Timeline for Getting rid of a commercial/plastic taste in icing?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
14 events
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| May 31, 2011 at 16:18 | comment | added | Joe | @Aaronut : it's not a part of the question? "I have been taking a cake decorating course that requires me to make this buttercream icing because, being Wilton, they claim that no other icing gets stiff enough to make their decorations, and that other icings won't crust the way this does" ... and I admit, I haven't specifically tested the gelatin recipe, but if it doesn't crust / set up the right way, it's not going to work for this application. | |
| May 31, 2011 at 3:07 | comment | added | Aaronut | @Joe: Yes, those are good points, although not directly the subject of the question (which was just about general stiffness). It's actually the sugar that makes it crust; if that's really important then you don't need meringue powder, just a whole lot of sugar. Here's one such recipe. For my money, Italian meringue buttercreams are pretty easy to smooth out with a spatula, and as for molding, I agree that it would be a problem with a 100% butter recipe, but not with 50% shortening. | |
| May 31, 2011 at 2:29 | comment | added | Joe | @Aaronut : I don't know how much work you've done with icing ... but the various Wilton recipies don't just set up all at once, they crust up first, while the inside is still a little soft. This allows a few interesting tricks -- once it's crusted up, you can place a sheet of wax paper on it, and work out any spatula marks. For flowers, if you move 'em at the right time, they'll hold their shape, but can be reformed slightly without the colors running. | |
| May 26, 2011 at 19:12 | comment | added | Aaronut | @Ashley: Definitely the unflavoured, powdered, Knox-type gelatin; you don't want a Jell-O flavoured icing. If you've never used gelatin before then I would start experimenting with a small amount, just to get a feel for how it behaves. | |
| May 26, 2011 at 19:10 | comment | added | Aaronut | @Joe: I honestly cannot understand your objections. Butter and shortening also stiffen as they cool but so what? Yes, you want a specific stiffness, which you achieve with a specific ratio of gelatin. If it gets too stiff (which won't happen with the correct ratio), you apply a little heat and move on. I'm not a cake decorator but I've made several gels of the exact consistency you're talking about. If gelatin is too finicky or not stiff enough then use agar. It might take a few tries playing with the ratio to get it right, but controlling viscosity is not a difficult problem nowadays. | |
| May 26, 2011 at 17:11 | comment | added | Joe | @Aaronut : gelatin sets as it cools, which is going to have much different characteristics as you're working with a flower nail. You don't just want to stiffen the icing, you want a specific stiffness (and you generally mix a stiff batch, then pull some to loosen up, as you often need multiple consistencies to work with). And you want it to crust up a little as you're working it for some techniques, and I really don't think you're going to be able to pull that off with gelatin. And gum paste is a completely different style of flower making, which has no basis on what's being asked here. | |
| May 26, 2011 at 15:24 | comment | added | user3058 | @Aaronut: When you say gelatin, I am assuming you mean the unflavoured packets that you mix with water? I want to make sure that when I try this, I get the right thing, and I have never used gelatin (other than making flavoured jello!) | |
| May 26, 2011 at 11:21 | comment | added | Aaronut | @Joe: I'm well aware of that, which is why I put in the paragraph about gelatin at the end. The only reason the original recipe works so well is because it's basically nothing but shortening softened up with a tiny bit of liquid. If you're going to make tasteless buttercream then you might as well just bite the bullet and go with gum paste, which probably tastes better anyway. But it's trivially easy to stiffen any kind of cream preparation (including buttercream) with gelatin, up to the point where you can't even get it out of the bag. | |
| May 26, 2011 at 8:46 | comment | added | Joe | Your suggestions might work fine for just spreading frosting on a cake, or even piping, but if you're going to be trying to make flowers, getting the right stiffness is very important. If it is too soft, it'll kinda balloon out as it leaves the tip of the bag, which will make your nice, delicate flowers look like play doh blobs | |
| May 26, 2011 at 3:37 | vote | accept | CommunityBot | ||
| May 26, 2011 at 3:37 | comment | added | user3058 | Oh, this is awesomely helpful. I was using real, pure vanilla flavouring, but kept their butter flavouring (as the instructor told me it would make the shortening taste like butter.) I doubted it was actually anything tasty, though, as it smelled like chemicals. Now I know better. :) | |
| May 25, 2011 at 19:41 | history | edited | Aaronut | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 173 characters in body; added 3 characters in body
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| May 25, 2011 at 18:49 | comment | added | Sobachatina | @Aaronut- Nice answer. | |
| May 25, 2011 at 18:45 | history | answered | Aaronut | CC BY-SA 3.0 |