DA me!!! who knew there is such a difference in powdered sugar. ugh!!!
ive always used indebyi bc receipe. and never ever had a problem.
lately, to save money especially during the holiday baking season i started buying powederd sugar from sams club in bulk. 7pds for about $6.00 a bag i think the brand is bakers chef. much better price then getting dominos at grocery store for $3.00 a 2pd bag.
each time i made BC or RI it was never coming out right. but i thought it was me being so used to her receipe that i messed up measurements.
so tonight i was making a batch of BC and honestly it looked and tasted like paste. threw it out!
checked indebyi receipe and made another batch exactly. still had same result.
so i ran out to store and got dominos just to prove a point to me that no way can it matter the brand of sugar.
as im typing this i can already tell by the look its the way my BC used to be.
just tasted it....YUP!!! YUMMY!! looks and taste great.
never ever again will i purchase PS from sams. or use that brand. i gotta stick to what i know. i hate spending the extra money.
unfortunately ive already torted and crumbcoated my cakes which have the sams PS but i made a creamcheese frosting and it was tolerable. and figured it was my measurements or the new vanilla im using.
note: ive tried storebrand at: walmart, stop&shop, price chopper in order to save money. i now know i have to stick to dominos and pay the extra $$$$$$$
this is just another added stress factor on this cake!!!this cake has been nothing but problems for me since yesterday.
yea im feeling an all nighter coming up

I think it has something to do with Dominos being pure cane sugar!! Many of us have learned that lesson the hard way. I'm sure your cake turns out better than you ever expected!

so thats what it is?? *whacking myself on the head!
its pure sugar cane?
i was in no way advocating dominos only using the comparison for what i knew.
thank-you for enlightening me.

Some off brand powdered sugar contains a lot of corn starch. Stick with what you know is purely sugar and not filler.

I have used Indydebi's BC also except for this last time I used a white chocolate BC recipe. The last few times I had made Indydebi's BC all my local Walmart had was Walmart brand PS. They hardly ever have Dominoes in stock, so I usually have to by store brand. A few weeks ago when I made my youngest daughters bday cake Walmart had Dominoes in stock so I bought several boxes. The white chocolate BC made with dominoes PS went on the cake so smooth and the last few times I made Indydebi's BC with store brand PS I had a terrible time getting the icing on the cake to smooth. NOW, reading your post I definetly will have to buy Dominoes everytime I see it in the store, even if I have to keep it in the deep freeze.

i agree its probably what has been said. store brands are not pure cane sugar and there def seems like added cornstarch because of the taste and texture.
ive given up on the cake. its been nothing but problems since yesterday. which isnt all due to the sugar issue.
the cake was for my grandaughter birthday tomorrow. but her party isnt for 2 weeks. which i now know ill be better prepared.
we are having a small lunch tomorrow and i was surprising her with a monster high cake.
i hate store bought cakes ewwww!
ill just put the pre-made fondant pieces on the store bought cake.
tasting what was torted in the cake compared to what i just made-its such a noticable difference that there is no way i can serve it.
expensive and time consuming lesson learned for me tonight.

It has nothing to do with added cornstarch. All PS in the US contains about 3% cornstarch. It's the industry standard.

The difference comes from the fact that if the bag just says "sugar"--and not "cane sugar"--then it's beet sugar. It's much cheaper, varies a lot in texture & sweetness, and can have a grey cast to it.

I use Domino because it's readily available. I also like C& H when I can find it.

Rae

I have used Great Value (walmart brand), Dominos and C&H and to be honest I have never noticed a huge difference. Sometimes I do feel that with the more expensive PS I don't have to sift and if I don't with the Great Value then it is more lumpy. But flavor and spread-ablity... all seem the same no mater which brand. Maybe I have just been lucky?

