What Kind Of Frosting Do You Use On Your Cupcakes?
Baking By frogcooke Updated 12 Aug 2010 , 6:49pm by flourgirlz
I want to attempt to actually make my own BC for some cupcakes. But I was curious as which is a good recipe to use for them. Ive never made BC from scratch before.
I do have indydebi's recipe printed out. But im not sure of my feelings towards crisco based icing. I dont think I've ever bought crisco before yesterday. haha.
Also it uses milk in the recipe, can i sub some out for another liquid or will it make it not as creamy tasting??
Any other good recipes you guys reccomend?
I use Indy's recipe all the time. It tastes really good and not greasy in the mouth like other crisco-based recipes.
You can sub something else for some of the milk if you want to. The milk in it doesn't require refrigeration...the sugar in the recipe acts as a preservative. I substitute alcohol for some of the milk sometimes...rum, bourbon or amaretto are all good, but the bourbon can be a little overwhelming sometimes.
I don't use the Indydeb recipe for cupcakes. The only time I use her recipe is if I need something for high heat. So unless the are setting out in the heat for a long time, you could try any other recipe, such as smbc, imbc, American buttercream.
The only thing I believe would be a problem is cherry juice and butter. I wonder how they would taste together. Is the cherry juice sweetened? That will affect the taste. Is it pure cherry juice or is it a mixture of fruit juices. Most fruit juices start with apple juice as a base.
When I mix fruit with my frosting I use real fruit and make a purée and then put it through a sieve to get rid of the seeds and pulp. Of course with cherries you have to pit them first.
To each his own. But I prefer to have different frostings that work for different purposes. So that is why I use different frostings depending on what I am making and how the cake or cupcakes are handled. So far this summer I have not had a need for a high heat or humidity frosting.
I have never made that smbc...have to try that one too. There are a few different bc recipes I want to try. I don't do cakes for a living...no way enough of experience for that!!!! I do it for fun and I learn more from trial and error right now.
I think I would try using a little of the marichino cherry juice and see what happens...however..the more i think and try to picture it...I think your idea LindaF144 might be better...flavor and color wise. Imagine...2 of the most important factors in doing cakes! ( I am not saying there are only 2...just wanted to clarify...of the list of important factors...i just named 2) ugh! hopefully u know what i mean!
Anyways...I wouldn't even need the juice from the cherries due to the fact that you will get the juice (a much better juice I might add) from when u puree the cherries.
WHAT A WONDERFUL TIP YOU GAVE OUT LINDAF144!
I used to use an all-butter mousseline exclusively but i have seen the light! Now I too use different frostings for different situations. E.g. ganache under fondant, indydebi for a "fondant look" bc cake. For cupcakes I recently discovered Mary Kay frosting in either vanilla or chocolate tastes wonderful. Ditto with an all butter powdered sugar buttercream.
If I'm making specialty cupcakes though, I stick to the classic pairings, eg. cream cheese on red velvet and carrot cake.
its unsweetened black cherry juice, no apple juice as a base. I get it in the health food aisle 
They have a bunch of types of juices like that, all natural.
its been brutally humid here this summer. today its so sticky out you can feel the thickness in the air.
This will give me a chance to try out her recipe, I keep seeing people mention it. It'll be my first try at a scratch butter cream.
But I'll def try some other recipes too at some point and see which i like for what. I only bake now and then, mainly for family/friends. But I love doing it!
We had our hottest day so far at the end of last month. It was like 94 with humidity. The meteorologists where saying it was going to feel like 100 degrees! It was the perfect day to be in a pool all day, but of course that was the day I had to help friends of ours with their son's graduation party!!! I thought I was going to die!!! It was terrible!!!
Yeah the humidity has been really bad here. Also the fact my poor single ac doesnt get to the kitchen very well. I was making cake truffles... the chocolate would not set up unless i put it in the fridge.
luckily its been slightly cooler the past few days, but muggy as heck.
My most go to bc:
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup hi ratio shortening
8 cups pd. sugar
3 T. flavoring (I usually use 2t. vanilla and 1t. almond) but I have done many others)
1/2 t. salt
whole milk as needed
Holds up in high heat!!
Doesn't need refridgeration because of the mixture of sugar and hi ratio shortening.
I live in upstate NY and it has been muggy here too. But I have AC, so that helps when making sweets like cakes and frostings.
It you are serving your cupcakes outside you can try either Indydeb's for that. Just be sure to thoroughly beat the crisco first. Mamawrobin suggests a good 10 minutes before and 15 or so afterwards. It would be in your best interest to search for Mamawrobin and read what she says about this frosting to get a real good result.
A couple of weeks age when it was blazing hot and humid I took cupcakes to a grad party and t hey were outside, but in the shade with some kept in the house. They didn't last long when they were out,but they didn't get eaten immediately either. They had a cream cheese/butter frosting and held up fine. And tasted god too. 
