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  • HandoutHandout 1: Supply & Shopping List — Buttercream Basics

    Handout 1: Supply & Shopping List — Buttercream Basics

    Before you buy anything, look through what you already have. Most people own more of this than they think. Then fill in the gaps below.

    I've split this into budget (get you through class just fine) and nice-to-have (buy later if you keep at it). You don't need the nice-to-have column to get a good result week one. For sure for sure.

    The Cake Itself

    • Box mix, two boxes — I use box mix and I'm not sorry about it. Doctored right, it's reliable at our elevation and you're here to learn decorating, not prove a point about scratch baking.
    • If you want scratch, bring your own recipe, but budget extra time for adjusting — high elevation is not kind to a recipe written at sea level.
    • Two 8" or 9" round pans, matching. Don't show up with one round and one square.
    • Parchment rounds or you'll fight the pan for the rest of the night.

    Buttercream Ingredients

    • Butter, real, unsalted — 2 lbs. I like real butter for flavor. It's softer in heat though, so if this were a July class I'd tell you to blend in some shortening. It's February, we're fine with all butter.
    • Powdered sugar, 2 lb bag, maybe two bags. You always use more than you think.
    • Vanilla, the real stuff if you can swing it.
    • Milk or cream, small amount, just to thin.
    • Gel food coloring — not the little grocery-store liquid drops. Gel gives you color without watering down your frosting. Buy one basic set, you don't need twelve colors for this class.

    Tools — Budget Tier

    • Offset spatula, one. This is the single tool I'd tell you not to skip.
    • A turntable — doesn't need to be fancy, a $12 one from the craft store works. Trying to frost a cake without turning it is like trying to paint a fence without moving your feet.
    • Piping bags, disposable is fine to start.
    • A small set of tips — round and star, that's it for now. The $9 craft store set is genuinely how I started.
    • Bench scraper or a ruler-straight piece of plastic for smoothing sides.
    • Cooling racks, two.

    Tools — Nice-to-Have (later, not this week)

    • Metal turntable with a heavier base — worth it if you keep decorating, it doesn't wobble.
    • A proper set of Wilton tips, the whole box, once you know which ones you actually reach for.
    • Cake leveler.
    • Good bench scraper, metal, once you've worn out the plastic one.

    Shopping Notes

    • Craft stores (the one by the mall, or up toward the point of the mountain) usually have the cheapest tip sets and turntables — check for a coupon before you buy, they run them constantly.
    • Butter and powdered sugar are cheaper in bulk. If you're doing a Costco run anyway, grab the butter there.
    • Gel color keeps basically forever, so buying a set now isn't wasted even if this is your only cake class ever.
    • Don't buy fondant. We're not doing fondant in this class — I don't teach it, don't love it, and think it tastes like a shower curtain. If that's what you came for, I'll point you to a different class, no hard feelings.

    What I'll Have at Your Station Already

    Mixing bowls, hand mixers, and extra spatulas are provided, so don't buy those. If your buttercream runs warm during class and you don't have a bench scraper yet, I've got extras. Just ask.

    Bring everything chilled if you're bringing your own butter from home — don't leave it in a hot car. We'll talk more about temperature in Handout 2, but it's the whole game with this stuff, so get in the habit now.

  • HandoutButtercream Basics — Cheat Sheet

    Buttercream Basics — Cheat Sheet

    Keep this one taped inside a cupboard door. It's the stuff I say over and over in class, all in one place so you don't have to write it down mid-demo.

    Temperature (the whole ballgame)

    • Cake must be cool before you frost it. Fully cool, not "cool enough." If you're impatient, chill it in the fridge 20-30 min to speed things up.
    • Buttercream too warm = soupy. If it's sliding around, stick the bowl in the fridge 10-15 min. In summer, or if your kitchen's warm from the oven, this happens fast. I've stuck a whole cake in the garage in February to firm it up. Do what you gotta do.
    • Buttercream too cold = stiff and won't spread. Let it sit out a few minutes and give it another mix.
    • Chill the crumb-coated cake before the final coat. This is not optional. This is the step people skip and then complain the crumbs are showing.

