Working with Buttercream: Simple and Stunning Spatula Techniques

1. Introduction: buttercream cake decorating has come back into style. The general lower cost of it and simplicity has welcomed new trends. And, of course, it tastes delicious. Hi, I'm Amy. And when I first started cake decorating, I only worked with buttercream on the occasional rainbow Sprinkles and edible glitter, of course, but that's why it's such a great place to get started learning how to decorate beautiful cakes. In this course, I'm gonna show you some really simple techniques to give you really stunning results. You'll learn how to simply frost a cake smooth and get those room professional, sharp edges. And then I'm gonna show you a few spatula techniques that you can leave on their own. You can color them different colors with, ah, spread of multiple cakes with multiple techniques, you can add fresh flowers, Sprinkles whatever you can come up with, but you'll learn the basics in this course. There's also going to be re sources for equipment that you need to prepare to complete all the techniques successfully. Are you ready to get started? I'll see you in the next lesson 2. Carving the Cakes: Let's get started on prepping our board and building our cake so that we can crumb coat it . I am going to be demonstrating with five inch cakes. I have a couple of red velvet here now. I don't have any five inch boards are actually kind of hard to find unless you buy them in bulk. So I by six inch boards and then I just cut them down. So this will apply to any board where you can't find the size you need just by the next size up that's readily available to you, and you can cut it to size. But I want my cake board to be the same size around as my cake. When I put a crumb coat on it, it will be nice and flush with the board of them. When I put the final coat, it will cover up the boards who want people to see it. So first thing I want to do is put my cake on the back side of the board, have a pencil, and I'm just going Teoh trace right around the edge of the cake, and you want to make sure that it's a nice circle and you're not kind of wobbling all over the place because you really want that cake board to sit nicely underneath the cake. And then once you have just your light lines, just go ahead and cut right around, making sure that you're cutting right on that line again. Not zigzagging or getting awkward crooked cuts. And this board is what the cake is going to sit on as you build it and put the crumb coat on and frost it. And then that way, when you go to lift your cake to put it onto our finished board or if you're stacking cakes , you have a way to pick the kick up and move it without your cake falling in parts. Once you have that, you can set it aside and we're going to start carving the cakes Now. A lot of cakes, depending on what recipe you're using, will have a crown on top and you want it to be flat. So if you try to frost a cake with a crown on it, you're going to have really thick icing around the edges. And then it's gonna be thin in the middle when you go to cut it. We don't want that. It's also gonna be way more difficult just as faras constructing the cake. So to take that crown off, you want to find your low point. So what? I'm looking at it right here. Probably the lowest point at the top of my cake. So I'm gonna take a nice serrated blade, make sure that it's separated. Flat blades will tend to drag and cause a lot of extra crumbs. And we don't want that. You want a nice cut, clean cut. So I'm gonna put my knife the edge of it, just right in and just kind of make a mark, and I'm going to start turning with my other hand, holding that bleed at the same level. I don't want to move it up or down. I'm just moving it back and forth very gently holding it at the same height until I get back around right there toe where I started. Now this is great and the reason you want to do it just once around marking it is that if you come back and for some reason you end up higher or lower than where you first started, you can start over again and mark it again. You'll get the hang of it. The more cakes you do as far as keeping it level. So once you have that nice mark, you're gonna keep the blade still really flat, and you're gonna keep spinning your cake around, cutting a little bit further in each time and always be careful where your other hand is. You don't wanna slice your hand and you'll feel what it finally gets the whole way through just like that. And then you have a really nice level cut and you can see I don't have a bunch of crumbs, and that's because of my separated blade. So the next part I want to do is I'm going to actually a flip my cake over. I'm gonna take off this bottom caramelization. I like to do this. It looks really professional. When you cut into the cake. All you have is the moist center part of the cake. You don't have any, you know of the caramelization on which is a different color, a different texture and a different flavour. So I want something really consistent inside my cake. So, to me, it's