So lately everyone says to me "it was good, BUT a bit too sweet."
I just want to say "Well ya! Its Cake!!!!"
Anyway, what do I do about this? Can you even make cake not sweet?

The only answer I can come up with is based on a recent experience I had from a cake from the grocery store it was like eating cardboard and wax. So my conclusion was tha'ts is just because it home made and has much more flavour that people aren't used to. Maybe? Like frozen pizza as to homemade or powdered milk as opposed to fresh milk??

Either way how can I remedy this? Any suggestions?? I always use IndyDebi's BC and MFF, and generally stick to a WASC type cake with variations.

Thanks for any suggestions or similar experiences!

Ashley

I find that recipy's that have mostly sugar with no salted butter in them are too sweet. I always use a 50/50 (crisco/salted butter) with milk and PS always tastes right on the money. not to sweet not too blah! HTH

Chances are what your customers mostly mean is the icing is too sweet not necessarily the cake itself.I had this similar experience until I found WBH icing 6 years ago...I have never had a complaint since and many love the taste and whipped bakery texture of it...I would never go back to a crusting buttercream again..Maybe consider a new icing recipe.I don't think it's the cake!!

Yes, the salt cuts down on the sweetness!

I have posted the recipe in this thread...


http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-698351-wbh.html

Have you tried a IMBC or SMBC? Both are silky smooth, and not sweet at all. I've found that anyone who says icing is to sweet loves this type of icing...

I think it could be a combo of your icing and the mmf. I had the same feedback a few times when I used the same recipes you are using especially in cakes with rich fillings like peanut butter or cookies and cream. Mmf is VERY sweet compared to the brand names. I switched to a mixture of satin ice and mmf and I use an Italian meringue bc and people seem to like that combo much better.

Kiddiekakes: I clicked on that site, but did not find the recipe you were talking about. Am I missing something? Can you tell me where to find it there? It looked like another forum thread about this icing, but did not see the recipe. TIA.

thanks Katboss. I found it.

I usually add a pinch of salt and a pinch of cinnamon. Balances the flavor/sweetness well

SMBC or IMBC taste much lighter, and spread beautifully. They do not take any extra time, as I've made other icings/"buttercreams" with PS and people always love the Swiss which is the easiest and fastest to make IMO.

When I did a large wedding order of 150 cupcakes, the bride wanted swiss meringue after tasting all four different types of buttercreams. She did not like sweets and chose vanilla buttercream and vanilla cake. The cupcakes were all assorted flavours and the ones with the swiss were most popular.

Not sure about the WASC, I'm a scratch baker, but if you adjust your buttercreams and still hear the complaint, try a pound cake recipe instead. It's a more dense less sweet cake (and great for sculpting)

there is a scratch wasc recipe on this site. It is called a better white scratch cake by edencakes. Delicious!

I may get slammed for saying this as I know it is a favorite but I find the WASC recipe too sweet unless I use pudding for a filling to temper it.
For buttercream, I use a bit (about 1/2 tsp) of lemon juice or extract to temper the sweet; salt can be used.

I personally find Indydebi's buttercream too sweet. Paired with MMF I can see how some people might think it's too sweet.

The WBH is less sweet but you can't smooth it. I only use it for cupcakes.

Salt is the answer ... I started getting the same comments, so I still use the same recipe but I add some salt to it now. Balances out the sugar and the comments are gone.

On the cake part, I've built a whole business around scratch cakes not being overly sweet. Coupled with European buttercreams, in my opinion, they are more refined, and the combinations of icing/filling/cake meld together perfectly. Not a jolt of sugar from the icing and a totally different cake flavor.

Over the years, I know what to look for in recipes and I usually completely change them anyway. It just takes practice, failure, and patience. But the less sweet cake is definitely attainable. I must have 50 listed on my site between cakes and cupcakes.

Other bakeries in my area offer the "jolt of sweet" desserts. They obviously have a following. They've been in business for years. It's just not my style.