Cake combing tool

This isn’t a combing tool Hannah. It’s done with a off set spatula. A thicker the spatula, thicker lines. Thinner spatula, thinner lines. You apply your buttercream very thick. Here’s a post that might help you.
Cake It Pretty- Easy Textured Buttercream Cake. How-to by Tessa Huff
stylesweetca.com/2013/05/06/textured-buttercream-cakes/
May 6, 2013 – Cake It Pretty for Bird’s Party Blog. Easy Textured Buttercream Cake. How-to tutorial by Tessa Lindow Huff.

Thanks so much for your reply – I now have the offset spatula and a turn table on order! I’m hoping it is simple enough to do! Would you happen to know whether I should use just ordinary buttercream or a buttercream mixed with a bit of royal icing to make it set harder? I’m also conscious of the fact that the cake will be sitting out for some hours on the wedding day and whether the outter layer of buttercream would make it messy for guests! I’ve only ever made cakes finished in sugarpaste before. The tutorial link is very helpful thankyou.

I have heard of people mixing in just a little tylo powder to the buttercream… It just helps it stay especially when it’s hot. Good luck x

I always add meringue powder to my bc icing Hannah. Helps it crust, set and stay firm. I don’t know where your from, but here in Southern Ontario, Canada….it gets very humid & hot. So in some cases, I do a 50/50 icing of bc and royal. The royal really helps keep the lines you create sharp and crisp as well. And as Clare stated above…tylo powder will work too. You know Hannah, I purchase a wide spaced hair comb at my Dollar store, and used it to create lines in my cake. Keep it just for decorating. Amazing the ordinary things you can find in your hardware or dollar store to use as “tools”…. And there cheap too.

I’d never thought of using meringue powder…. Will have to try that out :) x

Works great Clare….

That’s brilliant, thanks girls! That comb idea also a good one! Does using the meringue powder or royal making it a lot more difficult to work with? I presume you’d just use ordinary buttercream for the crumb coat. I made the 12" demo choc cake last night and cut it into 3 layers for choc buttercream filling – moving those layers was a nightmare and one actually cracked and a couple of bits came off so I stuck back together and hope when it’s filled and covered it won’t be noticed when it’s cut so for the real thing I either need to invest in a proper moving implement for large cakes (any you recommend?) or just cut the cake in two so it’s less likely to break. I might then make a cake and a half to add height on each layer. This is definitely a learning process! x

Firstly Hannah, I only ever cut a cold cake….not frozen…but very cold. Easier to move and more stable. Although,there’s times where the cake has been a tiny bit frozen on the inside. Plus my cakes are usually dense, so they don’t crumble. Secondly, when I’m dong a textured cake, I use the same icing to crumb coat as I do for the outside final finish. Using the meringue powder doesn’t make your bc icing had to work with. You can texture your cake, if you don’t like the look, smooth, do again. I takes a good 20-30 for the icing to set up. A bit longer if it’s humid. I always practice my smoothing/texture/ piping on a over turned metal bowl. Scrape off the icing, and keep trying to I get the look/technique I’m trying for. Lots of times I let the icing sit on the bowl overnight to see how it held up at room temperature and if I still like be look the next day.