really important that I take off all the caramelization. So I'm going to just start. I've just taking off the very top layer. I'm not taking a whole bunch of cake off. I just want to get rid of that crust. I have a little bit that just wanted to stick. There we come. That's good. Okay. And same thing. I want to take my sides off as well. And I'm just taking the very edge of this off, and I'm still trying to keep it as round as possible. And it really helps if you chill your cakes before you do this part. If your cakes are cool or even frozen, that will help tremendously, too. Hold the cake together. Better for carving. So it's not a big, crumbly mess Just trying to take that side off. I'm not trying to take too much of the cake, and then I'm just going back and kind of cleaning up any little bids that are kind of a jagged edge or where my cake might be quick ID. I want to get this is round as possible. Well, do you have a pretty round and nice. I think this looks pretty good. Then you have to decide. You know, it is the personal preference. Professionally, I think the nicest thing is to have four layers of cake and three layers of felling when you cut into a cake. Now, if you need a taller cake, then it might be six layers of cake and five layers of filling. It depends, but just for a standard cake, I'm going to have to five and trials. We're gonna create four layers of cake. And what I mean by that is going to cut the cake in half this way at so I'm gonna do the same thing as leveling. And I'm gonna pick my halfway point this time and I'm gonna just start Teoh, turn it and I'm just marking it. And once I get back to that starting point, I can start cutting in further until I get around. And then I have to Nice, even layers. And I'm gonna go ahead and do this with my other five inch cake, and then we can start filling and stacking the cake. 3. Stacking the Cakes: So once all the layers are cut and nice and clean up its ready to start stacking before we do. I did just want to mention if you have all these Kate crowns and scraps, you know, a lot of you ask me what to do with those. You could make cake pops. You could, you know, just save them in the freezer and use them for par phase layer than with mousse and whipped cream and things like that. So I always keep my cake scraps and find some way to use them, especially if you're making a cake for a client and you want some cake. Then you can just make your own parfait with somebody cream. Delicious. Okay, so let's get started building the cake so I just have a little short six inch spatula flat spatula, and I want to adhere my cake to the board. So I'm just gonna put a little bit of butter cream on there. And I also want to mention that if you are making a butter cake or a sponge cake, you'll want to use a simple syrup, and this is when you would put it on drizzle. The simple syrup on the layers as you're building it. Simple syrup is, you know, one part water to one part sugar, for example, a cup of water to a cup of sugar. Boil it until it's clear and then chill it and it's ready to go. I made oil based cake, so I'm not using a simple start, either, really, really moist on their own. So once I have this just a basic felling. If you're filling it with butter cream, you're just gonna wanna put some buttercream right in the center. And if you want to be really specific and have really nice even layers, when you cut into the cake, you can measure out your buttercream or whatever filler felling you're using. And you can use 1/2 cup or 1/4 cup, depending on what size your cake is or how much filling you want. And then that way, as you're building the cake, you just measure, say, into 1/4 cup measuring cop, exactly 1/4 cup of butter cream. Then you put it into the layer, smooth it out, and then you have the exact same amount between each layers. When you cut into it, you're layers will look so exact and perfect. And then, once you get used to it over time, you'll be able to just look at it and say, OK, this looks good and that's how much I want to put in there. So it's good to be standing up when you're doing this to, because you want to look down over it. For when you lay in the next layer of cake on, you want to make sure that it's completely lined up on all sides. The hallway around. You don't want the layers to be skewed. It will be really difficult. Teoh. Frost it up. You're gonna keep building it up like that until you are out of cake layers. And, you know, as I am pushing the buttercream when I'm frosting, I am not touching the cake at all. I I don't want to get any crumbs into my buttercream in my filling, because when you cut into it bunch of crumbs in there, you'll be able to see it. So I am starting at an angle, pushing out and then stopping and coming back and pushing out. So it's it's a rocking motion, right, and you're just gradually pushing the buttercream out to the edge, being very careful to never let your spatula touch the cake itself. I'm also making sure that this layers really smooth. Teoh. I don't want it to be crooked or I