Hello all! I am very interested in learning how to make buttercream flowers, however I have had a few mishaps with making the icing! I was wondering if it is possible to use regular store-bought icing and thickening it up enough to make flowers? Just trying to find some shortcuts... thanks in advance!

As far as I know, the store bought stuff is too thin and only good for frosting. It's not good for holding up flowers like roses. You might be able to make drop flowers and daises with it.

Try to stiffen it up with cornstarch or more icing sugar and see how it goes.

I will be quite honest, and I know some of the purists will gasp in horror, I buy a 5 gallon bucket of buttercream from the local grocery bakery and use it as my everyday all sorts of stuff icing, it serves my purposes very well. The joy in decorating for me is the design, and decorating, not making up the ingredients. For special projects where I am trying to achieve a special look or flavor I do make my own however. Please don't ban me

Have you tried adding powder sugar to the store bough icing. That will thicken it up.

gilpnh, *gasping in horror* :O
Just kidding...whatever works for you! I didn't think that grocery store bakeries would sell that much icing!!! LOL...If you haven't made icing on your own, you should try it! The flavor might surprise you and you might just make it yourself!

He He,
I have actually made it myself and did it often early in my decorating life. Still do on a quasi regular basis, again, prefer to use it to flat frost, and like the post above, just use it for simple flowers, I make my own if I want stiffer, I find it dosnt stiffen up right if I add confec sugar.

Store bought icing will not work. I don't know what kinds of mishaps you've had with BCI but the only way your going to get it right is to practice. Practice makes perfect.

ElixirIce... what in the world does your screen name mean???

Are we talking about store bought buttercream icing such as gilpnh buys, or are we talking the canned stuff and the boxed icing mixes (I guess they are still making those)? I think if you want buttercream flowers you need buttercream icing.

Even as a relative newbie at cake decorating, making BCI seems fairly straightforward to me, and if you make a mistake, easy enough to correct with added powdered sugar to thicken or extra liquid to thin. The biggest mishap with BCI I've heard of is catching all that powdered sugar up in the mixer and having a sugar storm.

I'm curious about your screen name too, ElixirIce.
My "Jan-Ices Cakes" is a play on my name. Janice

Wilton's buttercream that you can buy in a tub is stiff enough to use for flower making. It's really stiff. You might even have to thin it down a little.