I'm considering trying my hand at RBC. Sometimes I see CCer's substitute butter for crisco in regular buttercream recipes. Would you do the same for RBC?

Thank you for any insight!

I am not sure that would work well. May not be stable enough, or stiffen up enough. Butter is way soft at room temp.

I use half butter and half shortening with good results and great taste!

I wouldn't have thought you could but good to know.

I use half butter, half crisco like ibmoser and it works great--nice shine and easy smoothing. It's what I covered my ornament cupcakes with--in my photos.

Rae

Thank you! Do you think this makes it less shiny or more?

ibmoser and BlakesCakes, how do you get it to the consistency to roll out? Just add more sugar?

I have used the RBC several times but the recipe I have is all crisco and it is so soft and kinda hard to cover cakes with without tearing.

I add PS until it acts like pie crust--crumbly, not too sticky, away from the side of the bowl, doesn't stick to my hands.

I roll it out between two sheets of parchment. If it releases easily, I turn it over and put it on the cake and gently pull off the parchment. If it sticks, I put it in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes and then it put it on the cake. The heat of my hands heals it nicely if it tears or has flaws. I put some cornstarch on my hands for the initial smoothing and then I put some PS on my hands for the final smoothing. As it warms to room temp, it tends to get shinier and then crusts over lightly. After it crusts, it's a bit harder to get it to heal itself, so it's important to get it right the first time!

Rae

Sorry but I have another question. What do you do if the cake is larger than the parchment paper? Like a sheet cake. Do you just piece it together?

I prefer the taste of the RBC but have a hard time getting it to coroperate on the larger cakes.

I purchased the clear vinyl by the yard at Wal-Mart that I use for larger pieces. I bought two yards and cut it into two one-yard pieces that are 44 inches wide and do exactly what Rae said. I keep the "sheets" of vinyl rolled onto a long cardboard tube to keep them crease-free.

I haven't had to cover anything larger than my parchment--I use quilon pan liners that are 16.4 x 24.4 inches--but I suppose you could roll out on a piece of vinyl (I use that for fondant and I get it at Wal-Mart for about $1.78/yd.). I think you'd want to coat that with cornstarch and of course, it would need to be small enough to fit in your fridge/freezer, if necessary.

Rae

Thanks so much for the info. I'll check my walmart and see what they have.