OK. I am on the search for the perfect buttercream.
No matter what I try, I can definitely taste POWDERED SUGAR.

I tried Cali4dawns and found it still too sweet. (my husband liked it)

I've used collete's butttercream which is simple, and still too sweet.
(but the people liked it)

Used Wilton's 1/2 butter, 1/2 shortening, too sweet.

I keep trying and wasting money!!

ALSO, do you all add butter flavoring or just vanilla?
Do you use salted or unsalted butter?

PLEASE HELP!!!
And of course, thank you

Hi,

I found that ppl who don't like regular buttercream because of the sweetness tend to like the Italian Meringue Buttercream. Have you tried a recipe for that yet? It is not quite as sweet as other frostings. I use unsalted butter, sometimes vanilla, sometimes butter flavoring, sometimes other flavors...just depends what ppl want or what we are in the mood for at home. HTH.

Berta

Hi Mudpie

I use wilton class recipe.

1 cup shorting
4 cups powdered sugar(x10)sifted
1 tsp butter flavor, vanilla flavor, or almond flavor any clear flavor
2 tsp water or milk I use water
1 tblspn meringue powder
1 tsp salt optional (I never use it)

cream shorting, flavor and water

slowly add in sugar and meringue add more water as needed for the constistancy that is wanted.

I use this all the time ppl tend to like this one better than the 1/2 shortning and 1/2 butter. Plus its a perfect white bc.

MC

Mud pie, I know what you mean about the frustration of finding a b/c that is not too sweet. My Mom hates sweet icing but I finally came across a b/c recipe that she approves of. The flavor is similar to a whipped icing.

1 cup of crisco
1 stick of unsalted butter
3 cups of confectioner sugar
1 teas clear vanilla
1/2 teas butter flav
optional- few drops of marshmallow flavoring (I used lorrann oil)
cream butter and crisco and flavorings til light and fluffy. Add sugar 1 cup at a time and beat well.

pipes and smoothes well.

That recipe is really yummy. Be sure you have your mixer is going on high and that you pour the syrup down the side of the bowl otherwise you might end up with little chunks of cooked egg whites in your frosting...not so yummy! Also be sure it is cooled before you add in the butter.

Berta

wow! thanks for the tips so far. Any other favorites out there? By the way what does WBH stand for?

WBH=Whimsical BakeHouse Cookbook

Although I am new here as well. I had the same problem. Icing that was too sweet. I use the Wilton extra special buttercream and it is great. Not as sweet as the regular butter cream.

2 cups solid vegetable shortening*
2 lbs. confectioners' sugar (There are 4 cups to a pound)
1/2 tsp. salt
1-2 tsp. clear vanilla or your favorite flavoring
6-8 oz. whipping cream
Cream shortening until fluffy. Add sugar and continue creaming until well-blended.
Add salt, flavoring and whipping cream; blend on low speed until moistened.
Beat at high speed until icing is fluffy.

Extra-Special Buttercream icing needs to be refrigerated, both after it is made and when it is placed on a cake. It will keep 3-5 days in the refrigerator.

*You may substitute 1 cup butter or margarine plus 1 cup solid vegetable shortening to achieve a more buttery taste.

Yield: 7 1/2 cups.

I use the butter flavoring it seems to help cut the sweetness as well. All my customers love the icing and comment on the fact that it is not so sweet. Hope this helps

You could try adding a little salt to the recipe of bc you like the consistancy of but not the sweetness. The Salt will help cut down the sweetness.

I play around with different recipes. You have to experiment a little. The basic recipe calls for 1 cup of crisco or butter to 1lb of pwd sugar.

Be careful with the vanilla extract as it adds to the sicky-sweet taste. Try a bit of almond extract, a few drops of rum extract or a dash of lemon/lime juice.
The fake butter extract should be used sparingly. Unless you want the frosting to taste and smell like cinema popcorn, use a dropper!
Heavy cream improves the overall texture, but you have to be careful or your frosting will end up too soft.

I like to add a bit of sifted flour to reduce the sweet taste.

hth

Yes and the more heavy cream you add, the more air bubbles you may end up with making it hard to smooth. That is why I have switched to part cream and part milk.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

The key to sweetness of buttercreams in general is the ratio of sugar to butter or shortening. Meringue buttercreams have a ratio of 1 part sugar to 4 parts butter (give or take on the specific recipe). Shortening based buttercreams have a ratio of 4 parts sugar to one part shortening (give or take on the specific recipe). In essense shortening based have more sugar, therefore they are sweeter. Buttercream flavoring is really in the "eye" of the taster. Some people don't like the buttery taste of all butter based buttercreams and other don't like really sweet taste of the crisco based buttercreams. I personally don't like crisco based buttercreams because I think they are too sweet. I have used salt to cut back on the sweetness but to me they are still too sweet. Just my personal preference. However I have made 1/2 butter and 1/2 crisco adding different combinations of flavorings and use milk instead of water and have gotten good reviews. Even though I like meringue based buttercreams they don't always work in the summer unless you can keep the temp in your house cool and the location of the event is in a cool place. Whipped cream is another option if you don't like the sweet stuff. So I usually asked my clients which buttercream they prefer, sweet, not so sweet or whipped cream that way they get what they want.

I'm pretty lucky, my customers seem to prefer the sicky sweet all Crisco recipe! I use vanilla and butter flavor. I just did a cake for a woman who wanted Hazelnut flavored icing, leave off the vanilla and butter flavors, add Frangelico. Ta da! She said the cake was delicious and people were coming back for seconds! Good thing I like to make my cakes a lot bigger than Wilton suggests. More room for fun decorating!

Haha, I like to make the cakes bigger too. I don't find the serving sizes very generous, so I work it out that for every cake mix or cake recipe, it is 12-15 servings, 15 wedding sizes, 12 regulars and this works well for me. I usually go by the 12 servings even for weddings.
Hugs Squirrelly

It seems to crust well for me. I use 7 o of the whipping cream. If you use more it doesnt crust as well.

frogfiend: how long did it take to crust for you? I live in humid NC and am getting my house pretty cool and have fans running. I"m testing a small amount while I work today. any thoughts?