Day 18: Crumb coat

Believe it or not, there IS a right and wrong way to ice a cake.  One of the biggest mistakes people make is not doing a crumb coat layer first.  So, allow me...

The crumb coat is done to sort of seal in all the crumbs of your cake so they don't end up in your icing and show on the cake. 

Step 1: Allow cake to cool completely.  I typically bake my cakes and let them cool over night before I ever apply the first drop of icing.  Right before I ice it, I put it in the fridge.  This stiffens it up a bit making the crumbs a little less likely to break off in your cake.

Step 2: Apply a thin, almost see-through, layer of icing to your cake. 

You will get some crumbs in your icing, but what's important here is to wipe your spatula off in a separate bowl from your icing cake.  DON'T PUT YOUR CRUMBS BACK IN THE ICING BOWL. (thank you!)

Step 3: Put back in the fridge to let the icing set up.  This means it will harden a bit and seal in the crumbs.  I let it sit for about 10 minutes.

Step 4: Now apply a thicker layer of icing.  You want to try and cover up all the crumbs in your crumb coat layer. Put back in the fridge for another 10 minutes or so.

See the difference between this one and first one?  No crumbies!

Tomorrow we're going to look at how to smooth out the icing.