Trying To Tweak A Bc Recipe To Make It Crust

Baking By tsal Updated 7 Oct 2010 , 1:51pm by indydebi

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tsal Posted 5 Oct 2010 , 10:10am
post #1 of 20

Hi,

I'm playing around with Rose Berenbaum Levy's Neoclassic buttercream. I've decided to add powdered sugar to it. I'm not sure if the egg yolks prevent it from crusting.

Can anyone tell me if it is the powdered sugar in a bc recipe that makes it crust? What is it in a crusting bc recipe that makes it crust?

I'm looking to make a scratch bc that crusts and is not too sweet. *puts on mad scientist lab coat and gets to work*

19 replies
Nusi Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
Nusi Posted 5 Oct 2010 , 10:51am
post #2 of 20

actually the egg yolk is the one that makes it crust.. i use the wilton recipie so for that we use meringue powder to make it crust.. i usually dont like it to crust so i dont add the meringue powder..

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AnnieCahill Posted 5 Oct 2010 , 11:07am
post #3 of 20

It depends on the recipe. For the recipes I use, crusting has nothing to do with eggs or meringue powder. I don't use either in my American BC and it crusts. It mostly has to do with the fat to powdered sugar ratio in the icing. To answer your question, it's the powdered sugar that makes icing crust. FYI, meringue powder does contain additives (I think cornstarch and powdered sugar) so maybe some people use more of that in a recipe to get their icing to crust. But there are many recipes that don't require it for crusting.

You're going to be hard-pressed to find a crusting BC that isn't sweet. Because you have to add more powdered sugar, it's automatically going to be sweet. To cut the sweetness, you can dissolve a pinch of popcorn salt in your liquids before you add them to the buttercream.

The buttercream dream recipe on this site uses one stick each of both salted and unsalted butter. Charlotte's Whipped Cream recipe isn't too sweet, but it doesn't crust very well either. I think there is a crusting version out there somewhere where someone uses a lot more meringue powder.

I've never made the recipe to which you're referring but hopefully some of this info helped you.

AC

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Nusi Posted 5 Oct 2010 , 11:20am
post #4 of 20

meringue powder will make it crust more than normal.. not because of the addidtive.. because its egg white.. if you thinkg about the way you know the way egg white dry. although i find that my recipie will crust with/without it but it will just crust more with it.
and anyhow u only use one table spoon of meringue powder...

and another thing is wat do you use butter or crisco.. if u use butter it already contains watser so i t would crust less than crisco which is pure fat....

the sugar also makes it crust so u have to make a combination of crisco, powdered sugar and egg white/meringue powder to make it crust alot..
but honestly it is too sweet.. ohh and mind the brand of icing suger that u use.. i find that some are sweeter than others "i dont know why"

i generally use:
1cup of crisco
1lb of powdered sugar
1 tbs of meringue powder
tsp salt
tsp vanilla

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LindaF144a Posted 5 Oct 2010 , 11:24am
post #5 of 20
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nusi

actually the egg yolk is the one that makes it crust.. i use the wilton recipie so for that we use meringue powder to make it crust.. i usually dont like it to crust so i dont add the meringue powder..





This is not accurate. Meringue powder is egg white, not yolk. The yolk and the white are not the same even though they come from the same place. The yolk has all the fat. the egg white has none. Meringue powder added to the icing is not to make it crust, but to provide a stabilizing effect which especially helpful to first time cake people taking classes and why Wilton puts it in there class buttercream.

What makes a icing crust is the ratio of fat to sugar. The more sugar, the more you will get a crusted icing. Remember that you have fat in the yolk also.

let us know how it works for you. And i have almost repeated what the earlier poster said about the powdered sugar ratio. i am gulity of not reading all responses before I replied.

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tsal Posted 5 Oct 2010 , 2:09pm
post #6 of 20

I find it interesting that egg white would be responsible for crusting because I make SMBC and it has lots of egg white but does not crust.

I'm hoping the richness of the yolks in the neoclassic bc will offset the sweetness caused by the added sugar.

More sugar will also make it shelf-stable, i'm hoping.

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AnnieCahill Posted 5 Oct 2010 , 9:02pm
post #7 of 20

If your recipe involves raw egg whites then your BC should be refrigerated. Again, I'm not sure what the ingredients are, but I know that for meringue based buttercreams (or those that contain egg yolks, such as French buttercream), those should be refrigerated but served at room temperature. Adding powdered sugar to it is not going to improve the shelf stability.

