Hi! Another new member here :) I don't have a business (yet) - I'm purely a hobby baker although I'd love to have my own business someday, just trying to learn as much as I can and build up a portfolio etc. I'm sure this thread will come in incredibly handy, a lot of the American recipes confuse the life out of me!
Sorry if this is a rehash of previous questions (I haven't had time to read through the last 200 pages yet!) but what kind of buttercream do you all use? I have only ever had one cupcake in the UK which wasn't a icing sugar/butter buttercream, I think it was Italian meringue buttercream and it was lovely but I've yet to try to make any of the meringue buttercreams myself. Do any of you use what the American recipes call 'shortening' in your buttercreams? I hear it helps with crusting and stability but I'm worried it would impair the flavour when compared with an all butter buttercream. I sometimes struggle to get my buttercream as stiff as I'd like for piping purposes without using a ridiculous amount of sugar, and nobody likes a grainy buttercream!
Wow, that was a long first post! :) Looking forward to learning from you all!