don't want the K to be crooked. And I don't want there to be inconsistencies. When my guests or clients cut into the cake, a little layer goes on, so that's stacked, and now we're going to Crumb coat it. 4. Crumb Coat: so to apply the crumb coat, I've got out my handy dandy turntable. It's really helpful. Toe Have this. You don't have to have one to crumb Coat the cake. I do recommend to have one. When you want to do the final smooth, finish your buttercream. But do the crime called issues easier to have the turntable? And I haven't refrigerated this yet. I'm just putting the crime court directly on there and then I'll refrigerate it. I also have a cup here, and this is to scrape off my spatula into their that has crumbs in it. Rather than putting that back into my nice, clean bowl of pristine buttercream. We don't want to put a bunch of crumbs into a big batch of buttercream and ruin it. So always have that extra empty bowl for your crummy buttercream you. So to start, just gonna put a nice amount on top. And this is just a really thin layer, and the crumb coat, essentially is a very, very thin layer of buttercream or whatever frosting you're using. And it is just going Teoh, adhere to the sides the cake and lock the crumbs in. And then once it's chilled. The butter will set up for him in the refrigerator again, and when you go to put a second coat on, it will hold all those crumbs into that first coat. And that's a really great way to make sure that you're always getting nice, clean looking buttercream on the outside of your cake. So I'm just starting by pushing all this buttercream out to the sides and down over the edge a little bit. And then this is going Teoh cool right down the sides of my cake. And there you can see there's crumbs in there, so that's just gonna scream right off to the edge and I always check to. Especially for chocolate or red velvet. They are sure to ruin a good batch of buttercream, so I check my spatula. I just look it over, okay, No crimes so I can go back into the good buttercream on when I'm doing this part, I actually, like Teoh be facing straight on to my cake and then looking over the back of my cake to do this. They see a lot of crumbs, but that's how it's supposed to be. And you're just taking a small amount on here at a time and kind of pushing at the same rocking motion, pushing it too attached to the sides of the cake. And then whatever is left, you have these big ripples just pushing that over to cover. You really should not be using a lot of butter cream for this layer. It's not necessary. You can even push butter cream from the top down over. Okay, scrape off my spatula, and then I'm going to just whole brace bachelor there and turn the cake pulling off that, scraping it on the edge of my bull. And I'm just kind of smoothing out the cake, smoothing out the crumb coat a little bit on. The last part is they have this little edge on top and I'm gonna hold the spatula facing away from me at an angle. I'm just gonna bring it towards me, just gently taking off that top edge, simultaneously smoothing out the cakes from going from the edge right to the center and lifting. Edged to the centre lift edged center lift edged to the centre left and then I can if I need to take just a little bit more and that is my crumb coat. Now, at this point, it's going to go in there for drainer, and I'm gonna let it set up for at least an hour in the refrigerator or 20 to 30 minutes in the freezer. If you're in a hurry, you really want to make sure that this gets nice and firm before you try to put on that second coat about our cream so into the fridge it goes. 5. Applying the Second Coat: So let's talk about getting a nice, smooth finish now on the buttercream. Once your cake is Children's time for the final coat, you want to get set up while you're cakes. Sell chilling. I have my turntable still, and this is one of the most invaluable things I've ever. I learned, I think, in cake decorating. This is shelf liner. It's just like this rubber mash. Basically, when you put it on any cake board, metal, plastic or wood, and you put your cake on top of this is going to prevent it from sliding around. And when you are smoothing a cake or frosting it all of those things, you're applying pressure. And if you don't have something to hold it in place, your cake will want to move, and it will be really difficult to get a nice, smooth finish on the outside of the cake. So you know some people use tape. Some people use buttercream right on there between the board and the turntable. I like to use this because it's so easy to clean and you can cut them to different sizes. This one I have caught, it's nice. It will fit underneath my five inch board. You do want to make sure that none of it is sticking out around the edges of your board because then it'll catch as you're trying to frost and smooth the cakes. Just make sure that it nicely fits underneath your board and you put it right in the middle . You're also gonna wanna have a nice offset. Special. This is a larger offset spatula and offset basically means you've got that little Kurban int. I don't want a flat one. It's gonna be really difficult. You have something flat. Your handle runs the risk of dragging through the buttercream. You also need something to smooth this I have. And this has a pretty nice right angle, which is what you're looking for. You want something that is going to sit flat on your bottom surface and go straight up against the edge of the cake? I love this one in particular because it is so long. So it's really going. Teoh, help! I mean, this would be up to a 12 inch tall cake, and I've never turn a 12 inch tall cake. So you have got to do something that massive this would work. But This is just, um, this is a spackling tool. So I picked this up in a hardware store, and it's not flimsy. It's got a nice metal edges pretty sharp, and this is perfect for getting my cake really smooth. It doesn't have any big, bulky handles that run the risk of dragging through my buttercream. It's just a really perfect tool, but any type of spackling night for anything like that you could even buy specialty tools specifically made for smoothing buttercream. That's great. I've used a lot of tools over the years, and quite honestly, this is my favorite. So just in a harbor store in the paint section near the other spackling knives, okay, and then I have my buttercream, and then I need to get my cake so you can see my cake fit nicely over top of that shelf liner piece, and you know your cakes ready when you can touch it and nothing comes off, or maybe just a kind of a greasy feel from the butter. But you should be able to touch it, and it's not sticking to your fingers Now. That's why I love working with Swiss meringue buttercream. It sets up really nice or any type of butter cream made with all butter is really gonna make it so much easier to frost a cake. Of course, it's not to say you can't frost with other types of frosting. It's just buttercream is typically the easiest to get a nice, smooth finish. Make sure it's right in the center of my turntable and that I won't get started now, you for the crumb coat. You had a separate bowl for crummy buttercream. But we're not gonna have that because all of our crumbs air locked into that layer. So I'm gonna start by getting a nice amount on the edge of my spatula. It's gonna go right on the top of my cake. And I'm starting again by pushing out to the sides like I did before. And I'm turning with my other hand. You can see you can just turn with your fingers and turn it as you're working out to the sides to pushing an emotion like that, you know? And as you're learning, always start out slow just, you know, learn, figure out, get the feel down all of this stuff you will get better out. You will get faster out. It'll be so much easier. The more reputation you do, it's like learning any scale of cake decorating. You just keep you again and you get better at it and pretty much anybody can learn how to do it. You just have to practice. So now we're going to start putting it onto the sides. So I have another good amount on my spatula not so much that it's gonna fall off. You want to make sure it's gonna stick to the spatula, and you're just going to start by putting it up against the cake and you just kind of pushing it on until it sticks. And then you're gonna go down below that and it's okay if you get it on your you know, turntable like this. That's fine. We can clean that up, but we're just gonna put this thick layer on overtop, making sure it's thick enough to cover up that board at the bottom. Pushing it on there. Don't worry about getting this really smooth. We're just getting the buttercream on the cake again, standing up and reaching over your cake. I'm facing my cake. You could see right here and I'm reaching over. And that's gonna be the easiest way to do this process. Just give you cake. Good turn. Make sure you've got everything felled. And if you see that parts the look lower, you can ad more on there. And don't worry. If you don't get enough on either it's you can always put more on at any point. I just want to make sure I've got a nice, sick layer run here. Okay? And now we're going to start smoothing it. 6. Smoothing the Cake: so to smooth the cake. Once you have this thick layer on, you're gonna be having whichever hands your dominant hand. So I'm right handed, Got my straight edge in my right hand. Don't be turning my turntable with my left hand. So I am kidding. I want this bottom edge here to be sitting flat on my board or my turntable and then I'm gonna have my straight edge at an angle to the cake. I don't want it straight out because it's gonna drag. And it's not gonna give you something really nice and smooth. I want it pretty close. It's like a 45 degree angle to the side of my cake and I'm gonna start spinning my turntable while I'm holding that blade and you're gonna get this bit of butter cream and scrape right onto the edge of your bowl. And it's almost like pottery, making that if you don't move your spatula, you just spin the turntable. When you have your cake very well centered, it will smooth itself into a nice circle. I'm just continuing to do that until it's pretty smooth. And then I want to look and see, like down here at the bottom. I have kind of a gap where it's not as nice and smooth. So I'm actually gonna take my spatula and buttercream and I'm just gonna go in there and fill that in. I'm gonna look for any other spots that might be struggling to be smooth. And I'm just going Teoh, fill those bits in and I'm also looking at the top two. I want to make sure that the whole way around that my buttercream is piling up on the top. So if it's originally spots that need filled into I'm going, Teoh put a little bit on edge and then we go back to this. So I'm still smoothing, and I just want to keep going with this process and I'll actually start to slow it down, and I'm looking down the sides of my cake. But if I'm seeing that, I don't have really nice rounded edges, I'm just kind of going to the places where it could use a little extra taken off. And I'm just gently taking off any little extra bits that need to be taken off. There's kind of a little bit there. Yeah, just make sure that I'm getting it nice and round and you can see with the Swiss meringue buttercream to how smooth it can get. Okay, When looking down on my cake and I'm looking at it, this is really round. It looks really fantastic. So this point, I want to just get one last sweep around the edge. So I'm gonna do is gonna put my hand basically as far as you can, wrap your arm around the cake to the other side of the board without dragging your arm in the cake and grab a hold of the board back there. Set up your spatula and you're gonna try to turn the whole way around the cake without bringing your spatula up off. And just practice that a couple times. You kind of want to go quickly. If you can, it's going to give you the smoothest finish. And if you're more comfortable with the rapid spinning, you can go that way and then just pull off. You know, just try a couple of different ways and see what works best for you. There we go. I find that way works best for me on then. I have a really nice finish on my sides really straight up and down, perfectly round. So once I have that, I'm going to go back to my offset spatula, and I want to take the edge off as well as smooth out the top. So I'm going directly across from me with the blade and angle, and I'm just taking the edge off. You don't want to go. You don't wanna push down on it. You don't want to go too far, and if you don't take enough off, it's better to not take enough off and take too much off. And if you get any bits that are still sticking out around your edges, you can just very gently take those back, barely pushing into the side of the buttercream just to smooth from the top, lip back down. And then again, going Teoh, go directly across and scrape that right off. And now I'm just taking off a little bit until May Top. It's really nice and smooth. If you have any spots like this, that kind of need felt in, you could go ahead. Fill those in on it's okay to go back and forth between you know this part and smoothing the top. - You just work at it until you have a really nice smooth buttercream look such as this. And then if you are ready to move the cake, this is why we have the cake board. So to move the cake, you're going to take your spatula and I'm pushing down on it. This is especially why you want, you know, the offset, and I'm going to go right under my cake the whole way and you'll see when it comes detaches . And I'm gonna put my fingers under there. I'm also feeling for that map because I don't want a lift that up with the cake. But once I get my spatula under one side, I can slide my whole hand under there. I'm gonna have my hand under there, and I didn't mess up the bottom of my cake, and I can move it around and just use the spatula again. If you need to set it back down on something, let the spatula help you with the weight moving your hand out, and then quickly pull it out on. That's how you would move the cake around without messing up your beautiful buttercream finish 7. Spatula Technique 1: So once you have the second coat of buttercream owned, you can decorate your cake with just a really finished spatula technique look, and they become more popular because they're extremely simple and also cost effective. If you're pricing a cake for somebody and they have a pretty strict budget, you could just do something like this. And it's not going to add a lot of decoration, time or cost to the cake. So spatula techniques are really nice for that purpose. The 1st 1 I'm gonna show you is just a really symbol, a zigzag look, and it's perfect for party cakes. I'm going to start out. I have my second coat of buttercream on, and it's still soft. I don't want to put this in the refrigerator. I want to smooth my cake and then use it while it's still soft. I do want to get a nice, smooth finish on the cake before I start my spatula pattern because I want my sides he shirt open down in my top to B flat to have a good