To: toottifruitti~ Make sure you are using PURE CANE CONFECTIONERS' SUGAR like C & H). If not, your icing will be more watery and grainy as it is probably pressed from beets. Also you might need to beat it longer. Beat 3 min. taste; if it still feels grainy, beat a little longer and repeat.
I have been decorating cakes for over 25 years and NEVER get air bubbles in my icing. Be sure to do the following: Use paddle attachment on K.Aid Mixers and beat at #4 setting; cream shortening, water, and flavoring for a few minutes, then add the P.S. slowly to incorporate. Beat less than 4 minutes.
Icing Too Sweet !
Add popcorn salt to the water and let set while you measure out other ingred.
Add 1/2 teaspoons of pure lemon extract. This also helps to cutback the sweetness and give a nice flavor along with your flavoring or choice.
Hope this info is helpful.

Hi Margann Thank you for the tip. I'm in Australia and don't have the brand that you mentioned. We have two powder sugar (we call it icing sugar) here, icing sugar mixture (has some cornflour in it) and pure icing sugar. So I gather you are suggesting the pure icing sugar.

I have trouble with air bubbles in my crusting buttercream recipes. I have a great recipe for buttercream that does not crust. But when I do fondant cakes they buckle alittle and buldge out. So I have 2 questions am i using the wrong crusting recipe or is water better than milk for this, or am I beating it to high? My other question would be can I fill my cake with my non crusting buttercream and crumb coat with the crusting buttercream and get better results on the bulged?

great sticky very informative thanks guys

Hi All,

I am new to the world of decorating cakes and i have 2 weeks 2 decorate a cake for a charity event being held by my boss. I have designed and planned the cake but am struggling to find the best way to 'trim' my cake so that the edges are smooth enough to cover with icing. please does anyone have any tips that could help me do this without specialist tools (i am a perfectionist and really really want the cake to go down well but not at the expense of the sides not being straight!!) If anyone could offer me any help at all that would be great and i would really appreciate it!

Thanks

Newbie x

I was wondering if somebody could explain to me, why when I was making buttercream it turned out looking like scrambled egg, I've only ever taught myself to bake and decorate so am sure there's all sorts of basic things like this I don't know. I've made it a lot before but this has never happened.

I threw it away and started again, this happened twice before I got a perfect batch. I am from the UK so all I use is icing sugar and butter.

i.e. 100g butter to 200g icing sugar.

Was it possibly the heat? It was quite warm in my kitchen as had been baking all day.

What a good Topic? Many thanks for that and I am looking forward to see what others have to say.

By the way can someone explain Viva Method? pls

This is really good post of my interest. I like Chocolate Buttercream Cake. I am complete foodie person. I love scrapbooking too.

Thanks
http://www.alacraft.com.au/scrapbooking-cat10

I have someone who requested SMB on her birthday cake. She also wants these fondant diamond pieces along the side of the cake. I've only used SMB to ice cupcakes and I'm not sure if the fondant pieces will slide of the side with the SMB. Can someone help me with the decorating issues of using Swiss Meringue? She is also picking up the cake on a Thursday evening but the event is not until Friday laste afternoon. She would need to refrigerate the cake but will the icing hold together that long. I've never had to refrigerate because mu cupcakes would be eaten within a few hours.
Please help!!

Hi all,
I like WBH house buttercream because it has less sweet. But I don't like the mouth feel of shortening. Is there a way to reduce ( or eliminate) shortening and add butter instead?

