How to ice a cake smoothly without crumbs

How do professionals ice their cakes so smooth and where are the crumbs? With a few tricks, you can make smooth crumb-free cakes too!

For this example, I have started with a torted cake.

1. Put some of your icing into a small bowl. You do not want to "contaminate" your big bowl of icing with crumbs. 

2. Then you put a "crumb coat" of icing on the cake. This is a thin layer of icing that is used to seal the crumbs in. 

3. Let the cake sit for about at least 15 minutes to allow the crumb coat to dry. I like to cover the cake and put it in the fridge during this time. (The cover should not touch the cake).

4. After the crumb coat has dried a little, put a thick and final layer of icing all over the cake. 

5. If you see any crumbs in the final coat, use a toothpick to get them out. Let the final coat of icing sit and dry for about 15 minutes on the countertop. (Not in the fridge. Icing is hard to smooth if it is cold from the fridge.)

6. The most important tool for smoothing the cake is Viva paper towel. Buy a roll of completely plain white Viva paper towel with no pattern. 

7. Gently lay a sheet of Viva paper towel over one section of the cake. Use the back of your finger to gently rub the icing. Your finger will move but the paper towel will stay still. This action smooths out all of the "wrinkles". 

8. You will go through several pieces of paper towel and it takes some time. But your cake will end up looking like this. After you decorate the cake, any minor imperfections will never be noticed.

--Annie Pryor