Ok, I am still a novice at this cake decorating thing so any help is welcomd. I baked a great chocolate cake and made a chocolate butter cream frosting on it. I used the Wilton recipe for the frosting with confectionary sugar, butter, crisco, vanilla and meringue powder. I used cocoa powder and Frangelica instead of vanilla. It was very nice for decorating but when you ate it, it was gritty. What happened? Was it the cocoa powder? The Frangellica? Both? Help. It was just for the family so I didn't have to worry about embaracing myself too much but I need to figure out my mistake if I am to make cakes for other people. Suggestions?

Not sure. Here's a bump

Did you sift your cocoa powder and confectionary sugar? I made the same mistake once and my bc was gritty.

Michele

Did you sift your cocoa?? I use this same recipe thinned with half and half and mine always comes out really smooth.

I had that same problem with my choco bc, it was also a little dry. I don't think I sifted to cocoa. That was probably my problem.

Most likely you just needed to sift the cocoa. Next time you make it, just do that, and beat it an extra 30 seconds or so. I love buttercream, but I really LOVE chocolate buttercream!

Maybe try another recipe - I have made the Wilton version and did not like the tase at all. I like Traci's idea of using half and half, I will try that too.

No, I didn't sift the sugar or the cocoa. I will try that next time. I have used half and half before too and like it but I don' t like to leave it sitting out a real long time(more than 3 days) so I don't use it as much as I would like to. Thanks for the suggestions.

I personally think the grittiness is when the buttercream start to harden/ when too much icing sugar/ powdered sugar you say sort of make it candied I alway when making my buttercream put a layer of plastic film against the buttercream to stop this. But I use this inbetween layers and not on the exterior of the cake.....Hope this helps Use less sugar

IMBC lends itself very well to adding liqueurs and chocolate. It always has a smooth texture. Since you care enough to enhance the flavor, maybe try a new icing recipe also.

Was your sugar 6x or 10x? I usually buy Powered Sugar in large quantities, however there has been times when I ran out and picked up Wal-Mart brand PS. I had the same problem.I think the sugar was old. Sifting is about all you can do, and several times. PS should feel soft but not dry. I noticed this problem around the time of the hurricanes Katrina and Rita. All the sugar was going to the relief efforts out here, and there were many times Wal-Mart had none of any kind. When they did get some that was the time I used the gritty stuff. Just wondered if the manufacturer mixed to much corn starch or the sugar had some moisture in it that created hard crunchy pieces. The demand for sugar was high. Just a thought.

What kind/brand of sugar did you use? I believe that beet sugar can cause grittiness. You really want to look for a (pure) cane powder sugar.