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An equivalent for Crisco or Shortening?? From Australia! - Page 2

post #16 of 44
4/21/11 at 9:45pm
Omega Nutrition's Coconut Oil DOES THE TRICK! I looked all over and tried this as Copha is coconut oil and shortening is vegitable oil and DOESN"T do the job and tastes bad! This worked well. There are other brands of coconut oil and would imagine that they would work too. Same stuff different brand. I can just say that the Omeaga Nutrition Coconut Oil is a FANTASTIC SUBSTITUTE for COPHA, for Australians on the American continent to make chocolate crackles and the likeicon_biggrin.gif
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post #17 of 44
5/18/11 at 11:31pm
I know this is an old thread, but I am making a cake for my friends 18th I was wondering if you could use Copha in fondant icing instead of crisco?
Thanks
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post #18 of 44
5/19/11 at 1:51am
Do you need to melt the Crisco in the fondant recipe you have? If so, then melted and then re-solidified copha (which is solid coconut oil) would yield a far harder fondant end result. Can you use butter instead? Crisco at room temperature is slightly firmer than butter at room temperature. I use it for greasing my hands when working with fondant. and adding to gumpaste that has dried out a bit too much.

Is there any reason why you don't just buy some Orchard White off the shelf at Coles? Or get some premade fondant from a cake decorator supply store?
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Life's too short to make cake pops.
___________________________________
www.sweetperfection.com.au
www.facebook.com/sweetperfectioncakes (come visit sometime!)
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post #19 of 44
5/19/11 at 2:01am
no it just says to grease my hands and the benchtop with it so the fondant doesnt stick - and i dont want to buy pre=packaged stuff, its never as nice as freshly made - plus my friend doesnt like people buying her presents, this is my way of getting around that
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post #20 of 44
5/19/11 at 2:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by be218

no it just says to grease my hands and the benchtop with it so the fondant doesnt stick - and i dont want to buy pre=packaged stuff, its never as nice as freshly made - plus my friend doesnt like people buying her presents, this is my way of getting around that



If its only to stop it from sticking to your bench and hands, then it shouldn't be a problem. You won't need to melt it, just keep it at room temperature and use as needed. HTH
Scrapbooking might be fun, but cake taste better.
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Scrapbooking might be fun, but cake taste better.
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post #21 of 44
5/19/11 at 2:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by medusas_touch

Quote:
Originally Posted by be218

no it just says to grease my hands and the benchtop with it so the fondant doesnt stick - and i dont want to buy pre=packaged stuff, its never as nice as freshly made - plus my friend doesnt like people buying her presents, this is my way of getting around that



If its only to stop it from sticking to your bench and hands, then it shouldn't be a problem. You won't need to melt it, just keep it at room temperature and use as needed. HTH

THANK YOU icon_biggrin.gif
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post #22 of 44
5/19/11 at 2:54am
Have you ever looked at the ingredients of Crisco compared to Copha? Be glad you've got Copha, there are a ton of unnatural yucky things in Crisco. If you want the Copha to be soft, you can soften it like butter. Or if it's really cold, melt it down in a saucepan then wait for it to firm up until it's the consistency you like.
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post #23 of 44
10/29/11 at 6:48pm
In Sydney, Crisco is available locally from the food hall at David Jones in the city. I've bought it there for years. If it's inconvenient to go there, when you do go, buy several and freeze them.

Not sure if other DJ food halls stock this, so call.

They also carry other American products such as canned pumpkin, if you want to make a pumpkin pie for Halloween or Thanksgiving.
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post #24 of 44
10/29/11 at 8:03pm
I don't know that this is relevant to this thread, but it is about measuring Crisco (I'm in the US). Because Crisco is a "soft solid" (if that's a legitimate description) fat, I learned from my mom to measure it in water. That is, say you need one cup of Crisco. You take a 2-cup measuring cup. Put one cup of water in it. Then put Crisco in until the water comes up to the 2-cup measure (make sure that the Crisco is underwater. Then pour the water out making sure there is only a drop or two caught on the Crisco. (We always did this with a clear glass 2-cup measuring cup.)

It is much easier to get the Crisco out of the cup that way than if you just tried to stuff Crisco into a 1-cup measure without any air bubbles and then get it all out once it's stuck to the cup. I don't know if the water-displacement method works for other kinds of fat. It probably would work for butter, but butter in the UW is easy to measure by stick or by tablespoon (the tablespoon measurements are marked on the wrapper of the stick of butter and one stick is one-half cup).

When I was growing up, we didn't cook or bake by weight. I'm still doing things the way my mom taught me. icon_smile.gif

I hope I die before "your" is the official contraction of "you are."

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I hope I die before "your" is the official contraction of "you are."

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post #25 of 44
10/29/11 at 8:23pm
I have used copha in buttercream when I first started decorating as I didn't know what to substitute for crisco and I WOULD NOT receommend it. Is is so hard and doesnt mix properly and you get lumpy bits of fat (gross). I now only use it to grease my board when modelling.

The stuff you need is a whipped vegetable shortening. I get mine from Carolines in SA and its called Sno Creme Shortening. I have searched it everywhere and only cake decorating shops seem sell it. You could probably approach a supplier however they usually require bulk orders. This shortening makes great buttercream.
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post #26 of 44
10/29/11 at 9:15pm
I think I read up above that copha is made of coconut oil, right? So is what we can get here in NZ, Kremelta. The first time I tried using it I had the same result as you Megan, lumps in my icing... DISGUSTING. Then the next time it was summer, and a lot softer, so I just beat it a bit first before using it.... beautiful! Then when winter came, I melted it down in a saucepan, then left it sitting there until it had set to a consistency similar to butter, and that of course was perfect to work with.

So you CAN use Copha, just not as easily as crisco. And really, if I had the choice between the two I'd take the coconut oil every time. Crisco is full of all sorts of ingredients, Kremelta only has two, coconut oil and leicethin.
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post #27 of 44
10/30/11 at 1:59am
For icings:
1. melt butter gently until liquid.
2. melt copha until totally liquid.
3. mix the two fats together until well blended.
4. let the mixture solidify.
5. beat the blend to a cream adding icing sugar and flavouring as you go ..

Australian Decorators Buttercream Recipe uses a butter to copha ratio of 1:1. You can also use 2:1 or even 3:1.

Solite is a example of an AU cake decorator's shortening. You can also use "Bakery Fats and SHortenings" which come from foodservice suppliers.

For example: Goodman Fielder's Foodservice
http://www.gffoodservice.com.au/brandsproducts/default.aspx#bakeryfats

My local cake shop uses Pilot shortenings for their cakes and pastries..

FYI: 1 US cup crisco shortening weighs 192g/6.7oz [from website]
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post #28 of 44
10/30/11 at 2:15am
Thanks Auzzi. That is fantastic. I never thought about doing that way icon_smile.gif
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post #29 of 44
2/8/12 at 7:57am
shortening is clarified pig fat

ask you butcher for 1kg pork fat scraps place in a muslin bag in a large pot cover in 10lt of water simmer till water is reduced by half making sure bag is still submerged allow to cool fat will solidify on top of the water scrape of into a clean pan over a low heat melt fat and allow water to evaporate pore into a clean butter mould or clean jar or container
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post #30 of 44
2/8/12 at 3:05pm
Lard is pig fat. Lard may be used in pastry making, but rarely is these days. It is not used in cake baking, frosting or icing. Lard is mainly used in cooking.

Shortening is a fat or oil - lard, butter, margarine, oleo, and every edible oil [both solid or liquid] is a shortening. It can be made of purely or either an animal or vegetable product or a mixture of both.
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