http://25c7fqprjgsoky6tjwosvsdoah.hop.clickbank.net/

Here's a few tips and tricks I've learned along the way for our American Buttercream which we use to ice and prep our cakes for fondant (ours is a sweetex/butter mix):
- we use a butter / shortening blend which works well for us in our climate (the northeast) Climate & humidity will dictate how to make your buttercream. If you live in a hot/humid climate an all shortening buttercream may be the best option. We use a 2:1 (shortening to butter) split.
- use a paddle attachment to soften the sweetex/shortening for a few minutes prior to adding the butter
- melt or warm up the butter prior to adding it to the sweetex, doing so will make the mixture creamy and help the sugar disolve and reduce grit. DO NOT MELT THE SHORTENING - tried this twice, it ended in disaster! HA! Blend the butter and shortening on med speed for at least 5 minutes until it's creamy
- add powdered sugar slowly, too much at once will result in gritty buttercream
- instead of water or milk use powdered milk/water mixture
- use the whip attachment to make the buttercream fluffy and soft
- use a hot or warm/wet spatula when you second coat to make it perfectly smooth. When we have a ton of buttercream cakes going out we put a pot of water on an electric burner and simmer it, this is what we dip our spackle tool in. After you dip it wipe on a towel, you don't want too much water to end up on the cake
- we use stainless steel spackle tools to smooth our buttercrean cakes
- use the upside method for the easiest way to get 90 degree corners and level tops to your cakes
- fill the cake, freeze to set the filling, ice it, then freeze to set the icing, then 2nd coat
- let buttercream cakes set for a day before covering in fondant

If I think of anything else i'll be sure to post! Happy caking!

I m sorry if this question has been asked before.. But.. I wanna .. How to thin Swiss meringue buttercream.. Since we don't use any water or milk?...

how do you weatherproof the icing

 Is there a recipe for Homemade Frosting (useable for both frosting and adding decorations) that tastes more like the Commercial ones?  (A recipe that uses normal ingredients, not special shortenings, etc., that you have to purchase commercially or in specialty shop...) Your help would be most appreciated.  Thanks.

 Is there a recipe for Homemade Frosting (useable for both frosting and adding decorations) that tastes more like the Commercial ones?  (A recipe that uses normal ingredients, not special shortenings, etc., that you have to purchase commercially or in specialty shop...) Your help would be most appreciated.  Thanks.

........... Is there a recipe for Homemade Frosting (useable for both frosting and adding decorations) that tastes more like the Commercial ones?  (A recipe that uses normal ingredients, not special shortenings, etc., that you have to purchase commercially or in specialty shop...)..........

I highly suggest this one:  http://cakecentral.com/a/2-icing

Have you tried looking through the many, many icing recipes on this site?  There are soooooooo many different ways to go.

I have discovered a cool way to smooth buttercream.  I take a spray bottle and spray water on the icing and smooth it with my spatula.  Works great for me

I am in florida and have to use shortening, although I use a high ratio shortening as it does not leave that "film" on your tongue...butter is difficult because of the humidity and heat..
 

I have just iced a 12x18 cake in Italian Meringue Buttercream and it smoothed out really well.  You just need a lot of patience between thin icing in stages and freezing briefly.  The only dilemna I have is whether I can airbrush colours on frozen buttercream, which I have never done as yet.  Can anyone tell me if this is possible, or should I have the buttercream in room temperature before airbrushing the buttercream icing?  I look forward to your reply.

AI

My buttercream is usually either too stiff or too creamy...I seriously need a good recipe.

.............My buttercream is usually either too stiff or too creamy...I seriously need a good recipe...........

Do check this one out:    http://cakecentral.com/a/2-icing

  It sounds like you are either adding too much or not enough liquid (most recipes use some liquid to thin it.)  The above one has none and it can be adjusted by using less fat &/or adding more sugar.  Read the entire post for helpful hints and suggestions.

AI have a question about the temperature of the room....no matter how little of liquid i put into the buttercream, it still isn't the right consistency to pipe...so does the heat in the room has something to do with the consistency

I use the Winbeckler's buttercream icing. When I first made it, I followed the directions exactly, but also watched the video. I also don't sub crisco for the high fat ratio shortening, I go to the store and read the labels, if one store doesn't have it, then I go the one across the street. Seriously, everyone loves this buttercream, sometimes, when there is a little left, I hide out and eat it with a spoon, whoopsy.

http://www.winbeckler.com/Winbeckler-s-Buttercream-Icing-Recipe-d34.htm

hope this helps you ;)

The Winbeckler recipe is shortening, water, powdered sugar and fake flavors. Where is the butter and the cream? I am disappointed their lovely cakes are not edible.