Howdy all. I'm new here. I have a question about frosting. I'm obsessed with Melvira's thread on Bettercreme, but I can't readily find it in liquid form. Anyhow, I was searching around on the internet and I found a recipe for Cool Whip frosting that seems to be all over the place. Have any of you seen this?

8 oz cool whip
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 small box instant pudding
1 cup milk

Most recipes I've seen, and I've seen a ton of them, say to mix up the sugar, pudding, and milk and let stand for 3-5 minutes to "set." (Some recipes omit the sugar.) Then fold in the cool whip.

What I CAN'T find out about this recipe and I really want to know is this:

1. Is this frosting stable? That is, will it become runny in a day or less? And if it doesn't become runny in a day or less, how long WILL it last and keep it's shape and texture?

2. How thick is it? That is, would it be best for filling or can it be used as frosting too?

3. If it IS used as filling, will it make the cupcakes soggy?

4. Is it comparable to Bettercreme?

If anyone has any experience with this recipe, I'd sure like to know. All of the ingredients are readily available just about anywhere, and they're cheap too. I'm just wondering if this could be a viable substitution for the Bettercreme--which, Dang it all! I wish I could get!!

I apologize if these questions have already been asked. I did do a search on the forum and couldn't find anything. Thanks for any help anyone can give!!

Mel (yes, another Mel )

Cool Whip is not comparable to Rich's Bettercreme.

Cool Whip requires constant refrigeration, except when being served (maximum time out of 'fridge is 2 hrs.)

Rich's Bettercreme is shelf stable for 5 days and only requires refrigeration to extend storage life of unused product.

Rich's Bettercreme handling instructions:
(Written for ready to use, but applies to liquid when whipped.)

http://tinyurl.com/yt4eyu

HTH

There are supposed to be a few mock bettercreme recipes that are shelf stable and pretty good. I do like the recipe that you shared. That seems easy and cheap, which I really like. I wouldn't use it for something that has to stay out, but I may use this instead of bettercreme where I can.

I have a local cake supply store that sells Bettercreme, almost double what everyone else is paying for it. So I want it, but don't want to go broke buying it. There is also a local cash and carry restaurant supply company that I am hoping carries it. So I am going to try there next. I don't live in a big town so it isn't readily available to me either.

And I am obsessed wth Melvira's Bettercreme thread too. You should check out the Snicker's thread as well....

Thanks for those replies. JanH, I can't readily get the liquid Bettercreme because I live in "Podunk," although I did find some overpriced prewhipped stuff. I appreciate the info though. If I do find a good and reasonably priced supply, that will come in handy. I guess it's too much to hope that the recipe I posted is a viable substitute, but maybe it will be able to stand on its own independent of being a "substitute." I read in a couple of different places that the pudding mixture seems to stabilize the cool whip so it doesn't just melt up and lose its shape and texture right away.

Redlotusninjagrl, I've seen the mock Bettercreme recipes, but they seem like a lot of work. Might as well just make buttercream--looks like less work, right? Haha! But true. Especially the part where you have to strain the flour/water mixture or ELSE suffer the consequences! Hee hee.

I think it might be time for me to do some experimentation. I'm gonna make this stuff up and store it in a couple of different ways and see what happens. What have I got to lose? $2 maybe, if that? What the heck. I'll let you all know what happens!

OK ladies. The experiment has begun, and it is very scientific. NOT!

Here's what I did. I mixed the following for two minutes on low speed with a hand held mixer:

1 box 3.4 oz instant pudding
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 cup milk

I let that stand for five minutes. Then I folded in by hand one 8-oz container of cool whip that had thawed in the fridge for six hours.

There was quite a lot of frosting there! I put a huge dollop in four small bowls. I covered two bowls with plastic wrap and left two bowls unwrapped. I put one wrapped and one unwrapped bowl in the fridge. I left the other wrapped and unwrapped bowls on the countertop.

I tasted. A LOT. It was much better than I thought it would be!! First I tasted just the cool whip before I folded it in and it tasted like, well, cool whip. OK, but nothing to write home about, right? I tasted the pudding mixture right after I mixed it and then after five minutes of standing. Delicious! The five minutes thickened it up BIG TIME--huge difference. And by the way, you might want to scrape the bowl down after one minute because I had one area with a few "crunchies" in it.

Then I got out the true prewhipped Rich's Bettercreme that I'd bought up at the supermarket a couple of days ago. It has been sitting covered on the counter. I dipped a finger in one and tasted. And then the other. And then back again. And so on and so on...... Hey, it's a dirty job, but SOMEONE'S got to do it, right??!

Here's what I've discovered so far: The textures are not remotely the same. The Bettercreme has a tremendous amount of air whipped into it and the pudding mixture does not. The Bettercreme is tremendously sweeter, even with the extra 1/4 cup of sugar added to the pudding recipe (and I hear some people omit this). The Bettercreme was far thicker and wouldn't jiggle for anything even if you got it naked and put a bellydancing skirt on it! Not so with the pudding. It was quite moveable and soft. It reminded me of how soft ice cream looks.

At first I was disappointed. I thought that the pudding mixture was way too wimpy. But then I noticed that even though it was quite soft, it still was in the same shape that I put it in when I dolloped it in the bowls, complete with hooked peaks. Hmmmm.... This isn't something you could decorate or pipe with, although you could probably swirl with a giant star or something. I'm wondering about filling though.........it might just be quite good for it! I'll have to make cupcakes next and fill them and see how they turn out--soggy or not? I'm thinking they'll be fine!

So the experiment is on. I'm going to look at and taste from each bowl once a day (or maybe more haha!). I'll let you all know how the frosting looks, how it tastes, and what changes, if any, have taken place.

And for those of you who wonder, this was terrifically cheap! I bought the WalMart brand of banana cream pudding for 50 cents. I bought the WalMart brand of cool whip for 88 cents. The milk and sugar probably cost me about 20 cents a piece. So that makes $1.78. And there was a LOT of product here for that kind of money. Even if I don't use it for cupcakes--which I think I will find a use, i.e., at least filling and maybe frosting--it could be exceptionally versatile in many different kinds of desserts.

Anyhow. There you have it. I've sacrificed myself for all of you. I hope you appreciate the dire circumstances under which I have placed myself by conducting this experiment upon my person. But it is for science, and 'tis a far, far better thing I do. Haha!

Yours,
Mel

OK. I'm about 18 hours into the "experiment" -- otherwise known as the Great Cupcake Caper. Here's what I've learned.

After about an hour or so, the frosting firmed up a bit more than it was when I first posted, and it didn't wiggle like it did before, which leads me to believe that soft decorations are quite possible like swirls and stuff. By morning, the two uncovered bowls both had a sort of film or crust on the frosting. It was very thin and not over noticeable, but a film/crust nonetheless. It was not nearly as pronounced as you'd get with just plain old pudding. The refrigerated "crust" seemed firmer. The covered bowls had no crust. The consistency of the uncovered frosting, both refrigerated and not, was slightly thicker than the covered frosting. The frosting at the bottom of the bowls was thinner than at the tops but no real "weeping" or anything like that. And they all still tasted delicious!

I think I'm on to something here. Not quite sure what just yet, but surely this can be used for SOMETHING. And at a $1.78 retail a batch, I will persist in my efforts.

Yours,
Mel

Day 2 of the Great Cupcake Caper! I'm not dead yet, although some of you may be wishing I'd get on with it already.

The uncovered room temperature frosting has a more pronounced crust/film on it with a bit of snap and chew to it. The inside is still soft, and there's no weeping of the frosting. The covered room temperature frosting has no film or crust at all and is still creamy without weeping. The uncovered refrigerated frosting still has a slight film on it, although it is not as pronounced as the film on the uncovered room temperature frosting. The inside is still soft without weeping. The covered refrigerated frosting has no film or crust at all and is very creamy without weeping.

All four bowls of frosting have maintained their shape without shrinkage. They all still taste very good, although I think the covered refrigerated one tastes the creamiest!

Day 3 of the Great Cupcake Caper, and unfortunately I am not dead yet. Due to the overwhelming popularity of this thread, I will post my results thus far:

The uncovered room temperature frosting has a slightly thicker top coating but is still creamy inside. The covered room temperature frosting has no film or crust on it, but it is starting to break down. There is some separation of liquid in the bottom of the bowl and the taste is quite a bit off. I won't taste from this bowl again, but I'll continue to watch it. The uncovered refrigerated frosting has a slightly thicker top coating although not as thick as the room temperature one, and it is still creamy inside. The covered refrigerated frosting has no top film or crust, and it is quite creamy inside. Of the four, this is the best tasting, although the covered refrigerated one isn't half bad. And actually the uncovered room temperature one isn't too bad either. But that covered room temperature one...... It has seen its better days.

This has been fun. I will continue to watch all of these for a few more days, but I suppose I will go back to just lurking on the forum, which is what I do best.

wow! I cannot believe you had the patience to experiment and post your results here. i appreciate it and am sorry the thread hasn't been popular.

i wish i could do the same but alas i live in a place where instant pudding mix and cool whip is unheard of. have fun using your recipe

wowwowo mellee way to go girl- sacrifice in the line of duty! Tremendous patience-wouldnt it be funny if just after your local walmart stocked up on the original bettercreame?! [one can dream cant they!]

Thanks gals! I had fun doing this. I actually kept the bowls a few more days. Everything was fine except for the covered room-temperature one, although the uncovered one had seen its better days too. The refrigerated ones were fine and still quite creamy and yummy.

I ended up making another batch and this time I used it as a filling in chocolate cupcakes. I used the old apple corer method and squoze in a bunch and then frosted with chocolate buttercream. I was worried that it would leach into the cupcakes, but what happened was really great! The filling stayed just fine at room temperature for a few days, and it didn't make the cupcakes soggy at all! Perhaps the tiniest bit of moisture was absorbed, but all that did was make the cake part mega-moist and to die for! Everyone raved and LOVED it!

Cupcakeshoppe lady, if you don't live in the U.S., it will probably be hard for you to find Cool Whip. However, you CAN make your own "instant" pudding recipe. Try this, it's a chocolate one:

3 ounces Dutch-processed cocoa, approximately 1 cup
2 ounces cornstarch, approximately 1/2 cup
6 ounces confectioners' sugar, approximately 1 1/2 cups
1 1/2 ounces instant non-fat dry milk, approximately 1/2 cup
1 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl or plastic container with a lid, combine the cocoa, cornstarch, sugar, instant non-fat dry milk, and salt. Store in an airtight container. Makes about 3.5 cups.

Here are some other larger instant pudding recipes:

Chocolate Pudding Mix

2 1/2 cups nonfat dry milk
5 cups sugar
3 cups cornstarch
1 tsp. salt
2 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa
Mix and store in airtight container.

To prepare: Add 2/3 cup Mix and 2 cups Milk. Heat and stir
constantly while boiling. Cool and serve.

Vanilla Pudding Mix

3 cups nonfat dry milk
4 cups sugar
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. salt
3 cups cornstarch
Mix all ingredients together and store in airtight container.

1/2 tsp. vanilla

To prepare for use:

1/2 cup mix and 2 cups milk.

Heat and stir constantly while boiling, cool then add 1/2 tsp. vanilla.

---------------------

Most instant puddings weigh anywhere from 3 oz to 3.4 oz, so use that as a guideline in how to use them in a recipe. Experiment! It's fun!

You can fool around with these and make other flavors. Then just use them as you would use other instant pudding recipes. It's worth a try. And, hey, did you see the instant pudding/dream whip/milk frosting thread here: http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-621842.html ? Maybe you could get Dream Whip online?

I ended up making a batch of the Dream Whip recipe. I liked its texture and creaminess better than the Cool Whip recipe, and it was very shiny and pretty......BUT....it did not make nearly as much and it's something you really want to use up in a day or so because it loses its "oomph." It doesn't have the staying power of the Cool Whip recipe, but it is QUITE tasty, and if what you're making is going to be devoured quickly, GO FOR IT!!

Hope this helps!

melle-arent u the ingenious one! That is very helpful for someone who cant lay their hands on pudding mix!

oh thank you so much! that would really help me out. Thank you! I think am gonna make me some pudding and not share LOL

The larger recipes are mixes for cook 'n serve puddings.

For coconut cream and butterscotch cooked pudding mixes:
(Among other make your own mixes...)

http://tinyurl.com/d4urrd

HTH

ok...late to the party, but can i say "wow!" That was quite the experiment! gave me quite a chuckle.
Also, as to not being able to find bettercreme in liquid form, i know that where i have found it is in the freezer section of Smart & Final (a cash and carry warehouse store). It is in the freezer section labeled novelties...have you tried checking in the freezer section. Then you thaw it to liquid and whip. I have never tried it, but i have tried the Pastry Pride that is in the same section and everyone loves it (it's a whipped cream type frosting).
just my 2 cents

Jan, you're right. Those last two larger recipes should have INSTANT nonfat dry milk and not regular nonfat dry milk in them. Thanks for that link, by the way! I never would have thought to make my own homemade cake mix. I've done the biscuit mix before, but never cake. That will come in handy!

