I have a neighbor who once asked me how to ice a cake, because she had made one and then ruined it when she tried to ice it. Turns out that she had done a few things wrong, so here are some tips so that you don’t fall into the same traps!
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Depan the layers.
Icing the cake the right way starts with taking them out of the pans the right way. It actually starts with using a cake pan liner on the bottom of the pans, so make sure that you do that when you bake the cakes.
First, make sure that the cake layers are COMPLETELY cooled off before you decorate them. This isn’t something to cut corners on. I bake things, then let them cool off for a little while, then I wrap them in plastic wrap and let them cool off overnight.
If you can’t do that, you should put the layers in the fridge or the freezer for ten minutes to try to cool them down, but even if you do that the center of the cake might still be warm. That’s going to melt the icing and you won’t be able to ice it the right way.
Next, de-pan the layers by putting one on a plastic or cardboard cake board. It should be the same size as the cake layer, not larger.
Level the top of the layer to make it even with the top of the cake pan using a serrated knife. If the cake isn’t higher than the edge of the cake pan you might need to de-pan the cake without using the cake board, then flip it over to level it off. This is a lot harder to do than leveling it off before removing it from the pan, so be careful if you have to do that.
Next, run a butter knife around the edge of the pan without cutting into the cake.
Put the cake board on top of the pan.
Turn the cake pan over, and wiggle it gently to release the cake from the pan. If it doesn’t want to come out, turn it back over and run the knife around the edge again but press the tip of the knife gently toward the center of the pan to release any stuck spots on the bottom edge.
Let the cake drop out of the pan onto the cake board. Don’t shake it and don’t force it. If you used a cake pan liner it won’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
Peel the cake pan liner off of the cake. This will give you a perfectly flat surface.
Start building the cake.
Get your icing ready!
Cut the layer in half, and remove the top of the layer. For an article about torteing cakes, click here.
For up to an 8 or 9″ layer, you can probably do this by hand, but anything larger might need a plastic cutting board to slip under the top half of the cut layer to remove it.
Start layering icing and cake layers, and replace the top of the torted layer when you have the icing or filling on the bottom half.
Ice the layer, then put the other layer on top of that by de-panning it the same way, but turning it out onto the bottom layer instead of a cake board.
Cut the top layer in half, ice it, and replace the top. Now you have a cake that’s completely ready to cover in frosting.
Even the tier up.
The stacked layers now make up the cake tier. This photo is of a hazelnut cake that I made in this article (buttery nut cake.)
I started doing this on the plate, but it will work better if you use the cake board as a guide! To even up the sides of the stacked layers, trim straight up and down and cut the sides of the cake so that it’s even and there aren’t any bulging sections.
You shouldn’t have to trim off very much, just do the minimum that you need to in order to even up the sides.
I forgot to do this step with the chocolate cake, and I ended up with one piece that was really uneven, so I had to fill it out with icing during the crumb coat. This photo makes it look more dramatic than it was, but it was definitely uneven.
After I added more icing to that spot it was more even, but it’s better to not have to do it that way!
If you have the tier on a cake board you can use the bottom edge to trim the cake to size and to add the crumb coat icing.
A crumb coat is important for grabbing onto the loose crumbs on the cake and keeping them from ruining the final icing coat. If your cakes look like they have ton of loose crumbs in them, you probably don’t do a crumb coat, and starting to use one will help your cakes look better.
Add the crumb coat.
Put some icing on top of the cake and get ready to crumb coat it. One tip is that at this point, you should use a rubber spatula to dip into the icing bowl, and an offset spatula to ice the cake. Never put the offset spatula that you use on the cake to dip into the icing bowl, and you won’t get crumbs in it that can ruin the final coat of icing.
To crumb coat the cake, add a thin layer of icing all over it to catch any loose pieces and kind of glue them in place.
Put the cake on a final cake board.
For the presentation board, you want to use something that’s 2-3 inches larger than the cake diameter. I put loops of duct tape on the board to get it ready for the board that’s under the cake.
Carefully put the cake on the finished board in the center of the presentation board, and drop it there to stick it to the bottom board. If you want to put some strips of parchment paper around the edges of the presentation board to mask it when the final icing is put on it you can do that before putting the cake down, but I skipped that step.
Once you have the cake crumb coated, let the icing set up at room temperature or put it in the fridge for a little while to harden up a bit. Depending on what kind of icing you’re using, it might work better at room temp or cold.
I always do everything at room temperature because it helps to avoid the cake developing a bubble of air under the icing as a cold cake warms up.
It also helps to crumb coat then wait a couple of hours before doing the final icing, because that will give the cake some time to let any air that’s trapped in between layers to make its way out.
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Finishing the icing.
Once the cake has set and is ready to ice, put it on a turntable or a lazy Susan and get ready to add the final coat of icing.
Add another scoop of icing onto the top of the cake and ice it again, covering the crumb coat and making an even thickness of icing all over the cake. At this point you have to decide whether you want to smooth the icing out or do a rustic look. For anything that’s not a wedding cake, I personally like an informal rustic look, it’s a lot easier and faster!
For this cake I did a rustic icing, which is super simple and doesn’t even need to be smoothed out. When cakes look homemade people tend to think they’re prettier, and unless it’s a very formal thing it’s not necessary to get everything smoothed out.
This video has a few different rustic icing methods to try:
