Reddit reviews AmazonBasics Stainless Steel Bowl Scraper/Chopper
We found 4 Reddit comments about AmazonBasics Stainless Steel Bowl Scraper/Chopper. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Multi-purpose scraper/chopper tool for working with dough, chopping, and measuringBroad, rectangular-shaped, stainless-steel blade with square edge1-inch measurement marks along blade edge for creating perfectly even portionsComfortably contoured, nonslip handle; dishwasher-safe for easy cleanupBacked by an AmazonBasics limited one-year warranty
Like most skills, it just takes practice. Trial and error. If it were easy to nicely decorate cakes, they wouldn’t be so expensive.
My advice is to find a simple recipe and follow it exactly. When you’re more advanced in areas of cooking you know what you can swap in and out, or what steps you can skip. If you’re a more visual learner, lots of people have YouTube how-to’s.
I would not recommend using fondant at all. I also wouldn’t recommend Swiss meringue or types like it (melting egg whites with sugar and stirring over heat until completely smooth, then whipping to stiff peaks); it takes a lot of extra effort (and constant stirring and extra cooling steps) that a simple style buttercream (powdered sugar, butter, vanilla extract) for a simple beginner cake would not require.
You don’t need things like a cake spinner or extra gadgets. You can cheaply buy an offset spatula or a generic scraper that is used for other purposes too.
Don’t stack a bunch of layers, 3 would be the recommended max with an 8” or so pan. Cool your cakes for ~10 mins in the freezer after they’re no longer warm to the touch. Apply crumb coat. This is a thin layer of frosting that is mostly covering seams and generous parts of the top and sides to form a base for the final layer of frosting to sit on top of to minimize/eliminate the amount of crumbs. After crumb coat, put in the freezer for another 15.
Once you take it out, work as quickly but don’t be hasty. Put more icing than you think you need, to use the scraper and offset spatula you can’t work with tiny amounts of frosting and hope that things come out level. Use the offset to apply icing to the top, then the sides. Use the scraper to even both out and then the offset again to clean up the edges of the top. Keep your utensils clean as you work. You don’t need piping bags, but you can get a bulk set of cheap plastic ones and if you want to try can use it to apply your icing to your crumb coated cake to make faster work. You can get a small set of frosting tips and make decorations/accents on the top and where the bottom meets whatever plate you have decorated on.
If it gets messy it doesn’t matter, cleanup later with a damp paper towel. Start as simple as possible, then move upward in difficulty.
Everything that has been said - crumb coating, cold cakes, rotating cake stand - but also get a metal bench scraper, or something similar. Makes it easier than using a spatula.
I have both of these, but I still prefer my bench scraper over the Wilton thing.
https://www.amazon.ca/AmazonBasics-Multi-purpose-Stainless-Scraper-Chopper/dp/B07255T6SW/
https://www.amazon.ca/Wilton-417-1648-Icing-Smoother/dp/B007E8KCJA/
Bench scraper
this is the exact same tool. https://www.amazon.co.uk/AmazonBasics-Multi-purpose-Stainless-Steel-Scraper/dp/B07255T6SW
They come with wood handles too and in different widths/lengths. Some bakers do not use this tool.
you don't need something like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/KitchenCraft-Plastic-Dough-Cutter-Scraper/dp/B00BPU5PSG
but it can be used to mix your ingredients, scrape ingredients or dough from a bowl or scrape dough off your hands.