structure to the cape. I also have my cake set in the middle of my turntable for larger cakes. I would use a larger offset spatula. This is a five inch cake, so I'm just using my small offset spatula to get started. I always start on the sides, just in case it would create any type of lip on the edges. I can smooth them on the top and then finish. So for the zigzag, it's really simple. You're just holding your spatula in your hand like this, and you're moving in a rocking fashion with the tip of your spatula. So to demonstrate, I'm going to go on a diagonal with my sig zag. So I'm just going to start down at the bottom at any point on my cake, and I'm going to be turning with the other hand. So I want to have my dominant hand holding this spatula, on the other hand, holding this patch, on the other hand, holding the turntable. I'm just gonna start by zigzagging back and forth as I'm turning my turntable. So I'm getting kind of a diagonal look, and then we go right beside that and do the same thing, working from the bottom to the top turn back trying to really fell in the space as making sure that each trial is right up next, one another. And you wanna press so hard that you can see cake, but you definitely want to press hard enough that you're getting a nice texture. I could just keep working the whole way around my cake. It starts to not line up or be straight. You can go back over your previous pattern and just fix it. And when you get the holy around to the end, you just fill in any space. It's left with one zigzag and you can see it's created a little bit of a lip. So I'm just going to scrape the special off on the side of my boulder. Clean it. I'm not gonna drag that edge off. And Snoop Sorts of center was going to go around and fix any little bits that you felt in. Then when I'm ready to do the top, if you have any butter cream that got pushed up, we're just going to take that off, smoothing towards the center and then I'm just gonna choose any one of mice execs from the side to start A I kind of a start and try to make it look into tenuous from the sides of the top. I'm being very careful on the top, so it's not to push down too much on the edges and create a ledger on the top, which that I'm just going to continue with this pattern on the top of the cake, filling in the hole top, and you just want to play where you likely it looks. And then it's finished and you can put in the refrigerator to chill. It's just a really nice chic look. You can even put a single flower on top of the cake. You don't need a border. It's a simple design. 8. Spatula Technique 2: So the next spatula technique I'm gonna show you is just straight lines, which ends up giving a a really chic look. This one takes a little bit more practice because you want to really try to get your lines pretty Even. So, working on applying the correct amount of pressure is really what you're going for here. So I'm just starting with my spatula straight up and down, and I can start anywhere, and I'm applying even pressure pulling straight up, and you can go back over it if you have to. If it didn't get perfect and you want to pull straight up the whole way up to the top because you don't want your you wanna pull off too early and then your line will get smaller, for example to pull off too early, then at the top, it doesn't look as finished. It's easier if you are facing it head on, because when you can make sure that your lines are going straight up and down, - you keep going with it. And with any of these fashions techniques, if your lines are getting crooked or that they're just not looking the way that you want to at any time you can re smooth your cake and start over. That's nice thing about just doing spatula decorations. Because if you really wanna get them right and make them look really nice, you can just keep redoing it and even just a practice. You can smooth it out and then start over using the same buttercream, the holy around. So when I get to the end, I'm actually going back over them until I get to a point where it looks pretty even. So once you have the sides all done, you want to take off slip of various wine on, then pick any of the lines and you're gonna have you choose one on the farther side from you standing in front of cake. Just look over your cake. Put your spatula right there at the edge and you're gonna drag directly across the cake. And if you have a little hoops on the edge, you can just fix that by going back. I'm scraping off my spatula in between all of these drags on the edge of my bowl and with any of the designs. If you need to go back and fix any spots, - okay , All right, There we go. I'm pretty happy with that, and that is thestreet line spatula technique. 