Josumiko, I don't have any Smart & Final store remotely near me that I can get to, but thanks for the suggestion. I did find a couple of places selling online, but the shipping instructions are a hassle. I'll keep looking though because it sounds like good stuff. When I was a kid I used to live right near the Rich's factory! I never knew how much I would miss that, LOL!

I've also been experimenting with the Mock Whipped Cream recipes lately and have made some pretty amazing frosting if I do say so myself!

Thanks for experiment, I was wondering how I could make a whipped icing, I cannot get Bettercream around here in liquid form either, I did purchase some ready made from Sams club.
I am going to try and make the chocolate chip mint I am going to use a 16 oz. cool whip, and 2 4.5 pks of pudding mix...not sure how well it will work out, but now you have me experimenting...lol
I am wondering if you can add Meringue Powder to make it more stable?
thanks for helping us all with figuring out another way to make a whipped icing...I really wish I could find the bettercream in liquid form

Howdy lv2bake. I can't see how doubling the recipe could harm it any. Letting it set a bit in the fridge helps to firm it up more, I think. If you do try the meringue power, let us know what happens. That sounds interesting.

I've been experimenting with Mock Whipped Cream recipes. I've used the one that uses cornstarch and the one that uses flour. They both come out really good, and for those of us who can't get Rich's, it's a great alternative! Let me know if you want the recipe. I have my own little personal tweaks that I've done to it.

Does the mock whipped cream need to be refrigerated?

Well, it does have milk in it, but the milk is well cooked with flour or corn starch into a kind of custard. It only takes like five minutes, but it does come to a boil. I've made two different batches of this and had it out on the counter for four days and it didn't go bad. It didn't taste as great the fourth day as the first, but it did NOT go bad. It is a very light and fluffy recipe that only uses one cup of sugar, so it is sweet but not sicky sweet. I like it. HTH!

I'm jumping in a little late but but now needing some advice. I'm making an ice cream cake (1/2 sheet cake) for saturday and need to frost it with whip cream. I would like to be able to pipe a border around it as well. Could I use just cool whip or maybe the recipe you gave for the cool whip frosting? I keep reading about Richs but I can't find it in our stores. I have a whipped cream product called whip n'ice, a non-perishable cream, in my freezer, should I just use that?? I used it for filling one time but thought is tasted fake. Maybe I just answered my own question!! If I remember right, it was pretty firm, could possibly hold up to piping. Still, any responses would help me out. Thank you!!

thanks for your wonderful experiment! i have been looking for an excuse to make filled cuppys, can't wait to try this w/ the cheesecake pudding!

and, if you think about it - cool whip and pudding both come in a sugar free version. could be a great alternative.

Mellee,

I would love a link to your recipe.

Thanks!

If you can, I suggest using somthing like frosting pride or rich's bettercream. Frosting pride is terrific and can do basic decorations well. Tastes good and a slightly better consistancy then cool whip. And it will freeze well!

Jomar0321, whip n ice is similar to Rich's Bettercreme, so you should use that if you want a similar effect to Bettercreme. You can't really pipe with Cool Whip, but you CAN do some piping with the Cool Whip recipe. You can't make roses or anything like that, but a border is certainly doable. Why not try out the Cool Whip recipe and see what you think? It's really cheap to make and VERY quick--only takes a few minutes. If you don't like it or think you can't work with it, there'll be no harm done.

Bebea, MAKE THOSE CUPPIES!

Janny42, which recipe is it that you want? If you mean the Cool Whip one, that's right on the first page of this thread.

Wow. I was so surprised to see this thread resurrected!

Well, this is interesting! I made a batch of coolwhip frosting but I didn't add any sugar. Mixed up 1 pkg instant pudding mix with 1 cup cold milk and then folded in 1 cup of coolwhip. I thought this was delishes for a filling. I think it's fine to put in a cake and have it left out for the day but then I think after the cake has been cut and served any leftovers should be refrigerated. How far am I off?
Thanks for the experiment!

Thanks I will look for it on the first page.

Kerry_Kake, I've left mine out longer than that (days) and it was fine. Especially as a filling, heck the air isn't even getting at it! Some people use the sugar and some don't. I think it's a tad thicker (and of course sweeter) with the sugar, and go ahead and use the whole carton (8 oz) of Cool Whip. Hope this helps!

Janny42, you will like this, and it's so delish!

Being in the UK and not able to get any of the mentioned items I wonder if you are talking about using the dried powder topping mixes and dessert mixes you mix with milk? They are called Dream Topping and Angel Delight in the UK?

mellee did you do an experiment on the mock whipped frosting recipe? the one with milk and flour? or was it the cool whip one?