how on earth does she do this? - Page 2

You can heat the buttercream and make a very nice icing (almost like glaze) for flooding cookies. I have done it and it works well and you would never know to look at it that it is buttercream. I use an all butter buttercream for this, and the taste is just like true buttercream. You do have to keep it warm for it to work well, but I've put it in bottles to use just like you would royal icing.

You can also add a lot of powdered sugar after heating and, if you're careful, roll it and cut it like rolled fondant, and that is insanely good and looks perfect -- without the greasiness of rolled fondant.

I have pictures of both ways, but they're not on the computer yet, so I haven't posted them.

Actually Kim is a member of CC. Here is her CC Profile name:

theprincesskim

She is awesome!!! I would love to learn her technique![/list]

Please keep in mind that that is her signature look, and she makes her living with it.

She may not want to share her secret, and that would be fine, too. I'm sure we can all understand.

thank U so much for the video Joanne914, I've never heard of warm bc! I've only made RI cookies, I'm a roockie,but just by seen those beautyful cookies I really want to learn how to do them,I wonder if we could get a similar effect by using Ri with a stift consistency and using the sanding sugar? the little fiesta dress are soooo lovely,I always have some fondant lefts in my fridge I will try to do some ruffles for the cookies, I'll let you all know how it worked! PS sorry for my english it's not my first language! regards from Mexico!

I've just see the video,an it's awesome!!!! i've never ever seen anything like that! se doesn't outline the cookie,less work for us LOL, the texture is so nice and beautyful, but what I was thinking is that it may no be stackable becuase it may move the bc, but I'm sure the taste it must be delicious,thank U for sharing this amazing metod!

The pear can be done with a basket weave tip then just sanding sugars on the side

I haven't read this entire post yet, but I do know her, just ask how she did any technique and she's very easy to talk to (unlike some of the others on Flickr unfortunately.) You're right, she does FABULOUS work!!

Wow, I'd love to try this! I once tried watering down Karen's Cookies Meringue Buttercream for flooding, but go figure, the icing wound up separating out (I probably should have at least used milk instead of water).

Do you heat the buttercream icing in the microwave, or on the stovetop in a double-boiler setup?

I decorate all my cookies w/ BC In fact I started decorating cakes b/c of taking Wilton classes to get better at cookies. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures b/c it never ocurred to me. I'll have to this holiday season.

How do you apply the buttercream icing to the cookies? Do you add meringue powder to your buttercream?

I made a bunch of back to school cookies this last weekend using only buttercream (both in a "fondant" form and in a "glaze" form) and took pictures, and I'll try to post them tomorrow. I'm awful at photography, so take that in consideration.

I just make the buttercream in a saucepan. I add milk and butter, bring to a boil and remove from heat, then add flavorings, colors, and powdered sugar until it's the consistency you want. The only difference, for me, between a fondant and glaze is the amount of powdered sugar you use. This way, though, the fondant is not greasy like rolled buttercream. You have to use the icing warm, though, if you want it to flood. After the initial making, I just use the microwave for 10-15 seconds to reheat it when I've let it sit awhile. I made it into fondant first and then when I had used as much of that as I wanted, I plopped the rest back in the saucepan, added a little heat and milk, and stirred it into glaze.

The fondant is a little more tempermental than MMF or any commercial product, but I think the extra effort is worth it in that the taste and texture is more like true buttercream. This way, though, you can get it completely smooth like fondant or glaze, and once they dry, you can package and stack them like cookies done with the others. You do kind of have to play around with proportions a little and experiment as to the best way to work with it since I haven't really written down any recipes with it. However, I haven't found a way to mess it up completely yet -- I just added a little more milk or powdered sugar to get whatever effect I was aiming for.

HTH

Thank you sundowng! I'll have to try that!

My Buttercream recipe is full butter BC with meringue powder. If I am going to have a smooth solid backgroud I ice and edge (run a straight icing spatula around the edge of the cookies to get sharp edges) and then pipe, sprinkle, sugar, place or what ever else the details.

I let them sit out for several hours so the BC has a nice firm crust and then store in an airtight container between sheets of waxed paper. They do get a little squished if I stack too many in a container, but since I don't sell them - hobby baker - no one cares. If you are going to sell, I either wouldn't stack or only two layers.

I also don't make sugar cookies, but butter cookies. Eveyone who has them quickly becomes addicted.

After watching the video posted on the first page;
It looks as though it may just be a matter of her cleaning the edges at a 45 degree angle after piping, rather than being able to cut the piping off cleanly at the edges when doing it.