Buttercream frosting

[lmintzer]

I am attempting to make a roller skate cake for ds#1's 8th birthday party. I have a cake pan shaped like a tennis shoe to get the general shape and am going to use a Wilton star tip to decorate most of it.

I was looking at buttercream frosting recipes, and the Wilton one calls for a stick of butter 1/2 cup of vegetable shortening. Other recipes seem to use only a stick of butter). The amount of confectioner's sugar is the same for all.

How is this possible? Wouldn't the taste/consistency be really different?

What recipe have you used for buttercream frosting that you then used for piping with stars?

[infomama]

I have never put shortening in my buttercream...yuck. http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/vanilla-buttercream-frosting?lnc=5a79cf380e1dd010VgnVCM1000005b09a00aR CRD&rsc=recipecontent_food

[kdeunc]

The recipe that I used during my Wilton cake decorating classes called for all shortening, 1 cup. I used butter flavored crisco or plain crisco and subbed 1/2 of the vanilla flavoring with butter flavoring. I would imagine that if you don't use the 1/2 cup of crisco you need to use 2 sticks of butter. You may find that the shortening version is more "shelf-stable" for decorating.

[billysmommy]

If you're going to decorate a day or two ahead of time and/or you don't have room in the fridge to store it, using the shortening will help it last longer.

[infomama]

If you're going to decorate a day or two ahead of time and/or you don't have room in the fridge to store it, using the shortening will help it last longer.
That is true. If you can't store it in the fridge you may need to use shortening.

[lmintzer]

I can fit the cake in my fridge. So should I skip the shortening?

[infomama]

I can fit the cake in my fridge. So should I skip the shortening?
I have decorated one (large) cake with buttercream without using shortening. It was a Nemo cake for DD1's 2nd birthday and it came out great.
Now, I am not a cake decorator nor have I taken any classes on the subject however....I called our local fancy dancy cake shop (where a cupcake is $5) and they said they use a combination of butter, shortening and margarine.

[pastrygirl]

Gross. That is fake buttercream, and the reason so many people think they don't like it. Wilton gives buttercream a bad name.

I love Martha Stewart's recipe, along with others that I learned in culinary school. It needs to have egg whites and regular sugar, and real unsalted butter. Confectioner's sugar and shortening belong NOWHERE near buttercream! Blech!

[lmintzer]

How is it safe to use egg whites, as the frosting isn't cooked, right?
(I probaby should stay away from egg whites, as my little one has an egg allergy--he's particularly sensitive to uncooked eggs. He got some in his eye once, and the poor thing had a horrible reaction).

[pastrygirl]

Check out the recipe someone linked above -- you cook the egg whites and sugar over steam. That kills anything. Then you whisk it to make the meringue, and add the butter. YUM! (Oh, and it needs to be fresh whites, not the "just whites" that come in a container. Those don't work for me when I make buttercream, for some reason.)

But if there's an egg allergy, better safe than sorry!

[lmintzer]

That sounds delicious. But yes, we will have to go egg-less this time.

[billysmommy]

Cristina ~ I am definitely going to try making it that way next time!!! We usually use cream cheese frosting on everything but this sounds really yummy!!!!

How are you feeling BTW :)

[pastrygirl]

Cristina ~ I am definitely going to try making it that way next time!!! We usually use cream cheese frosting on everything but this sounds really yummy!!!!

How are you feeling BTW :)You would not believe how delicious a 50/50 split between cream cheese and buttercream is. That's the frosting I use for a coconut cake that I make. :)

I'm feeling pretty good, except for a chest cold that won't go away!

[ThreeofUs]

It needs to have egg whites and regular sugar, and real unsalted butter. Confectioner's sugar and shortening belong NOWHERE near buttercream! Blech!

THANK you. I said approximately the same thing at a PTA meeting for my son's preschool and was flabbergasted that all the women thought I was being elitist or something.

Good frosting needs real sugar and real butter. Confectioner's sugar tastes chemical to me, and shortening is not food.

