Apply the Crumb Coat

Last year while baking the Chocolate Raspberry cake for Debarshi’s birthday, I realized that as soon as I started applying the ganache on the cake, it started crumbing. I knew there was no way I could work on the cake anymore so I put the cake in the freezer and later applied the second layer of ganache which brought that beautiful even coat. Obviously at that time I didn’t know that the first coat of a frosting or ganache is always the crumb coat. I didn’t have the turntable, scraper or the offset spatula to do everything perfectly. However, this year Debarshi got me everything and I will say, it elevated the cake to another level of perfection.

So, what is a Crumb Coat?

A crumb coat is a thin layer of frosting that's spread over the cake first. If you've also been in my shoe, then you know that it is impossible to have a beautiful layer of frosting or ganache on the cake with all those little crumbs. A crumb coat (also called dirty icing) acts like a base coat and seals these crumbs. So when we apply the second coat, it looks smooth and even.

Now you can very well do a crumb coat on the serving platter with a rubber spatula like I used to do. However, if you love baking and don’t mind investing for it, I would suggest a few things:

Offset spatula – This is a very useful tool for applying smooth and even coats of frosting or ganache. The long narrow blade is easy to move and reaches all the edges of the baking pan or cake thus evenly spreading the batter or frosting.

Bench scraper – I use it not only for scraping the extra frosting off the cake but also to divide the bread dough into equal quantities. 

Turntable – If you have also frosted a cake without a turntable (like me), then you have no idea what you are missing. The fact is, you can still bake a pretty nice homemade cake without all these things but having these extra tools at hand make everything so easy. A turntable will allow you to rotate the cake while you are cutting or assembling it. Decorating becomes so easy because half of the work is being done by the turntable. Use it to rotate the cake while you scrape the extra frosting or trim the layers evenly.

Cake cardboard – I got my cake cardboards from Walmart and a three pack cost me less than a dollar. It is extremely useful to easily transfer the fully assembled cake from the turntable to the serving platter or cake stand. Hold the cardboard round in place on the stand with a little dollop of frosting.

Let’s do a little prep:

• You will need the cake layers, pastry cream filling and buttercream frosting for the crumb coat.
• Make sure your cake layers are cold otherwise the filling and frosting will start melting away.
• Check the consistency of your frosting. You should be able to scoop it up with your spatula and turn it upside down over the bowl without it falling or sliding back into the bowl. The frosting should hold its shape perfectly.

Directions to assemble:

• Take a little bit of the frosting and put it on the turntable so that the cardboard bottom does not move around. 

• Place the cardboard on the turntable.

• Start by spreading a thin layer of icing on your cake board. This way your cake will stick to your board.
• Place your first layer on the board (remember we are assembling the cake now so we will be removing the parchment from all the layers before assembling them together).

• Divide the Coconut Pastry Cream into two parts. Spread half of the pastry cream over the top of this layer. Fill the sides with the Buttercream Frosting. 

Tip: The buttercream frosting is all sugar so if you want you can fill the layers only with the pastry cream filling and coat the assembled cake all over with the frosting.

• Smooth the pastry cream with the offset spatula. Try to slowly rotate the turntable with your other hand so that the offset spatula can easily smooth all over.
• Once your filling is nice and flat, you can continue stacking your cake layers. So, remove the parchment from the second cake layer and place it on top of this layer. 
• Repeat with the remaining Pastry Cream.
• Remove the parchment from the third cake layer and place it on top of this layer. 

Tip: Make sure you are smoothing the Pastry cream to a uniform level. Once you top it with another layer of cake, there is no going back.

• Now we have used all the Pastry Cream filling. It’s time to start working with the frosting. 
• Take about a cup of frosting and spread it over the top and sides of the cake with the offset spatula.
• Start by smoothing a thin layer over the top of the cake. 

Tip: Always add more icing than you think you need. It's much easier and cleaner to remove icing than add it.

• If any buttercream from the layers overflowed, you can spread that over the sides of the cake.
• Start adding additional frosting to the sides of the cake. Always start with more than you need. Lift some of the frosting from your bowl and spread it over the side of the cake. Hold your spatula at 90 degrees against the cake, and use your other hand to turn the turntable to apply the frosting evenly.
• Using a large cake scraper, remove frosting from the sides of the cake until the cake layers begin to show through. Once you have a nice thick coat of frosting, hold your bench scraper flat against the side of your cake. Then turn the turntable and the scraper to make a nice, smooth coat of icing. 

Tip:

• Hold the scraper very lightly against the cake. It should just touch the cake and scrape the extra frosting.  
• A good trick of getting a really nice crumb coat is to have an extra, empty bowl nearby. Every time you get crumbs on the spatula, just wipe the frosting into the extra bowl. This makes sure that your real bowl full of buttercream is totally free of crumbs.
• If you find your cakes are sliding around and won’t stay stacked properly, stack them as best you can and then place them in the freezer to harden the buttercream. After about 20 minutes, they should stay put and you can continue crumb coating your cake.

• After finishing the edges of the cake, you will have peaks on the top edges of the cake. To get rid of these peaks, move your offset spatula in a swiping motion, pulling the buttercream from the outer edge toward the center of the cake. 
• After the crumb coat put the cake in the freezer for 30 minutes. Then wrap a plastic warp all around the hard frosting and put it back in the freezer until you are ready to do the final coat.

Our cake is already coming together and looking beautiful right? Now we will do the Final Coat which will cover all the imperfections.

Recommended Reading:

• Chocolate Coconut Cake (with Coconut Pastry Cream filling and Buttercream Frosting, topped with Chocolate Glaze and Toasted Shredded Coconut)
• Bake the Cake
• Prepare the Coconut Pastry Cream filling
• Prepare the Buttercream Frosting
• Salted Caramel Buttercream
• Assemble the Black Forest Gateau