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tsal Posted 5 Oct 2010 , 9:38pm
post #8 of 20

My SMBC uses raw egg whites, but I use pasteurized egg whites so I think that lends to it being more shelf stable. I have left it out for 8 hours without any issue.

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TrixieTreats Posted 5 Oct 2010 , 9:40pm
post #9 of 20

I think definitely the higher fat content due to the whole eggs in proportion to the sugar is what is preventing it from crusting. It will however make it much sweeter, which may or may not change the overall effect of this buttercream. I believe the amount of fat vs. sugar in any recipe is what causes it to crust or not crust. Liquid may also factor in, not sure exactly how much. Adding a bit of fine salt may help pinch back the sweetness as well.

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LindaF144a Posted 5 Oct 2010 , 9:47pm
post #10 of 20

I'm confused OP and you may need to clarify. Are you talking about adding PS to a butter cream made with whole eggs or egg whites?

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KimmyKakes4Me Posted 5 Oct 2010 , 9:54pm
post #11 of 20

This entire thread makes my head hurt.

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tsal Posted 5 Oct 2010 , 10:04pm
post #12 of 20

I originally posted about a recipe that uses egg yolks, but then there was a response about icing made with eggs having to be refrigerated so I mentioned my SMBC (although it wasn't mentioned in the original question).

Sorry for the confusion.

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Evoir Posted 5 Oct 2010 , 10:06pm
post #13 of 20
Quote:
Originally Posted by LindaF144

What makes a icing crust is the ratio of fat to sugar. The more sugar, the more you will get a crusted icing. Remember that you have fat in the yolk also.




But SMBC is butter and sugar (and no egg yolks) - from what you posted then SMBC should crust, right? If you added more liquefied, hot sugar - would it crust? Or do you mean powdered sugar only?

There must be some effect from the use of powdered vs melted sugar right?

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AnnieCahill Posted 6 Oct 2010 , 12:13am
post #14 of 20

Granulated sugar that you use in meringue buttercreams is pure sugar, while powdered sugar is ground and processed with cornstarch. It has to be powdered sugar for it to crust.

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GHOST_USER_NAME Posted 6 Oct 2010 , 12:41am
post #15 of 20
Quote:
Originally Posted by KimmyKakes4Me

This entire thread makes my head hurt.




Too funny! icon_lol.gif I was thinking the same thing, although I'm learning a lot from it icon_smile.gif

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Evoir Posted 7 Oct 2010 , 10:23am
post #16 of 20
Quote:
Originally Posted by AnnieCahill

Granulated sugar that you use in meringue buttercreams is pure sugar, while powdered sugar is ground and processed with cornstarch. It has to be powdered sugar for it to crust.




Hmmm I still don't know. My BC always crusts and I use pure icing sugar. I am in Australia and pure icing sugar is 100% sugar, whereas icing sugar mixture has cornstarch added. So....not sure its cornflour icon_confused.gif

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AnnieCahill Posted 7 Oct 2010 , 10:43am
post #17 of 20

I'm at a loss then. It must just be the fact that it's ground to a powder. I don't think adding more sugar syrup to a meringue buttercream is going to make it crust, because it's been boiled down to a syrup and the state has changed. I think that's the key.

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Evoir Posted 7 Oct 2010 , 10:53am
post #18 of 20

I think that's it. You know how baking a cake is all about coating each grain of flour with butter/fat? I reckon crusting is a mechanism of coating each tiny grain of powdered sugar with fat/butter. Well, maybe that'll be my theory for now!!!

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dynee Posted 7 Oct 2010 , 12:11pm
post #19 of 20

OK! Here is how it is. For my first wedding cake, I took SMBC made with meringue powder and gradually added powdered sugar until I had enough in it to make it crust. I would add a cup or two at first and smear it on a bowl and waited about a half hour and checked it. If it hadn't crusted, I added more ps. It took about 6 cups of ps to make it crust. I did it this way because I had made the SMBC for the filling but needed the outside icing to crust. I can definitely say it is the powdered sugar that made it crust. Can't say if it is the cornstarch in it or not.

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indydebi Posted 7 Oct 2010 , 1:51pm
post #20 of 20
Quote:
Originally Posted by dynee

I can definitely say it is the powdered sugar that made it crust.



It's the powdered sugar in relationship to the amount of fat.

More fat ..... less crusting.
More sugar ... more crusting.

I never use merinque powder in my icing and it crusts great, even in hot weather, so merinque powder has nothing to do with crusting. As mentioned above, any of this is dependent on the recipe and the type of icing being made, so there may be slight differences.

My post here is in the "In general......." column.

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