    Crumb Coat

    1. Thin layer of frosting, all over, sealing in the crumbs.
    2. It will look bad. That's fine. That's the point.
    3. Chill 20-30 minutes minimum before the real coat goes on.
    4. Skipping this step is how you get crumbs in your pretty frosting. Don't skip it.

    Elevation Notes (we're at about 4,600 ft here)

    • Box mix: slightly less leavening than the box says, oven a touch hotter, or you'll get sinking in the middle.
    • Scratch recipes written for sea level will need adjusting too. This is part of why I lean on a doctored box mix — more reliable up here and you're in this class to learn decorating, not to fight your oven.
    • Buttercream itself isn't affected much by elevation. It's the cake that gives you trouble.

    Butter vs. Shortening

    • Real butter tastes better. That's just true.
    • Shortening holds up better in heat — outdoor party in July, it won't slump on you.
    • I do a blend, half and half, for anything outdoors in summer. Pick your problem and plan for it.

    Color

    • Gel color, not liquid. Liquid waters down your frosting and you'll be chasing consistency all night.
    • Add a little, mix, wait, look at it again before adding more. It darkens some as it sits.
    • Everybody goes too bright their first time. A little goes a long way — you're not making a birthday clown.

    Piping Basics

    • Practice on the counter or a plate first. You wouldn't hang a shelf without measuring, same idea here.
    • Even pressure, steady hand, let the tip do the work — don't drag it.
    • Keep a damp towel nearby to wipe the tip between colors or when it gets clogged.

    Consistency Cheat

    • Crumb coat / filling: medium, spreadable, holds its shape on the spatula but moves easy.
    • Smooth final coat: slightly softer, spreads without dragging the layer underneath.
    • Piped borders/flowers: stiffer. If it's drooping off the tip, it's too soft — chill it.

    Quick Troubleshooting

    • Frosting sliding off the sides: too warm, or cake wasn't cool. Chill both.
    • Crumbs showing through: no crumb coat, or crumb coat wasn't chilled first.
    • Color looks like a bruise: too much liquid color. Start over with gel.
    • Can't get a sharp top edge: join the club. Mine aren't razor clean either. Good is good enough for this class.

    For sure for sure, if you only remember one thing off this sheet — chill it, whatever "it" is. Cake, bowl, garage floor. Temperature solves most of your problems before they start.

  • WorksheetButtercream Basics — Your Cake Checklist

    Buttercream Basics — Your Cake Checklist

    Print this out and bring it with you. Fill it in as we go, don't wait till the end. This is the order I run things in, for sure for sure, so if you follow the boxes in order you won't be guessing.

    ---

    Before You Start

    • [ ] Butter is at room temp — press it, it should give a little, not squish
    • [ ] Cake layers fully cooled (warm cake = melted frosting = mess)
    • [ ] Layers leveled if needed
    • [ ] Workspace cleared, turntable wiped down, tools laid out
    • [ ] Bowl of buttercream divided if you're coloring more than one shade

    Notes on my batch today:

    _______________________________________________

    _______________________________________________

    ---

    Step 1: Crumb Coat

    Not optional. Skip this and you'll be picking crumbs out of your final coat later, and that one's on you.

    • [ ] Thin layer of frosting over the whole cake, crumbs and all
    • [ ] Doesn't need to look good — it needs to seal
    • [ ] Into the fridge for at least 15–20 minutes

    Chill time started: _____________ Chill time done: _____________

    (If your kitchen's warm — oven's been on, it's July — give it longer. Garage works in a pinch if it's cold enough out there.)

    ---

    Step 2: Color

    • [ ] Gel coloring only, never liquid
    • [ ] Start with a toothpick's worth, mix, then look at it
    • [ ] Add more only if you have to
    • [ ] Color always looks darker once it sets up — go lighter than you think

    My color notes (what I used, how much):

    _______________________________________________

    ---

    Step 3: Final Coat

    • [ ] Buttercream is cool, not soft or shiny-looking
    • [ ] Applied in a thick enough layer to smooth, not scrape
    • [ ] Bench scraper or spatula held steady against the side, turn the cake, not the tool
    • [ ] Top smoothed last

    Be honest with yourself here:

    • [ ] Sides are smooth
    • [ ] Top edge is decent (mine never comes out razor sharp either — that's fine, we're aiming for sunday best, not competition-level)

    ---

    Step 4: Piping Practice

    Before you touch the cake — practice on the counter or a spare plate first. You wouldn't hang a shelf without measuring.