There. I said it. I feel much better now. :p

[american_mama]

Such a coincidence. Buttercream has been the source of much thought and action for me this week.

To answer the original question, my neighbor is the daughter of a professional cake decorator and a highly successful amateur cake decorator herself. Her frostings are sweet, heavy and delicious. She believes in white margarine for frosting and she says since it's not generally available in the US, she substitutes butter and crisco.

Another neighbor IS a professional cake decorator and she scorns crisco. Two days ago, I asked her about this complicated frosting recipe I wanted to make and she explained that there are different kinds of buttercreams.

Fresh buttercream is made with confectioner's sugar and real butter, a littl liquid like milk, and flavoring like vanilla. Beat it, put it on cake. Grocery stores follow the general idea but do it cheaper by using crisco. I suspect some bakeries do half crisco, half butter to balance flavor and cost. Sometimes they change the name to buttercreme or bettercreme.

European buttercream, or meringue buttercream as the recipe I used called it, is much more complicated. Make a simple syrup of water and granulated sugar, boil it to a certain temp on a candy thermometer. In a separate double boiler, mix grnaulated sugar, water, egg whites, and cream of tartar, which starts the cooking process, and then pour in a thin stream of the hot simple syrup, which further cooks it, and then beat it over the doubler boiler which keeps on cooking it. Then take it off heat and beat it. Then add butter and beat it. The frosting I made, which admittedly was an uncertain initial attempt, was quite soft but would not be good for decorating.

My professional cake decorator friend said that different recipes for European buttercream call for different ratios of sugar and butter. Too much butter and it tastes to me like whipped butter slathered on a cake... yuck. I've had a couple fancy cupcakes and cakes like that in the last few years and want to learn how to avoid it. Except apparently I can't without asking probing questions, because it's all called....

buttercream.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Blech to shortening and margarine. I'll have to try the Martha Stewart recipe as I just do butter, powdered sugar and vanilla. I'm lazy. But, I'm up for trying something better!

Beth

[Java]

I'm doing my DD's birthday cupcakes with a vanilla bean buttercream frosting. It is absolutely delish. I also made a vanilla bean cream cheese frosting which was also delish. It was a toss up between the two for the party but the buttercream won out by a narrow margin.

Here are the recipes:
Cream Cheese (http://cupcakeblog.com/?p=28)
Buttercream (http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2008/03/vanilla-bean-buttercream-frosting.html)

The cream cheese recipe was pretty rich. Good but maybe too rich for preschoolers.
I plan on trying this recipe this weekend (Cream Cheese2 (http://chaosinthekitchen.com/2009/03/vanilla-bean-cream-cheese-frosting/)) to see if it's lighter.

I used vanilla bean paste which makes a huge difference. I will never go back to simple vanilla extract again.

[lmintzer]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Since this was my first time trying something like this, I "wimped" out and used a recipe with some vegetable shortening. It had a lot of fresh butter, so I think it was a good compromise. It tasted decent--I ate a piece and thought it was fine, and the 8 year-olds certainly didn't notice.

Here's what the cake looked like:

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g316/lmintzer/IMG_2543.jpg

[egoldber]

Nice work!!!!! :bighand:

[pastrygirl]

That looks great! :)

[JMS]

Great job Lisa!!

[mamicka]

Love it! You did a great job!

[s_gosney]

Very cute! Great job!

[jgenie]

What a cute cake!!

[billysmommy]

Love the cake!!!

[Corie]

Great job, Lisa!!!

I think it looks awesome!! :)

[hellokitty1]

very cute - r the wheels chocolate doughnuts?

[lmintzer]

Yep, they are. : )

[catroddick]

That is fabulous! Boy do I need to get crackin' on learning how to bake!

[hellokitty1]

Yep, they are. : )

great. they reminded me of the sweet sixteen (?) bags at the grocery store that come in powdered or choco covered. now i'll have this craving and have to get some. great.

[SnuggleBuggles]

That looks wonderful!! Love it!!

Beth

[ThreeofUs]

Wow! What a fantastic cake! You do REALLY good work!

[kransden]

That is really cute!