I posted on this topic last night, but it seems to have been lost. I was only adding that the drying time in royal can also be adversely affected. I was doing 300 wedding cookies for a friend with Target's house brand (b/c they don't carry Domino's) and the icing would never set up. It was wet for hours! I had to scrape all of the cookies, go buy more Domino's and re-do everything! Interestingly enough, I have never had any problem using whatever brand of granulated sugar. It only seems to cause problems for me with the 10X. I am glad to hear about the difference between cane sugar and beet sugar. I will read the package next time i go to Target and see if they do, in fact, use beet sugar. I always assumed it was some kind of additive........ IN any event, it's only name-brand powdered sugar for me now.

If it helps and you have an Aldi's is in your area; I use their PS. It has the same taste as the Dominios. My instructor advised Aldi's PS instead of Dominos if you want to save $$$$. Just an idea. I understand about cost.

thanks for also mentioning the grey tone to the frosting. i noticed that too.
i have aldi near me, i may experiment with it.
figuring out the problem with my buttercream was just the 'icing on the cake' haha - with all the problems i was having. so around 1am it went into the trash.
after tasting the difference there was no way i could serve it.
does anyone know where i can buy pure sugar cane 10x PS in bulk?
i would hate to order online because the shipping would be massive.

I only use the Sams brand PS. I have never noticed a problem with it. The last time I used it I used Sharon Z's recipe and used the whole 7 lb bag straight from the bag without sifting it (in my new Cuisinart 7 qt mixer) and just loved it. My customers rave about my icing.

Maybe it's a regional thing, but I can only find C&H sugar in powdered form here. Which is fine because as long as it says 'pure cane' then you're good to go.

I have also found that some stores will sell the 1 lb boxes for a LOT less than the bagged 2lbs. I can get two 1lbs of boxed PS for a total of $1.72 vs the $2.25 -2.50 for the 2lb bag.

I do usually have to sift the boxed sugar, but lately I've noticed they started putting the boxed sugar in plastic liners and it's a lot less clumpy.

Imperial, Domino and C&H all work fine. I prefer C&H but will use the other two if that's all the store has. If all they have is the store brand, I have to go to another store. Walmart's generic especially has a weird taste to it sometimes.

Sams has a big bag of Domino but it's not 10x and does not work for icing.

This is very interesting. I buy all my powdered sugar from Costco, and I've never had a problem with taste or texture. I am going to look at the bag right now. I never knew there were different kinds of ps.

I just read an article on powdered sugar and because the cornstarch is not regulated by the FDA, the cheaper brands do pad their sugar with more cornstarch because it is cheaper.

On a little different subject, the Domino's granulated sugar at Sam's is irregular with quite a few coarse, oversized crystals. I use it in sugar work because it is completely liquified and melted, but I would never use it in baking. It is not marked differently in any way from the bags in the grocery store.

i checked the ingredients on both the sams (bakers chef) and dominos. both say sugar and cornstarch. but no exact amounts.
the only difference on packaging is that dominos says on the front 'pure cane sugar' where bakers chef does not.
today at my grandaughters party-we got into a very intense discussion about this.
after i explained what had and has been happening. some people agreed that there is a definate difference between store brands and ones that are marked pure sugar cane, while others said it was just my imagination. ummmm-how can i imagine paste-y taste and texture?? with grey-ish tones.???
and why the heck would i throw away a cake and waste all that money not to mention my time!
i have 2 more cakes to do this month-ill only use pure cane sugar from now on.
for those who store brands work for you-thats great! and i am kinda jealous

My Costco brand is called "US". It's a red, white and blue bag and it says "pure sugar". The ingredients list nothing but sugar. No constarch.

I never had a problem with target brand lessors brands though i have

thanks. i will try the costco brand. i like that it doesnt list cornstarch in the ingredients. and i dont think ive tried the target brand.
so glad i posted this-its very imformative to me.

It can't be pure sugar because it will clump. Even my organic PS contains organic tapioca starch.

And "pure sugar" does not give the type. If it were cane, I believe it would state it. If not stated and it's a store brand, it is probably not cane sugar.

In my earlier post, I should have stated that the FDA does not have any max amounts by law for the addition of cornstarch or any other anti-clumping agent. They also do not require the % to be stated.