    • [ ] Tried at least 2 tip shapes on practice surface
    • [ ] Pressure feels consistent, not stopping and starting
    • [ ] Picked the design I'm actually doing on the cake

    Design I'm doing:

    _______________________________________________

    ---

    Step 5: Writing (if you're doing any)

    • [ ] Practiced the words on paper twice, spacing and all
    • [ ] Counted letters against the space I actually have
    • [ ] Decided what I'm cutting if it runs long

    (Ask me about the time I ran out of room on a "Happy Birthday" cake. It's a good lesson in measuring first.)

    ---

    End of Night

    • [ ] Cake chilled one more time if it's traveling anywhere
    • [ ] Tools washed and put away
    • [ ] One thing I'd do differently next time:

    _______________________________________________

    • [ ] One thing that went over well:

    _______________________________________________

    Take it home, take a picture, and don't stress if the top corner's not perfectly sharp. Mine never are either.

  • HandoutHandout 4: Buttercream Troubleshooting

    Handout 4: Buttercream Troubleshooting

    Every one of these has happened to me, more than once. Nothing on this list means you did it wrong permanently, it just means the cake's talking to you and you need to listen to it. For sure for sure.

    1. Buttercream is soupy or won't hold a shape Your kitchen's too warm, or your butter was too soft going in. Buttercream's basically a temperature problem wearing a frosting costume. Stick the bowl in the fridge for 10-15 minutes and rewhip. I've put a whole bowl in my garage in February before. Whatever's cold and available.

    2. Buttercream is stiff and won't spread Opposite problem, same fix in reverse. It's too cold. Let it sit out and warm up a few minutes, or beat in a teaspoon of milk at a time until it loosens.

    3. Crumbs are showing up in your frosting You skipped the crumb coat, or you didn't chill it before the final coat went on. This one's not optional, I've said it before and I'll keep saying it. Thin layer, chill 15-20 minutes, then frost for real.

    4. Frosting looks grainy Usually means your butter and sugar didn't cream long enough at the start, or your butter was too cold when you began. Keep beating, it often smooths itself out. If not, warm the bowl slightly (a towel with warm water works) and beat again.

    5. Air bubbles under the surface You've got air pockets from overbeating. Give it a stir by hand with a spatula at the end to knock the big bubbles out before you frost.

    6. Colors are too bright or look off Everybody does this the first time. A little gel color goes a long way and liquid food coloring just waters everything down and makes it worse. Start with less than you think, adn add slowly. You can always add more. You can't take it back out.

    7. Cake is sliding around under the frosting Cake wasn't chilled before you started. This is exactly what happened to me driving Alexis's first cake down the freeway with one hand on the wheel and one hand holding it upright. Chill your cake layers before you crumb coat, every time, no exceptions.

    8. Piping keeps breaking or looks stringy Air in the bag, or your buttercream's too stiff for the tip you're using. Squeeze a little out onto a paper towel first to clear air pockets, and if it's still fighting you, it probably needs to come up a few degrees.

    9. Writing runs out of room on the cake This one's mine too, more than once. Practice your message on the counter or on paper first, actually count the letters. I still do this every single time and I still run out of room occasionally. Leave more space than feels necessary.

    10. Edges and corners aren't sharp Honestly, this is the one I've never fully solved either. Mine are good, not razor clean, and I've made peace with it. A bench scraper held straight up and a good chill helps a lot. Past that, some of it's just practice you keep doing.

    If your buttercream is fighting you and none of this fixes it, walk away for five minutes. Warm hands, warm room, warm cake, that's behind most of the trouble in this room tonight. Fix the temperature first, then troubleshoot from there.

  • podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 1

    Audio coming soon — show notes below.

    JESS: —okay so she said the whole thing looked like a snowbank, and nobody at the party even noticed.

    LESLIE: Nobody noticed. I noticed.

