I just had a customer reuest a cake with incing but it can't contain any dairty, the cake isn't a problem but the icing is my concern.. Any ideas!!

The Wilton Icing uses water, but I know many don't care for the taste. I love IndyDebi's BC which uses milk, but you could probably try it with water instead. Or, you might consider a non-dairy whipped topping, like Cool Whip.

My kids all have milk allergies, and I just sub water for the milk in my icing. It doesnt change the taste or texture at all.

There is small difference between water and milk. Most can't really tell unless they are told. I used to use milk, but now I use water, and no one said anything.

cool whip is actually dairy.
I only use water in my icings as all my products are non dairy. no one knows the difference.

My cake supply store sells a product called Bettercream that is dairy free. I don't really care for the taste, so you might want to ask for a sample.

For those of you that just use water, what do you replace the butter with to make the icing non-dairy? Most margarine contains at the very least whey powder and gives a nasty after taste.

I'm a newbie to cake decorating, but this is what I use on all my family cakes (son has a casein intolerance)

http://dairyfreecooking.about.com/od/sweetsaucesfrostings/r/buttercream.htm

I've tried it with our regular margarine (Fleishmans - doesn't have whey powder) and it was good, but still had the margarine taste. Now I use Earth Balance buttery flavoured spread, it's soy based.

It holds up ok under fondant, I don't think it crusts quite like regular bc though.

My frosting is very simple. 1 cup shortening, 1/2 cup water, 2 lbs ps, 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp vanilla.

My recipe is huge but you can cut it down

1 1/2 c earth balance
1 1/2 c crisco
3 tbsp vanilla
10 cups icing sugar
soy milk to thin

You can also add 1 1/2 c cocoa powder (in addition to the icing sugar) to make chocolate icing or pureed strawberries instead of milk, or lemon juice, or raspberry puree....It is a really good icing.

Most of our customers can't tell the difference if they don't know our products are dairy free.

Hope that helps!

You can also make pound cake using Earth Balance margarine and Silk creamer - vanilla flavor. It makes a very good cake

When I made my icing for a vegan cake, i replaced the butter with crisco, and just added some butter extract. It was quite yummy.

I have a recipe for a vegan chocolate cake and icing. I use Earth Balance margarine and Soy milk. Earth Balance is the BEST in my opinion! For a white frosting I do what everyone else says, just use shortening and water in the recipe.

Almond Milk is crazy good. I stay away from most dairy and that is awesome for my cereal and I use it in baking/cooking as well.

I love almond milk too and wondered if I could use it to bake. Thanks!

Please don't use anything that has crisco or weg shortening in it. That stuff should be banned for consumption. Why don't you try a baked 7 minute merigue frosting.

I made a cake for a friend the other day that has allergies to milk/milk products. After doing some research, I opted to use Wilton's recipe made with water.

Whatever you choose to do, just double check all of the labels (no milk, whey, and, oh shoot, I just forgot what the other mystery ingredient is that contains dairy as well...hmm, maybe someone else can chime in.) I was so paranoid, I think I read every label 10 times just to make sure!

deah wrote [/quote]FYI - My brother gets migraines from uncooked dairy. He's allergic to something that is neutralized in the cooking process. He's told me what it is but I can't remember.

I was given a recipe when I first started doing cakes. I later found that it was similar to the Wilton Snow White buttercream. I use water. Everyone that tastes my cakes LOVES this icing.

I would also recommend the standard wilton buttercream recipe. You can also add to it about 1/2 tsp to a full tsp of the wilton butter flavoring (depending on your personal taste). It's clear so it won't affect the color and it helps offset that shortening flavor so it's closer to butter flavor.

Depending on your cake flavor, you could add different things to enhance the frosting. Lemon juice, rum extract, those flavor oils sold for making candies etc (I have a key lime one that is awesome in buttercream frosting on white cake). Lots of places to go if you choose...

I also use water and Wilton Butter flavoring. I always get "I want the same icing you made for So and So's cake, It's the best I've I ever tasted." Folks seem to like it a lot.

Couldn't you use a vegan butter substitute, in the UK we have one called Pure! http://www.puredairyfree.co.uk/

i just made a terrific choc vegan/dairy free icing and it was delicious!! i used all veg.shortening and vegan/dairy free margerine and vanillia soy milk and some ps. i added cocoa and it was fabulous. the vanillia soy milk added such a nice flavor and my dh couldn't even tell it was vegan/dairy free!!

You can always substitute a non dairy creamer for your milk...gives almost the same taste of regular milk and is shelf stable. That's what I use and I REALLY like it!! HTH!

My daughter had a dairy allergy, thank God she grew out of it, but I always used Rice milk and Earth Balance and everybody loved the icing.

I always sub water for milk in my frostings. Here is another great (but sweet) crusting buttercream recipe:

1 cup shortening
3-4 Tablespoons water
1/2 tsp vanilla flavor
1/4 tsp butter flavor
1/4 tsp salt

Mix together until all incorporated. Add:

4 cups (1 lb) confectionary sugar

Mix well again, add more water if needed. It is great for decorating and I do not have any problems with melting like I do using butter. Hope this helps