Crumb Coating - The Beginning to a Smooth Finish

A crumb coating is used as the basis for a smooth finish for your frosting. Having a smooth surface not speckled with small crumbs makes your cake a much nicer and easier place to work on. There are different methods recommended in what to use as a crumb coating. Some decorators use piping gel ,strained apricot preserves or jelly to give a thin glaze coat that will help secure the surface . This glazing also can be used when preparing a cake for rolled fondant application. Another type of crumb coating is to use thinned Butter Cream Frosting. If you choose to use the apricot preserves I would suggest warming it up and then straining any pieces of fruit before application and if you use jelly it would be a good idea to warm it also. Also you could try other preserves or jellies(i.e. cherry, orange, apple, etc.) And remember to strain - I probably wouldn’t recommend raspberry because of all the small seeds involved and may give the surface a mottled appearance.

Whatever crumb coating you choose to use - the process is basically the same: 1) Make sure that your cake is completely cooled before starting. Your cake should have filling between the layers and ready to start the frosting process. First brush off any loose crumbs that are on the cake with a dry pastry brush or your fingers. 2) Next we are going to seal the surface of the cake with a thin layer of the crumb coating. Thin is key here because if it is not you’re defeating the purpose of making a smooth surface for your frosting. You can apply the piping gel or warmed preserves with a small dry pastry brush or spatula. If using thinned frosting the I would suggest a icing spatula. 3) With your crumb coating applied to the entire cake , refrigerate the cake and let it set. You can leave it cool in the fridge for 15 - 30 minutes or you can leave it overnight.

At Country Kitchen Arts they have an excellent pictorial display of how to crumb coat and also some other techniques worth bookmarking. http://www.countrykitchensa.com/ideas_re...

Also check out my article on “Bake Even Strips” September 11,2000 http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/cake... when you use Bake Even Strips it can eliminate the leveling you have to do to a cake to make it even and thereby cut down on crumbs.

Remember a crumb coating can be the beginning of the smooth finish you’re looking for.