    JESS: This is Leslie Christiansen, everybody. Welcome to episode one of the podcast for Buttercream Basics, part of Utah Community Learning's spring lineup. I'm Jess, I produce these things, and I just got Leslie mid-story before we even hit record, so.

    LESLIE: Sorry.

    JESS: No, don't be sorry, this is the good part. Finish it.

    LESLIE: It was a two-tier cake for my niece. Top layer cracked right down the middle when I was moving it, and instead of starting over I just... kept adding frosting. Trying to bury it. By the end it was so thick it looked like a snowdrift had landed on a cake. And it went over fine, people ate it, nobody said a word.

    JESS: But you knew.

    LESLIE: I knew. That's usually how it goes with cake. Nobody at the party is checking your work the way you are. Which is either comforting or not, depending on your personality.

    JESS: Which one are you.

    LESLIE: Not comforted. I fixed my chilling process after that one for sure for sure.

    JESS: Okay, so that's actually a perfect way into what this class even is. Because people hear "cake decorating" and think it's about talent, and you keep telling me it's not.

    LESLIE: It's not. It's a project with steps. You bake it, you crumb coat it, you chill it, you smooth it, you pipe it, you're done. Same as any project. If you skip a step or do it out of order you get a mess, and if you follow the order you get a decent cake pretty much every time. I don't think of myself as artistic. I think of myself as somebody who follows instructions and has ruined enough cakes to know where people get impatient.

    JESS: Where do people get impatient.

    LESLIE: Temperature. Every time. Warm cake, warm frosting, people just don't want to wait for things to chill and then they're upset their frosting slid off the side. I'm not sympathetic to that one, honestly.

    JESS: You're not sympathetic in general, I'm noticing.

    LESLIE: I'm sympathetic. I just think most cake disasters are patience problems, not skill problems.

    JESS: Okay, give the people something they can use tonight, before they've even signed up. One tip, no supplies needed.

    LESLIE: Practice your piping on the counter first. Not the cake. Get a little frosting in a bag, no tip even, and just squeeze out your lines and your letters on the counter or a plate, wipe it up, do it again. You wouldn't hang a shelf without measuring first. Same idea. People go straight at the cake and then panic when the letters run out of room.

    JESS: Speaking of letters running out of room —

    LESLIE: Oh, here we go.

    JESS: I heard about the "Happy Birthd" cake.

    LESLIE: (laughs) That was for Alexis, this was years ago. I was piping "Happy Birthday" across the top and I just... didn't measure the spacing. Ran clean out of room. So the "day" got crammed in vertical down the side of the cake. Just squished down there sideways.

    JESS: And she loved it.

    LESLIE: She thought it was the funniest thing she'd ever seen. Asked for it that way again the next year. On purpose. I had it measured out perfectly and she goes, no, do the sideways one again.

    JESS: That's kind of a great problem to have.

    LESLIE: It taught me to write my message out on paper twice before I ever touch the cake. I still do that. Freehand writing makes me nervous every single time, I don't care how many I've done.

    JESS: So class one, what are people actually walking into.

    LESLIE: Everybody's got a station set up before I start talking, supplies laid out, so nobody's guessing what's next. We go over crumb coating first, real basic, and I'll be honest up front — we're using box mix.

    JESS: Controversial.

    LESLIE: It's not controversial, it's just correct. A doctored box mix at this elevation is more reliable than most scratch recipes people bring in from sea-level cookbooks. You're here to learn decorating, not prove you can bake from scratch. Save that fight for another class.

    JESS: Real quick before we wrap — what's session two?

    LESLIE: Piping techniques. Stars, shells, a basic rosette, and I'll show you why gel food coloring beats liquid every time, because everybody's first instinct is to go way too bright and it ends up looking like a birthday clown situation.

    JESS: A visual you didn't need to give me but I appreciate it.

    LESLIE: Bring an apron. Chill your buttercream before you get there if you can, saves us time...

    JESS: That's Leslie Christiansen, that's Buttercream Basics, session two next week. Thanks for listening.

  • podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 2

    Audio coming soon — show notes below.

    JESS: —okay so she says it looked like a snowbank.

