Our son recently turned one, which officially means he’s a toddler. We hosted his birthday party at the Annenberg Beach House and enjoyed the sand, water, and sun with some wonderful people. We ordered lunch from Bay Cities, but I wanted to try make the cake myself. Baking things seems more personal to me. I have a lot of experience decorating cookies and cupcakes, but I’ve never quite mastered cakes. Enter the Viva Paper Towel Method.

If you’re reading this, you likely googled the method which led you here. If not, it’s essentially a way to get smooth frosting without having to use fondant. No one likes the taste of fondant. Buttercream frosting always wins the taste test.

The reason you use Viva paper towels is because, as far as I know, they are the only paper towels without any texture. By gently placing the paper towel on the crusted buttercream frosting and guiding your fondant smoother on top, you can get rid of your sloppy icing job and it looks much cleaner. You can see my “smooth” frosting in the picture above and it actually turned out pretty nice. I frosted and decorated this the morning of the party with a baby attached to my leg, so you could probably do an even better job. Here is a good explanation of the Viva Paper Towel Method.

While I’m at it, if you are on the market for an outstanding chocolate cake recipe give this one a try. It received rave reviews by our guests at the party and I’m pretty sure I packed on an extra 5 lbs the week of PW’s birthday. Happy cake decorating, y’all!