I made a batch of buttercream a while ago for my daughters bday cake.... i used 1/2 butter 1/2 shortening and i ended up with a light yellow colour buttercream. how can i achieve a whiter colour? someone told me to use WHITE COLOUR which i dont even know it excists... does anyone have an idea?
Thanks

i use cakepro's buttercream recipe. she uses all shortening in it. she was actually my "wilton method" instructor and this is the one that we used in class and pretty much the only one i use now. everyone loves it.

I used Indydebi's BC recipe for the first time last weekend. It's a very nice white and it tastes awesome. It uses all Crisco but doesn't leave that coating in your mouth like most shortening recipes do.

I use Wilton's White White Icing Color to whiten my buttercream icing. It works great.

http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=3E30B53A-475A-BAC0-5FBDEF5E8A8FCFF2&fid=0EC60A47-475A-BAC0-54338024A0B6A5A5

Someone (can't remember who) just recently posted to add a tiny (super tiny!) bit of violet at the end to bring the color closer to white. Another option would be the white icing color. Personally, if I need the white white look I use an all shortening recipe. That's not very often though. Most of the time, that's white enough. GL, HTH.

I have used wilton white as well. Does very well.

i've done the tiny amount of violet in off white frosting and it does turn it dazzling white! the only thing is that it kind of has a purple undertone to it. picture what white looks like under a blacklight.

Are you using clear vanilla?

I have the Wilton White white, but am afraid to use it! It reminds me of shoe polish. Does it leave a funny after taste? Will too much ruin the batch of icing? I use Serious_cakes recipe often the has about twice as much butter as shortening and tastes so good.

i am kind of scared to use all shortening cause it might taste bad. and no i didn't use clear vanilla now im thinking that might be the reason now

mina_mina, by the way, welcome to Cake Central...you're gonna love it here!

I use clear vanilla and it does make a difference. The wilton white does fine but dont use too much...to me you only need a few drops to whiten it up. As for all shortening it is different than with butter...to me it leaves a little greasiness in your mouth but it isn't bad. I am just a butter person myself. But for white white you can use the wilton white and I think it works out fine.

i use the wilton white or americolor white.. also high ratio shortening instead of crisco... this has a smoother and no greasy aftertaste.. but , i too, use crisco and butter in some of my icings...you just have to adjust as to what you want for this particular cake, etc...the doctored . buttercream dream on this site is wondeful.. you are adding dream whip to this also.. using butter and crisco.. made it this week end.. delicious!!!

if you want to use butter, land o lakes has a pretty white butter and I use half butter and half crisco and it is white enough. If I need a snow white I so far use all crisco. good luck

no problem on the butter, look for the land o lakes unsalted, it doesn't say white butter or anything indicating that it is whiter than most. My WI told me about it and it really made a difference. I'm glad a newbie could help out.

I buy the land o lakes unsalted butter all the time, wish I had stocked up on it when Wal-mart had it for $2.00 a pound a couple of months ago.

Mina, you can buy the wilton white from Australian Cake Suppliers, check out the suppliers directory here at http://www.cakesandmore.org

I suggest Cake Deco or Cake Decorating Central, they usually both have stuff like that. OR try one of the ebay suppliers on the list, like Caroline's or Jenny if they don't have it online you can contact them to see if they can get it.