    LESLIE: It did. Whole top layer cracked on me, so I just kept adding frosting till you couldn't see it anymore.

    JESS: And nobody noticed?

    LESLIE: Nobody noticed. I noticed.

    JESS: Welcome back to episode two, by the way, I'm Jess, I run the podcast side of things for Community Learning, this is Leslie, and we're mid-story already so I'm just gonna let it ride. This is Buttercream Basics, week two.

    LESLIE: Week two's the crumb coat and the smoothing. Last week was mixing your buttercream and getting the consistency right, this week we actually put it on the cake.

    JESS: Which people skip, right, the crumb coat, that's the thing you always say.

    LESLIE: People skip it and then they come complain to me about crumbs showing up in their final coat. Well. Yeah. That's what happens when you don't do the crumb coat.

    JESS: Explain it for someone who's never heard the term.

    LESLIE: It's a thin layer of frosting, first pass, just to seal the crumbs down against the cake. Then you chill it, then you do your real coat on top of that. It's not optional, I don't care how good your piping is later, if you skip that step you're fighting the cake the whole time.

    JESS: Okay tell the spatula story, I love the spatula story.

    LESLIE: (laughs) I've got a spatula that's bent at just the right angle, I don't know how it happened, probably dropped it once, but it smooths a side perfectly. I found that out by accident and now I guard it like it's a good knife.

    JESS: Guard it how.

    LESLIE: Somebody at a ward function grabbed it out of my kitchen drawer and served beans with it. Beans. I rewashed that thing three times. It still does the job but I know where it's been now.

    JESS: So bring your own spatula to class.

    LESLIE: Bring your own spatula to class, for sure for sure. I've got extras but if you find one that bends right, hang onto it.

    JESS: Okay give me the one tip. Somebody's listening in their car, they're never gonna take the class, what do they walk away with today.

    LESLIE: Chill your cake before you crumb coat, and chill it again before your final coat. That's it. That's the whole tip. People get impatient, they want to keep working while it's still soft, and that's when it slides around and tears and you end up frosting a mess instead of a cake. Fifteen, twenty minutes in the fridge between each layer. If your kitchen's warm, longer. I've stuck a cake in the garage in February before, twenty minutes, firmed right up.

    JESS: That's a real thing you did.

    LESLIE: That's a real thing I did. Whole shower cake, buttercream went soupy because the oven had the kitchen too warm, so out to the garage it went. Worked fine.

    JESS: I love that you'll just improvise a walk-in fridge.

    LESLIE: You use what you've got.

    JESS: Okay, so this week in class, walk me through the order.

    LESLIE: Same as always, everybody's got their station set before I start talking. We do the crumb coat together, I show it once, plain, then everyone does their own and I circle around. I'm not gonna hover over you but if your buttercream's getting too warm off your hands I'll come tell you before it turns into a problem.

    JESS: Three steps ahead.

    LESLIE: Always. Then we chill, we talk about smoothing technique while things are in the fridge, then we come back and do the final coat and get it to sunday best.

    JESS: Which is your phrase for—

    LESLIE: Done right. Presentable. Where you'd actually hand it to somebody.

    JESS: Now be honest, does yours always get to sunday best.

    LESLIE: The sides, mostly. I still can't get that sharp top edge the professionals do, the perfectly crisp corner. Mine's good. It's not razor clean. I've made peace with it.

    JESS: I appreciate that honesty every episode, genuinely.

    LESLIE: Well, no sense pretending otherwise, people would find out in the room anyway.

    JESS: So next session, week three, what are we building toward.

    LESLIE: Piping. Borders, some basic flowers, and we'll talk about writing on the cake, which I still get nervous about every single time, I don't care how many I've done. I practice the words on paper twice before I ever touch the cake with it.

    JESS: Any hint on what happens if you don't practice.

    LESLIE: You run out of room. I once piped "Happy Birthday" and only got through "Happy Birthd" before I hit the edge, had to cram "-ay" down the side vertical. My daughter thought it was the funniest thing she'd ever seen, asked for it that way again the next year on purpose.

    JESS: On purpose.

    LESLIE: On purpose. So bring your patience next week, and maybe practice your message on a piece of paper before you show up, doesn't hurt.

