hi all!

so what causes the white spots in bc? i made some roses yesterday for a cake i'm delivering on sunday. i made them in yellow, blue, pink and purple. the pink roses are ok, however the other colors have little white spots on them? should i trash these flowers and start over? anything i can do to repair them? help! my schedule for this weekend is crazy, that's why i made them ahead of time.

thanks!~erica

Do you sift your powdered sugar? That helps. Also, if you put salt in, dissovle it in warm water first. Not sure about fixing - maybe painting them with gel colors and clear vanilla or lemon extract or vodka.

Here's a bump, maybe some others will have ideas.

It's likely powdered sugar. Did you sift it? If you did sift it, then the only thing I can think is that it might be you didn't beat the frosting long enough.

i've never sifted my sugar before..... and this time i beat the frosting a little longer than usual. i've only had this happen a few times before.... i just checked on the roses and now my purple ones are fading to blue! i think i might just redo them, if i can find some time too....does wilton's royal icing do this? maybe i'll try some of that and see how it works.

Royal icing does fade the color. Buttercream gets darker. What kind of coloring did you use?

i colored my bc with wilton's paste food colors. i've never had a problem with the colors fading before, at least not right away like this time. i've had colors fade after several days. so weird. it's the purple color that's faded the most... pink faded some and yellow and blue are still ok, however they're the ones with the little white spots. grrrrrr!

I did a wedding cake with DARK purple roses-about 75 & found that I had to cover the roses that I had made ahead with a black garbage bag (ok, not food safe-but just covering them) I used Americolor and talked to their rep about it. He explained that red and blue are 2 colors very sensitive to fading (and that is what makes purple!) So I kept them covered as much as possible and they were just fine-in my picts. He also mentioned if the acid content was too high. Hope this is helpful!

sugarspice~ thanks for the garbage bag tip. i'll have to try that next time i make some roses. your wedding cake with the purple roses is so pretty! what vibrant color! i finished the cake i was making the roses for and IMMEDIATELY put the cake in it's box. there's a pic of it in my photos. i hope all is well with it in the morning. i'm delivering it at 9:30am so it better be!

I think it is the salt if you added it to your recipe. I often got spots after the icing sat awhile. Since I switched to a different recipe (50 salted butter/50 crisco and no additional salt) it has never happened again. Often after the spots appear you can remix it and they dont reappear. But not much you can do if they are on your roses!! Using popcorn salt might help since it is finer, and maybe disolving it in your liquids. I did try this once and still got spots, but maybe it helps. Or make your icing ahead of time wait until the spots appear and remix. OR change you recipe...that worked the best for me!

thanks for the tip merissa. i never thought about the salt causing the spots. i think i'll try to remix before i add any color and see what happens next time.

If the roses are already made, what about airbrushing or spraying more color on to hide the spots?

Would that work?

Yes, it's the salt. When I had this problem a while back someone convinced me it was because I wasn't sifting my sugar.....but I had never had the problem before. So, I iced a test cake (green) and waited patiently for the spots to appear....took a toothpick and picked a few of them out of the icing to taste....pure salt! I have changed to popcorn salt and have not noticed the spots as much! I would love to remove the salt altogether but I LOVE the way it makes the BC taste!

salt...that's so weird. i've been using salt from the same container for quite a few cakes now... and this is the first time it's happened in a long time. i'll have to give the popcorn salt a try next time. i wonder if it would help to dissolve the salt in a little bit of water first... i always add extra water anyway to make the icing smoother.

I have has white specks in my icing from the crisco not completely creaming. When you cream the butter and crisco you shouldn't see any little white specks - if you do get out your hair drier and warm the mixing bowl while slowly mixing.

As for throwing out the roses - Are the spots noticable from a short distance or do you really have to look at the individual rose to see them? If they are really noticable, I'd toss them.

most of the roses had lots of little spots... i let my hubby and daughter eat them with the cake scraps. there were a few that "survived", so i ended up making another twenty or so fresh ones. i don't use butter in my recipe (buttercream recipe that comes with the meringue powder).... just the crisco and it's wal-mart brand actually. never had a problem with it. i'm wanting to try an all butter recipe though, but i hear that that type doesn't stand up to heat very well.

I like the 50/50 crisco and butter. Then what i do is just use salted butter instead and then you dont really even need to add any extra salt. I havent had any problem with white spots since.

I had that problem years ago! How disapointing it was to look at the cake a few hours after it was decorated, and see those spots! I found out it was the salt that dissolved that was causing the spots. I did two things.
1.... I changed to Kosher salt or coarse salt because it dissolves better and faster.
2..... I started dissolving the salt by putting a tablespoon or two of water along with the salt into a glass measuring cup and microwave until it is hot. Stir until the salt disolves.

Don't forget to account for the water by reducing the liquid in your frosting. I usually add the liquid right to the "salt water" cup. I have never had the "spots" happen again.

I was told once that you are mixing the icing too fast and incorporated too much air and that can add spots to the icing also. I use popcorn salt unbuttered to my icing it elimates the spotty icing also. HTH.

I had spots in my icing and found out it was because I have softened water and the salt in the watersoftener caused the icing to get spots. From now on I make sure I only use my filtered water.

I switched to salted butter long ago, eliminating salt in the recipe. It was the best move I ever made.

Theresa

so a lot of you are speaking highly of a butter/crisco recipe? might i ask what this recipe is? before cake central, i wasn't even aware that there were butter recipes out there! shows you what a "newbie" to decorating i am! LOL how does it hold up to warmth? we live in a house without ac, so summer months may be a problem for me to use a delicate recipe.