When frosting a cake, eliminate crumbs by having the spatula only touch the frosting, not the cake itself. Use dabs of frosting to "glue" the bottom layer to serve plate to hold it steady as you frost the cake.

When frosting a two-layer cake, place 4 pieces of waxed paper on plate to square it off.  Place first layer on plate, upside-down (flat side up).  Frost bottom layer then place top layer flat side down and frost as usual.  when cake is frosted, pull gently on waxed paper strips until removed. Plate is clean on edges with no clean up!