    JESS: Good place to leave it. Thanks Leslie.

    LESLIE: Thanks Jess.

  • podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 3

    Audio coming soon — show notes below.

    JESS: —and it just crammed vertical, right down the side of the cake.

    LESLIE: Right down the side. "Happy Birthd" and then "ay" going down like it was falling off a cliff.

    JESS: That's not the story I asked you to tell, by the way. That one just came out.

    LESLIE: I know, I got there sideways. That's fine though, it's a good one.

    JESS: It's a great one. Okay, this is episode three, we're talking crumb coats today. That's the plan?

    LESLIE: That's the plan. Crumb coat, chilling, why people skip it and shouldn't.

    JESS: So set it up for somebody who's never heard the term.

    LESLIE: A crumb coat is your thin first layer of frosting. Not the pretty layer. Its whole job is to trap the crumbs against the cake so they don't end up floating around in your good frosting on top. You do it thin, you let it chill, then you do the real coat over it.

    JESS: And people skip it because...

    LESLIE: Because they're impatient. They want to be done. I get it, but if you skip it you will have crumbs in your final coat, and then you'll complain about crumbs in your final coat, and I don't have a lot of sympathy for that one because you did it to yourself.

    JESS: You said "not optional" to me in the hallway earlier like I'd personally suggested skipping it.

    LESLIE: You had that look.

    JESS: I did not have a look.

    LESLIE: For sure for sure you did.

    JESS: Okay, tell the anecdote. The one you flagged for this episode.

    LESLIE: This is the one with Alexis. I spent a whole Saturday teaching her to do a crumb coat, she was maybe twelve. And she's doing fine, she's getting it, and then about halfway through she just hits a wall. Frustrated, hands full of frosting, says she's done, walks off.

    JESS: What'd you do?

    LESLIE: Finished it myself. Didn't say anything about it, didn't make it a whole conversation, just finished the cake so it'd be ready for whatever it was for. But that night I wrote a little something about it. Just for me. Never showed anybody.

    JESS: You're not going to tell me what it said.

    LESLIE: No.

    JESS: Fair. Okay, but there's a teaching point buried in there, right? Not just the anecdote.

    LESLIE: The point is, crumb coats are where people quit. It's not the fun part. Piping's fun, the crumb coat is just work, and work in the middle of a project is where everybody wants to bail. Alexis wanted to bail on hers and she was twelve, that's normal. Adults do the same thing, they just don't storm off, they just do a bad crumb coat and rush it.

    JESS: So the fix is what, patience?

    LESLIE: The fix is chilling. That's actually my practical tip for anybody listening who's not even taking the class. Put your crumb-coated cake in the fridge for at least twenty, thirty minutes before you do your final coat. Don't try to go straight through. I know it feels like a delay you don't have time for. Do it anyway. A cold crumb coat holds still under your final frosting instead of sliding around and picking up more crumbs. That's the whole trick, honestly. Most bad-looking cakes are a temperature problem, not a skill problem.

    JESS: That's a good one. People can do that tonight with a grocery-store cake.

    LESLIE: They can. Doctored box mix, chill your crumb coat, you're already ahead of where most people start.

    JESS: You're not going to let go of the box mix thing.

    LESLIE: Never. It's fine at this elevation, it's reliable, you're here to learn decorating not to prove you can make a scratch cake. That's a different class, that's not mine.

    JESS: Okay, so next session. What are people walking into?

    LESLIE: Next time we do the final coat and smoothing. That's where the spatula work happens, that's where I get people to that sunday-best look on the sides. I'll be honest up front, I still can't get a truly sharp edge on the top corner like the professional cakes you see online. Mine are good. They're not razor clean. I'll show you my version and you can decide if that bothers you.

    JESS: It's not going to bother anybody, Leslie.

    LESLIE: We'll see. Bring your crumb-coated cakes chilled, that's the homework. If it's not chilled we're just going to sit there and wait, and nobody wants that.

    JESS: Chilled cakes, sunday best, no fondant discussion, I assume.

    LESLIE: No fondant discussion. Ever.

    JESS: Alright. That's episode three.

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