Air bubbles

[Amanda]

I just made a batch of b/c using the sugarshack technique and hi-ratio. I've done it before and never had problems, but this time there are lots of little air bubbles in my icing. I'm having a heck of a time smoothing it out. Is there a way to fix the icing? And, what causes this? I'm not sure what I did wrong this time around.
Thanks!

[2sdae]

I get that if I dont fill my mixer till it covers the beaters_with butter cream that is.
I also get it if I mix it too much.
I have taken a portion, say 1/2 of the icing and put it in a bowl and turned it side ways and smoothed it with a spatula-cake spatula that is- against the side of bowl.
It seems to help smooth out my air bubbles some and for reason I cant do it with the same results if I use more than 1/2 of the icing in the bowl to smooth at a time.
Hope I helped some!

[Amanda]

Thanks, that helped a lot. I'll bet I over mixed. I did notice that the more I used it, the better it got. By the time I was finished it was great.
Now I know!

[cakebaker]

I'm not sure over mixing is the problem. You're supposed to beat the heck out of it at the end and I do let my mixer run for about 10 minutes at the end...just as she shows in her video.

It may be that your icing was a bit thicker than usual and that will cause it to slap up against the sides of the bowl while it's beating. Even if it's over the top of the paddle you'll still get air in the icing if it's doing that.

Did you notice if you were hearing a slapping sound while it was mixing at the end? If you did, that's where the air is coming from. If you just continue to mix it, it will usually loosen up after some time and be soft enough that it stops slapping the sides of the bowl.

Either that, or rather than over mixing, you may be under mixing. Beat it for a full 10 minutes after you have all the ingredients in. If the slapping keeps up after 5 minutes or so, I'd add just a bit of liquid to thin it down some.

She even recommends re-beating it after it sits for a while to knock out the air, but of course you have to have enough that it covers the beaters. I sometimes use a hand held mixer if I don't have a lot of icing left and just keep the beaters below the icing when I re-beat.

If the icing is the right consistency and you have it over the top of the paddle, you can mix it for virtually forever and still not beat air into it.

[Amanda]

Hmmm, if that's the case then I'll bet I undermixed! Ha! I didn't mix for a full 10 minutes. I'd forgotten about her saying that you should let it run, but now that you mention it I do remember that part of the video. I didn't hear the sucking sound, and I thought it looked like the sides weren't moving so I stopped. Good to know that when I make that much at a time I can just let my mixer run for a bit. I have another cake due next weekend, so maybe I'll watch the video again to brush up and pay a little more attention to my technique next time.
Thanks!

[2sdae]

I am going for video right now to rewatch it myself...