Plastic, acrylic, metal - which is the best kind of cake comb or frosting scraper? I'm going to
show you how to prepare a cake to use any of these options and then I'll demonstrate the difference
between each material as you smooth the frosting on your cake. I'll also share the most important
things to look for when you're choosing a cake comb. Whatever cake comb you're using there are
some essential basics to get right first if you want to be successful with your comb. Going to the
very beginning for just a moment make sure your cake layers are stacked directly on top of each
other so that the cake is straight and not leaning to one side. Trimming the tops of your cake layers
with a serrated knife will make the tops flat and level and that will make this easier. Cover the
cake with a crumb coat which is a very thin layer of frosting that completely covers the cake and
traps any crumbs that come off the cake so that those crumbs are stuck in this layer of frosting.
You can see that this frosting is gliding onto the cake and it's easy to spread and smooth
and that's because of two tricks. The first is that these cake layers have been in the fridge
for about an hour so they're firm and less crumbly than room temperature cakes and that makes them
easier to frost. The second trick is making sure that your buttercream isn't too stiff. You can see
that this is easy to stir and to drag a spatula through and it's loose enough that if you tap the
spatula on the bowl the frosting falls back down into the bowl. This is the perfect consistency.
Your crumb coat doesn't need to be very neat because you're going to cover it up
but it does need to completely cover the cake so that there isn't any exposed cake that can
create crumbs later. iIm using a plastic frosting smoother here but spoiler alert:
plastic doesn't give you the smoothest frosting so although I love using this for the crumb coat
it's not my favorite for the final coat. I'll show you what I mean in a minute. Chill the cake for 30
minutes in the fridge to set the crumb coat and then apply your final coat of frosting.
Create whatever design you like with the frosting using just one colour or several colours
and the crumbs will stay in the crumb coat instead of getting into this layer of frosting.
The important thing here is to spread the frosting on quite thickly, aiming for the same thickness
all along the sides of the cake so that you can create straight sides. Even if the cake underneath
the frosting isn't perfectly straight and level you can create that with the frosting if it's
thick enough. Here's where a frosting smoother comes in or it's also called an icing scraper or
a cake comb. These can be plastic acrylic or metal and they each have advantages as far as cost,
lifespan, how well they smooth frosting and how quick and easy they are to use.
Let's start with plastic. Plastic is the cheapest material to use and I find it the easiest to use
because it's lightweight and I love thin ones like this because they're flexible making it easy to
scrape the excess frosting off into a bowl after each scrape around the cake. I'll mention now that
whichever material you choose the most important thing to look for is a comb that's at least as
tall as your cake so that you can reach the entire surface of the sides of the cake with each scrape.
You can see that this plastic scraper is working well to take off the excess buttercream,
leaving a smooth surface behind. Let's compare this to an acrylic scraper and
you can see that at this stage of the process while you're taking the excess
frosting off the smoothness of the frosting is pretty much the same with either material.
Now metal and again the surface is just as smooth so when you start smoothing
the frosting it really doesn't matter which material you use as far as smoothness goes,
Once you've taken off the excess frosting so the sides of the cake are straight
this is where the different materials become noticeable. I'm texturing the frosting to
blend the ombre more subtly and now look at the difference between plastic and acrylic:
the plastic leaves a nice smooth surface but you can see some horizontal grooves or lines or ridges
in the frosting. This is because plastic wears out quite quickly and wherever there's a little
ding in the edge of the scraper that will leave a line behind as it scrapes around the cake.
Acrylic scrapers are more temperamental than plastic and you have to use just the right amount
of pressure because if you push too hard like I'm doing here you'll create little air bubbles
in the frosting because you're using the acrylic scraper to pull the frosting too aggressively.
Once you get the hang of these they're great but it does take some practice
and just like plastic scrapers they're very delicate so if you ding them when you're
washing them or if you drop them they chip easily and if you run your finger along the edge you'll
feel the unevenness and that little chip will leave a groove in the frosting as you scrape.
Let's mess up the frosting a bit again to demonstrate a metal cake scraper and just
like the plastic scraper this one doesn't create air bubbles in the frosting but also metal is the
most resilient material so it's the least likely to get dinged which means the metal scraper has a
perfectly smooth edge and it's leaving a perfectly smooth surface behind on the frosting on the cake
with no ridges or grooves. So as far as smoothness if your cake scraper is in perfect condition all
three materials can create perfectly smooth frosting but when plastic and acrylic scrapers
get dinged they leave grooves in the frosting so it's not as smooth as metal scrapers can achieve.
But smoothness isn't the only factor to consider. Another important aspect is how easy and quick a
cake scraper is to use. I showed you earlier that plastic scrapers are very quick and easy to wipe
clean after each scrape around the cake to take the excess buttercream off before scraping again.
Acrylic scrapers have an angled edge and that means you have two different sides to wipe the
buttercream off and that's more time consuming because if you're scraping 10 or 20 times around
a cake to smooth the frosting then all of that extra wiping is going to add a lot of time to the
process. Metal is in between the other two: it's quicker to wipe clean than acrylic because it only
has one edge but it's not flexible like plastic so it's not quite as quick to use as plastic is.
The other thing to consider is cost. Plastic is the cheapest and metal and acrylic are a bit more
expensive. Metal lasts the longest because it doesn't ding like plastic and acrylic do
so in terms of an investment metal is probably the best option. The most important takeaways from
this video are to make sure your cake is straight and your frosting is the right consistency because
you won't get smooth frosting with any material of cake comb if you don't get those two things
right. Since it's possible to get smooth frosting with any material it really comes down to personal
preference. Acrylic is my go-to scraper but there are cake decorators who swear by metal
so if you can, try them all and then choose your favourite. Just keep in mind that metal
will last much longer than plastic or acrylic so if you're frosting cakes often, metal might be the
best option for you. I hope this tutorial has been useful! Check out my online cake
school for lots of cake decorating classes and courses with unique cake designs, techniques and
tips. The link is in the top of the screen and in the video description. Thank you for watching!