I started another thread asking for help needing a gelatin free fondant recipe. I found substitutes for gelatin with the help of some wonderful CC'ers, however the ingrediants are a little pricey. I thought of using rolled buttercream, as that does not contain any gelatin.

I need to make a 3D ladybug cake. I am going to make a cake for my grandmothers birthday tomorrow and I think Im going to practice using the RBC on her cake.

I have never used it before though and I have a few questions. I hope you can help.

-Does it break or crack easily on the cake? Once its on, will it dry a bit and become more stable? Or will it remain soft and fragile and risk cracking during delivery?

-How to I attach RBC to RBC? Royal maybe? or a dab of BC? I need spots on my ladybug.

-Can I refriderate the final product? I would like it to be as stable as possible for delivery since the RBC seems to be soft and fragile.

-Can I freeze the final product?

-Can I paint on RBC with gel color/vodka? I want to try this on my grandmothers cake.

-Is it at all stretchy and pliable like fondant? Does it easily form to the shape of a cake?

Thank you guys, Ive done research but cant really find any answers to these specific questions. If you guys have used this before I could really use your suggestions.

RBC is very greasy. When I cover my cookies with it I usually do a dusting of powdered sugar on top so my RI sticks to it better. I have not covered a cake with it but have used it as accents on a cake and it worked OK but I don't think it works as good as Fondant. I would suggest using Satin Ice Fondant or making Marshmallow Fondant.

A good person to ask about RBC is Cambo.

HTH

I'm no expert, but I did use RBC to cover my son's army tank birthday cake a couple of months ago. Here's the link:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1461565.html

It gets soft pretty fast, but putting it in the freezer for a couple of minutes makes it easier to work with. I had no problem with cracking or anything else once it was on and my family MUCH preferred the texture of RBC over fondant. They don't believe you should have to "chew" your cake icing.

The embellishments on my son's tank are modeling chocolate and were attached with a little bit of gum glue, I think...at least that's what I usually use. I don't recall having any problem getting anything to stick.

I didn't refrigerate the tank, though I don't see why you couldn't. I would let it come to room temperature before cutting. I don't know about freezing; cake didn't make it through the night with a house full of teenage boys.

I had no problem getting the RBC to conform to the cake. Painting on it was not in my design so I didn't even think about it but think you might be able to do it with a light touch but can't say for sure.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

Your tank is awesome! Thanks so much for the comments! It really helps.

I haven't frozen it, but I have done cakes with it, all my fondant cakes exept the bus are rbc, I didn't really notice it was greasy until I made mmf. However it is the most complimented icing (took 2 birthday cakes to family functions, and my sister took her leftover cake to work) If you are doing a large peice, I would recomend using a vynal sheet and flipping it over onto the cake, since it seems to tear easy.

thank you! I have a plastic mat I think I can use. Im going to try this either tonight or tomorrow morning. Ill let you guys know how it works. Still no one knows if I can paint on it?

Well I didnt get a whole lot of responses so I had a lot of trial and error with my first time using this stuff.

I wouldnt reccommend painting on it. Didnt work well.

My first time rolling it out, I just plopped it on the cake, thinking I could smooth it out on the cake. Not so much. Second try I rolled it out between my fondant mat and a piece of saran wrap. Took the saran off, smoothed the piece with my hand, put the saran on top again, fliped it upsidedown so it rested on the saran instead of the mat, THEN plopped it on the cake so the smoothed side faced up. Ahhh...that was better.

I loved how I could smooth out all the imperfections. I wish I could do that with fondant as easily. It was an interesting learning experience, but I think Id prefer to work with fondant. I think Ill keep this open as an option for people with dietary issues, but I wont use it unless I really have to.

I think it will work just fine for my ladybug.

Want to see my first RBC cake? This is for my Grandma's birthday. Im going to give it to her tomorrow.

SO dumb questions because I can't find it anywhere. . . What is rolled buttercream? How do you make it? How does it work?

Umm, dont quote me on this...I think it was 2 lbs sugar, 1 cup shortening, 1 tsp vanilla, and a dash salt....I think that was it. Anyways, its like really thick buttercream. It makes a dough that you can roll out and apply it to a cake similar to fondant. It handles completly different though. Its kind of a pain, IMO. You have to roll it out between plastic wrap, and move it while its on the wrap because you cant roll it onto a rolling pin or pick it up. It just breaks. I learned a lot during this trial. lol.

Got ya. . . Thanks so much! It looks awesome though!

Your cake looks lovely. I hadn't tried the RBC yet, and from the sounds of it...I think I'll stick to my MMF. At least until I get all the kinks worked out with that.

RBC is a cup of light carol syrup, cup of crisco, tsp of vanilla, 1/2 tsp. of salt, 2 pounds powdered sugar. I love this on my sugar cookies. They freeze well also.

Popcorn salt works the best and you have to make it in heavy duty mixer. This is best on cookies!!

Ooooh yeah corn syrup that's what I forgot. Sorry. Thats why I said dont quote me on it. lol.

Yeah like I said, I wouldnt choose to use this if I had other options. But this customer cannot have gelatin, so fondant wasnt going to work. And the substitutes for gelatin were quite pricey. I would had to have charged more which went over the customers budget. So, this will work ok I think. Ill be making the cake tomorrow. Ill post that one too when Im done.

Still........no one has told me how to attach RBC to RBC. Royal? A dab of buttercream? What works the best?

When I used Rolled butter cream on my halloween cake I first did a butter cream crumb coat. Then I put on the rolled butter cream. For sugar cookies I just paint on water with a paint brush then I add the rolled butter cream.

Im sorry, I totally forgot to post photos of my ladybug. I think it turned out cool. The lady loved it.

Pretty good for no fondant. Next time Ill roll it out between two plastic fondant mats or something like that because rolling it between plastic wrap put deep wrinkles in it that I just couldnt get out.

It looks really good!

So cute! Great job! =)
Question though.... There's a mmf recipe on here that's just marshmellows, water, vanilla, and sugar. No glycerin... It tastes pretty much like powedered sugar, but my kids sure loved it. It worked very similar to regular fondant...just make sure you sift the sugar to avoid lumps. =) Anyway, just thought I'd let you know. =)

Its not glycerin that was the problem, it was the gelatin. There is gelatin in MM's. At least, I dont think there is any brand that makes them without gelatin. My off brand MM's and jet puff both had it in there. Thank you though!

I think it was a religious thing, if Im not mistaken. Not jewish, something else. I think they were Indian?

Im so glad they liked it and Im very thankful that I had everyone's help to make this possible.

Oh, So sorry, I read that..but I wasn't thinking when I typed that. I'm getting all my ingredients mixed up. Sorry. =( But interesting about the marshmallows. Now I'm curious to go look at my bag. =)

Yep! Mine has gelatin too! Interesting! Now I know! =)
Thanks! =)

wow that is amazing....I would love to know how to do that, I never tried that...nice lady bug

What's the best recipe for making florals? Can you mold or model from RBC? Or would you recommend MMF?