How to Crumb Coat

Hi Everybody!

Welcome to another technique session!  Sometimes, it’s just the smallest thing that makes the biggest difference and, if you want to talk about one of the most basic skills that will help your cakes look professional, well, THIS IS IT! Crumb coating is something nobody sees, but that gives your cake a perfect foundation. Come along, y’all, and learn!

First, you need a little hardware:

• A turntable so you can easily turn your cake while you’re working
• A good, long spatula.  I use a flat one, but the offset ones, the ones that look like the letter L, also work great.
• A bench scraper.

You also need a cake, of course, and by now, you probably know how to make one. If not, check out some of my other episodes. Same goes for icing. You’ll need that, too. You can try some of these for inspiration: 
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Charli Ann’s Easter Bunny Fault Line Cake
Meemaw’s Chocolate Cake Valentine

Now, stack the layers you’re going to coat with icing between them and STOP! 
You have to chill, even freeze them if you want, before you go any further. The reason for this is to keep them from coming apart as you work. Anyway, at this point, just chill.

NOW you can start applying the crumb coat. Grab up a generous dollop of icing on your spatula and spread it over the top. These are thin layers-just enough to make a smooth surface, not to make the cake look pretty. Not yet, anyway.

Once you have the top done, take up another dollop of icing and start applying it to the sides, starting near the bottom. Now, if your cake is frozen, the icing will stiffen up pretty fast, so don’t get too ambitious with the amount you put on each time. The video will give you a good idea of how much to use. Finish the whole bottom before you move up. 

Now, put down the spatula and pick up your trusty bench scraper (You can do this with the spatula, but believe me, it’s a lot harder). Lean the scraper against your roughly iced sides at a slight angle and turn the turntable while you hold the scraper against the cake. Again, the video is worth at least a thousand words. What you want are smooth sides when you’re done. It doesn’t matter if the color of the cake shows through.

When the sides are smooth, use the spatula again (this work is a little more delicate) and pull in the small ridge that has formed around the edge of the top. After that, just clean up around the bottom edge.

Now, you guessed it- JUST CHILL!  Before the final icing layer goes on, make sure this crumb coat is nice and set.

AND THAT’S IT! You’re all ready for your next masterpiece!
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