Hey guys,

I have a question about this shortening. I'm going to use Toba Garrett's Decorator's buttercream for a birthday cake next month. It's a mix of butter and shortening. The party is outside. Do you think I will have problems with the buttercream melting if I use this shortening? Will it affect the crusting?

Thanks!

annie

I can't answer about the melting part of your question but I used spectrum & butter in icing a few days ago & it was soooo smooth. It's more expensive than hi-ratio shortening so I won't use it regularly but it is a great substitute. It crusted great.

Hope someone else can answer about the melting

Thanks for your reply. I read in older posts that Spectrum is a bit softer because of the palm oil but I wasn't sure. I don't have enough time to order HR shortening and I can only get it in 50 lb blocks here. I'm not a fan of Crisco so I thought I'd give Spectrum a try.

I'm just worried about having a total meltdown with this icing. Also, does it take color well?

Thanks again!

AW

It won't have as high a melting point as high-ratio shortening, but it will have a higher melting point than butter. Shortening overall has a higher melting point than butter. Maybe you can leave the cake indoors until just before serving to also guarantee no frosting failures.

If in doubt, use all shortening. You can either add butter flavoring (I haven't tried adding flavoring, it is suggested here a lot though), or any other flavoring too such as clear vanilla extract, almond, etc. And it should not effect the crusting. Crusting is not affected by the kind of fat you use, but by the amount of sugar to fat. More sugar than fat guarantees crusting. And it has to be a high ratio too. I have Toby's book, but do not remember the frosting recipe. But it should crust.

I use Spectrum over Crisco. I love it. I feel it has a clean feel on the mouth and does not leave that greasy feeling.

Yep, it is expensive. But I like the taste of palm oil over soybean oil, so I use Spectrum.

Maybe this will help you--Spectrum has a melting point of 98 degrees, whereas Crisco starts to melt at 118...sorry I can't remember the melting point of Sweetex, but it's higher than Crisco. Butter melts at 85 degrees.

Spectrum has a nice clean taste, but it is much softer than Crisco or hi ratio. I've used it a number of times for someone with a soy allergy. I didn't have any trouble with coloring it, although I wasn't trying to make deep colors.

Thanks for your reply. I can't remember how much our local grocer is charging for the Spectrum, but I'm not in a spot right now to spend $70 on a 50 lb block of HR (where would I even store all that? LOL ).

I haven't used Toba's recipe before, but I wanted to give it a try. It does have more butter than shortening, so maybe I'll just do equal amounts. I usually make IMBC, but it's for a kid's birthday and I know he likes the sweeter icing.

Thanks again for your help!

Annie

If you are looking for a recipe with equal amounts of butter and shortening, try Edna DeLaCruz's (tonedna) recipe. It is devine! I believe she lives in Florida, so her recipe must do well in the heat. Good luck!

Thanks again for all your replies. I will be coloring it pretty deep, as it's an underwater themed cake. The party is in a park so it will be setting out for a while. I think I can do equal amounts butter and Spectrum so it will be more heat stable. I'm just not a fan of all shortening icings and I hate Wilton's butter flavoring.

Thanks again ya'll!

LindaF144a, Spectrum has the nominal melting point listed on their website. It is listed as 36-38 C (96.8 - 100.4 F). I would list the link, but it will probably get blocked, so Google it and it will come right up.

http://www.spectrumingredients.com/product/shortening/palm_allpurp.html

This is all great help. Thank you. It's all good to know.

I love Spectrum shortening! Though it is slightly softer than Crisco, it is not greasy at all. I use it to make an all-shortening chocolate frosting for cupcakes and it is so silky smooth I have had someone ask me if it was chocolate SMBC!

In my regular non-crusting BC I still add Crisco to the butter because I can't tell the difference. I would like to test Spectrum against Hi-ratio shortening, though, and see which works better for my recipes and the cost.

Is the spectrum shortening white as well or is it an off color?  Thinking about trying as well.  Thanks