Hello! I am a newbie cake decorator (self-taught) and have a question. I have been working with buttercream and practicing various techniques w/various tips. I had been having problems with the decorations being firm without any 'air pocket' type looks to them. Today I made royal icing for the first time and attempted some decorations and they turned out great! What I think I realized is that maybe my buttercream is not the right consistency?? I want to attempt my practice again but was wondering how you can tell the difference in med. to stiff consistency w/buttercream??
Also how long to you beat buttercream in a stand mixer??
TIA!!!

Hi Tia.... you know, I have the same question. My stiff is too stiff and everything comes out yucky! As for the this consistency, which I am told you should be icing your cake with, it should be the consistency of sour cream. Does that make sense?

Debbi

Now that's kind of hard for me to explain because I judge my consistency by the amount of water that I use in my recipe .. my recipe is 2 cups of Crisco, 2 pounds of confectioner's sugar, 2 teaspoon of flavoring (I have used mixtures of vanilla, butter, almond and butavan) and 6 tablespoons of water .. now the water in the recipe is for a medium/thin consistency.. for a medium consistency, I use 4-5 tablespoons of water .. for thick, I use 3-4 tablespoons .. this is the only way that I can really know how to explain thin/medium or thick consistency.. I beat my icing about 4-5 minutes on medium/high on my KA mixer ... hope this helps!

I was told...

stiff consistency - spatula stands straight up in batter
medium consistency - spatula leans over
tin consistency - spatula falls over

stiff is good for flowers with upright petals like roses.
medium is good for stars, figure piping, border and flowers that lie flat
tin is good for writing, making vines, and icing a cake.

I too do what cheryl does based on how much milk/water to use.
medium add one teaspoon to each cup of icing and with tin add two teaspoons to each cup of icing.

i hope this helps and makes sense.

tin = thin

I don't know why I kept leaving off the 'h'

sorry

That is exactly how I learned it in my Wilton class, Momoftwogirls. After taking the class I realized my thin was never thin enough and that sure did help with getting my icing smooth on the cake.

bj