 6 inch cake but want to make a single layer, 10 inch cake. I followed your tutorial how to up or down a recipe but still am having difficulty. Can you please help me? Thank you so much
Hi Elisa! To make that recipe as a single layer 10-inch cake, you should only need about 5 1/2 Cups of batter. My vanilla cake recipe yields about 6 cups of batter, so one batch should be more than enough. Just be sure to fill the pan no more than 2/3 full. I’d check the cake around the 35 minute mark to see if it needs more time from there. Hope that helps!
I feel like I smooth and smooth and smooth so many times that I end up stripping all the the buttercream off the cake and I end up with see-through thin patches. How much pressure should i be using? How can I fix this issue?
Hi there! It sounds like you’re applying too much pressure when smoothing. You should be using a gentle touch as you glide the smoother over the buttercream. I do have a hack that would work for you though! Try this next time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HogEImUsI0
This is a very helpful post and video. I do have one question. Have you ever had Your buttercream on your cake crack? I have had this happen a few times after frosting decorating and chilling a cake once it was pulled out and come to room temperature. Any advice?
Hi Sarah! What kind of buttercream are you using when that happens? I always use American buttercream and have never had issues with cracking!
excellent video
Hi,
Thank you for all of the tips! When do you add the coloring to tint the buttercream? Do you adjust the amount of milk you add depending on how much food color you add so it doesn’t affect the consistency of the buttercream? I will probably use a soft gel paste. Maybe this is obvious question…I find if you are tinting it a darker colour, it can make the buttercream more runny.
Hi Shawna! You can add the color gel right after you make the buttercream. If you’re using soft gel paste, there should be no need to adjust the amount of milk – those are designed to be added to buttercream without affecting the consistency. What color are you planning on making? If it is a dark color, it’s best to start with a darker buttercream (like chocolate) so you don’t have to add too much color gel.
Hi Whitney,
Thank you so much for these tips. My worry is when using the Italian meringue buttercream.
do you have to chill the cake after you crumb coat it? will coating the final layer wont be affected by the temp of the chilled cake? like affecting the texture of the buttercream when final coating the cake? This has happened to me before and I don’t know how to avoid this, or do I need to bring a chilled cake (that has been chilled for not more than 30 min) to a room temp before working on a final coat?
Hi Nabila! I’ve never used Italian meringue buttercream before so I can’t say for sure. I use American buttercream for everything I do. The purpose of chilling the cake after crumb coating is to lock in the crumbs and the shape of the cake. This way the layers don’t slide around while you’re applying your final layer of frosting. If this technique doesn’t work for Italian meringue buttercream though, you’ll need to revise your process accordingly. I’ll let you know if I ever end up trying that frosting in the future so I can speak to it better!
Hi! How many sponges/ cake tins needed for a cake this size? Thank you
Amazing tips!
Hi Sarah! I used three 6 inch layers (my tins are 2 inches tall) for this size. So happy these tips are helpful!
Hi Whitney! I love the looks of your cakes, it is so clean!
Have you ever get big air bubbles between the cake and the buttercream? I am having some lately, and I can’t find why!
Any advice that you have would be great!
Thanks so much for the kind words about my cakes, Isabel! And ah yes, air bubbles. They can be so frustrating! The only time I have had them happen is when a cake goes from the cold refrigerator to a very warm environment and heats too quickly. Basically any air trapped inside the cake or frosting (inevitable) expands too quickly when the environment is too warm and results in an air bubble. The only thing you can really do to prevent them is to make sure you gently let your cake come to room temp before introducing it to warmer environments. If air bubbles still happen, you can poke them with a toothpick and press the air out with a spatula to flatten the buttercream. Hope that helps!
Hi Whitney,
What colour and brand did you use to colour the buttercream?
Thanks
Hi Mandy! For this cake I used a little bit of AmeriColor Turquoise: https://amzn.to/3f4BUBx
Do you use medium or thin consistency buttercream for your fillings?
Hi Rebecca! I use medium consistency for filling a cake. If it’s too thin it can end up oozing out the sides in the stacking process. Here’s some more info on how I fill and stack cakes: https://sugarandsparrow.com/fill-and-stack-cake-layers/
Hi Whitney,
Just lately my buttercream seems very ‘holey’ when I smooth it. I always mix it on low to finish it off & mix by hand afterwards to get rid of some of the air bubbles. I can’t understand what I am doing wrong! Do you think the buttercream could be too soft/not soft enough? I have been icing cakes for a long time now and just don’t know what’s going on. Help!
Hi Jane! It sounds like your buttercream has air bubbles in it. Something that I’ve found that helps with that is: after mixing up the buttercream, put it in an airtight container at room temp for about 30 min or longer. Then, add the buttercream back into your stand mixer and mix it on low/stir speed for about a minute. For some reason it gets rid of all of the air bubbles! Give it a try next time and see if that works.
Thank you – this is so informative and helpful!
Happy to help, Helena!
Thank you so much for the tips. I am always having trouble with smoothing my cake and now I know its because of the thick buttercream.
Love your work its easy to follow.
Yay! So happy to help, Maria!
Thank you so much for posting this! These are very helpful tips
Of course! So happy to help, Elli!
hello whitney ,
how many times and for how long do you refrigerate your cake in the fridge?
thank you
Hi Sabrine! I refrigerate for about 30 minutes after crumb coating the cake, then for about 20-30 minutes after each frosting layer. I usually only apply 1-2 layers of frosting after the crumb coat. Hope that helps!