Good luck and let us know how it came out.
hi ratio shortening is shortening that has hydrogenerated fat (or however it is spelled!) in it. Because of this type of fat (trans fat BTW) it acts differently than Crisco. However with Indydeb's recipe and adding the Dream Whip it has the same ingredients in it (hydrogenerated fat) so therefore you will get the same results using Crisco and Dream Whip with it.
Hi-ratio fat is hard to find. I find it only sold in cake decorating stores. If there is one near you, then you can get your hands on it and try some.
Trans fat is the other reason why I steer away from this recipe and hi-ratio shortening. It's a personal thing and I will use it for anybody else who wants it, meaning my family. But lately I haven't been using it and the kids are not any wiser that I am actually cooking "healthy". Like butter is healthier. , but it healthier than transfat. BTW, Crisco does have hydrogenerated fat. It does state that is doesn't, but read the ingredients. It is in there. By law the small amount they use can be classified as transfat free, but it isn't. It just doesn't have enough to act the same way as hi-ratio, thus the reason why the Dream Whip is so important in Indydeb's recipe. If you leave that out, then you are not using her recipe.
HTH
frogcooke,
I'm from MA also and I just used Indy's on a cake 2 Saturday's ago. (That really hot and humid Saturday) and had it outside for a while. It stayed pretty well !!! I like working with hers too. 
yeah ive been doing the healthy kick thing that past few months. and this last month ive been experimenting with things since i found this site. D: tsk tsk tsk.
Yeah Im not huge on the trans fat thing and try to sat away from that, and even sugar. HA! I use agave in my normal everyday foods. Mainly wheat products too.
But man I had to try some cherry pink lemonade cupcakes, and it gave me an excuse to use the icing recipe to see how it is. For when i do some cakes or cupcakes for other people.
So far I really like it. Tastes pretty good as well, didnt seem to leave residue in my mouth which i figured it might from all the crisco. I have to say, i did cringe a bit while glopping it into the bowl. LOL
Yeah I read a few posts prior and remembered about beating the crisco and stuff first for a while. I think total time was probably about 20 minutes or so. I have a hand mixer so... its ~interesting. ha! Probably could have beat it a bit more after, but all is good. These are just something im trying.
I will say, i didnt use very much lemonade in it but it still came through. I think maybe some more cherry flavor would be good, maybe a bit of cherry flavoring when i get it in the mail, if i make these again.
I'm sure there is no reason why you can't add it now, unless you have frosted the cupcakes already.
I looked for Indy's buttercream recipe but couldn't find it... can someone post the link for me?
crisco and shortening isn't readily available in Ausralia as it is in the US. So we've only ever used butter in our buttercreams (I'm speaking for home bakers). Having said that, it is becoming more available at specialty stores now. I think it's whatever you're used to using.
I did a Wilton course earlier this year and the teacher insisted we buy shortening from her and use the Wilton recipe, which we did. Most of us couldn't get our head around the idea of using shortening only because we all grew up using and seeing butter being used. Lol except for a few of the youngens, they couldn't stop eating it by the spoonful! This is the recipe I've always used:
250g butter
3 cups icing/powder sugar
approx 4 tbs milk
vanilla to taste
Beat butter till light in colour, add 1/2 the sugar and 2tbs of milk, mix on med or till llight and fluffy, add remaining sugar, vanilla and more milk if required. Freezes really well. For chocolate add 2/3 cup cocoa and a bit more milk to reach constistancy required.
The other day I mushed a handfull of frozen raspberries thru a sieve and added the juice to buttercream, Yum!!!
I also use IMBC, yum! can't get enough of the stuff! especially on coconut cake!!
I don't like the taste of all crisco/shortening recipes but I usually don't have heat/humidity issues. I use SeriousCakes bc recipe. I use that recipe all the time to frost cupcakes and sheet cakes. It's the best recipe I've found and it tastes fantastic.
Today I made Chai Spice Cupakes with Cinnamon Buttercream and Margarita Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream. When I do cuppies, I usually only do about 2 dozen of each flavor so I make just enough buttercreams to cover them so I don't have a lot of waste. I cream 1 stick of real butter until light and fluffy, add 3 and 3/4 cups PS with whatever flavorings, a pinch of popcorn salt and a few tablespoons of liquid. Beat on medium speed until well combined and the consistency you want. The flavorings and liquids are endless and I love seeing what I can come up with.
I looked for Indy's buttercream recipe but couldn't find it... can someone post the link for me?
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/6992/indydebis-crisco-based-buttercream-icing
Hope this works for you!
[/quote]http://cakecentral.com/recipes/6992/indydebis-crisco-based-buttercream-icing
Hope this works for you![/quote]
Thanks so much! I'm saving it now!!
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