For Those With Spotted Buttercream Problems:

Decorating By adree313 Updated 30 Sep 2009 , 6:57pm by ClancyJane

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adree313 Posted 30 Sep 2009 , 6:49pm
post #1 of 2

i've been having a rough time ith my buttercream just randomly spotting. as in, my main color would be there, but weirdly, all these white spots would pop up. initially i thought it was just crappy wilton coloring as the culprit, but i was using chefmaster today, so i knew that variable was out.

i did a test today to figure why this is happening. (it actually didn't start out as a test for this, but that's what it turned into!)

i had a series of pictures but just decided to upload the one to show all the scenarios.

the bottom right: this is what i got when i was mixing black the first time. i was just making icing to test out my new colors (wasn't going to eat it), so i used a little butter, smidgen of water (usually use cream), food color, and PS. as you can see: SPOTS EVERYWHERE! it was awful.

top: then i thought, well maybe it's the butter. we do use salted butter and i thought maybe it was the salt in it. so, i subbed crisco for the butter. this has a lot less recognizable spots, but they're still there.

bottom left: i finally thought, maybe it's a mix of the butter and water. i used a tiny splash of milk, crisco, food color, and PS. this is what i got. it was MUCH better. this is what icing, in my opinion, should look like. NO SPOTS!

the only reason i used water is because i wasn't going to eat it and i've heard of people subbing water in for use in dummies (which is my next venture). obviously, i'm not going to be able to do this.

my conclusion: i'm sticking with the milk/cream and crisco combo.

hope this helps someone with spotted buttercream issues!! icon_smile.gif
LL

1 reply
ClancyJane Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
ClancyJane Posted 30 Sep 2009 , 6:57pm
post #2 of 2

Thank you for conducting this test! I too have had problems with "spotting" in my dark icing colors...most recently on a cake done in "John Deere" green buttercream. I will definately have to try out the crisco/milk combonation next time!

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