9. Spatula Technique 3: So for the pinwheel technique. I love this one because it ends up giving you a really pretty kind of circular look at the end, and it doesn't have to be absolutely perfect. The kind of motion of the buttercream covers up a lot of imperfections. So I'm starting with one hand on the turntable, and then the other hand's gonna be holding the spatula, Mr the Bottom, applying pressure and turning it as I worked my way up. And you're gonna get these really nice Dagnall lions, and you just want to try to match them up, kind of overlapping a little bit as you go. And if you miss any spots, just go back over. It's not a big deal. Making sure to scrape off any buttercream. He was gonna keep working the holy around until you get back to where you started. And as I said, it doesn't have to be perfect. It's kind of arrested. Look, if there are any spots you want to go back and fix, it's fine. You can just go right back overtop and then it gives you is really pretty spinning effect. So then, to do the top, I'm actually moving in a circular motion with the edge of my spatula. The back edge of this. I'm starting here and I have this little lip of buttercream. So I'm taking that off and simultaneously working towards the middle. So I'm taking that off, pulling to the center and pulling up. I'm going to keep overlapping in a circular pattern here the whole way around, and my center is not gonna be perfectly in the center, but I kind of like that look. So I'm not too worried if it ends up off to the side a little bit as you get around to the end, kind of make your spatula strokes a little bit shorter just to cover up that. And then I have that little center part that I like to try to just get a nice finish by, kind of making it look like a little spin right in the middle. And then that's the finished look. I really think it's kind of fun. And when you've got stocked up with other cakes or even by itself, it just it looks really pretty. You could even put some type of decoration right there to cover up that center if you like , but it's fun, especially when you spend it 10. Spatula Technique 4: This last technique is probably the most popular I've seen this one or this design. Ah lot. I used to do it myself in bakeries and a lot of high end cake. Decorators use it, too, as just a really simple special technique that has a nice look to it. It's also partially because it's the fastest one to dio on, but it does rely heavily on your turntable. So to get started with this one, you're going to start at the bottom of your cake with your spatula pressing. You know, having a little bit of pressure enough to make Mark, and you're just going to start spinning your turntable, paying attention to where your previous line waas and you're just moving up the cake. Yeah, and you want to be careful not to miss any sections. And if there's any built up buttercream, you can go back and take that off just by spinning it or any odd parts that you think don't really look that need. You can go back and fix those, and it's not meant to look perfect like perfectly spaced lines. It's just meant Teoh kind of have a feel of a design, but If you don't like it, you can just go back over the whole thing. No issue. And when you get to the top, you just kind of pull away easily, letting it finish out. You could see how simple that is. You could easily complete. You know, a lot of cakes with this design in a short period of time and then to do the top. We're gonna take off that lip before we get started. - There . Now, when you're doing the top, when you start, you're gonna start out on the edge. But you want to be sure not to apply too much pressure to the outside edge. You can apply a little bit more pressure towards the centre as you're working right in, but on the outside, you don't want to push it and then create kind of, you know, like a ledge of buttercream. So I'm starting out very lightly to get that outside edge and then applying more pressure, working my way, spinning right into the center and lift up when you get to the center. And that's it. This design, like I said, it's so quick and simple to dio. But it's really pretty. And that's the last of the spatula techniques 11. Thank You!: thanks so much for taking the course and congrats on completing it. I hope you feel like you learn some pretty cool techniques that you'll definitely put into practice. If you are making these cakes at home and trying them out, post some projects to the platform. I love to see what you're working on, and if you went any feedback, I'd be more than happy to supply that. Also, don't hesitate to ask questions if you aren't sure on something or would need something explained a little bit better. I would be happy to help in any way that I can. You can also find links on my profile page to social media. Keep up to date on what I'm doing when I'm working on and when the next course is going to be available. Also, I post monthly discussions as kind of a newsletter to let you know what's going on and what I'm working on. If you have the time to leave a review, I would appreciate it. It helps me know whether or not I should improve my courses or if I'm just doing a really awesome job, and it helps other students know whether or not, this course is what they're looking for or if it's worth their time. I really hope you enjoy the course, and I hope to see you in another one back.