Real Buttercream Is Bleeding. Tips Please

Decorating By amartin1900 Updated 27 Apr 2015 , 10:56pm by amartin1900

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amartin1900 Posted 30 Jul 2014 , 4:53pm
post #1 of 5

AI have never incountered this issue to this degree in ten years. This new bakery I decorate for is a little different. Buttercream:1/4 shortenening, 3/4 butter, water Colors: americolor Icings are always kept in the refrigerator and usually mixed an hour prior to use Cake is frozen night before, iced and decorated thursday for friday, friday for saturday and sunday. At other places I usually base ice and decorate the next day. Promptly after decorating it is boxed and refrigerated. At other places I would just leave in refrigerator until a few hours prior to pick up.

The owner is awesome in her endeavor to keep everything last minute, sealed and fresh but 3out of 4 cakes are bleeding. What should I change first? Thank you all for your help!

4 replies
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DeniseNH Posted 30 Jul 2014 , 6:31pm
post #2 of 5

Add a heaping tablespoon of plain old white flour to each batch of icing and use milk instead of water.  Let us know how this works for you.  I'm sure it will solve your problem but if it doesn't use less butter and more Crisco - in other words, half and half of each.

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amartin1900 Posted 30 Jul 2014 , 6:59pm
post #3 of 5

AWill these alter the flavor? do you leave your icing out or refrigerate it?

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DeniseNH Posted 30 Jul 2014 , 7:35pm
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No - but it will alter the texture a little, making the icing a little stiffer and less likely to bleed.  Back in "The Day" all decorators use to use milk to create colored icing with and prevent separation of the color in your icing bag and those dreaded little white dots in the icing where crisco didn't mix well with the other ingredients because water and oil simply don't mix well.  Any bleeding I've gotten means your icing is too soft.

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amartin1900 Posted 27 Apr 2015 , 10:56pm
post #5 of 5

Just to finish this post, it was the cold frosting did not allow the color to flow thru the buttercream. So as you can imagine, when it did come to room temperature, the BC had more color than needed and add humidity of a new commercial refrigerator to it and bam! A bleeding cake. 

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