Cake experts: Making buttercream icing smooth

[boogiewoogie]

Dd's birthday coming up and I want to make a cake with smooth butter icing and pipe the surface with chocolate.

There used to be a recipe called "Quick frosting" on the back of the Silver Spoon icing sugar packet which gave a really smooth surface to pipe on but they don't seem to print that anymore.

I've searched the internet on how to make buttercream icing smooth but only found something called the kitchen towel method on buttercream icing that "crusts" [hmmm]. There must be a better way. Any ideas?

Any help appreciated. Thanks.

I just add a bit of milk to the buttercream to make it easier to spread, and make the icing in my kitchen aid so it is super smooth. Then I ice the cake, and use a palet knife dipped in hot water to smooth the top before piping.

I add a couple of tablespoons of hot water to my buttercream icing to make it smooth. And make it in the mixer - a lot easier than doing it by hand.