I'm always looking for something different from the Wilton class buttercream and I got the Whimiscal Bakehouse book for Christmas. I was just wondering how their buttercream receipe was, and I guess generally all the recipes - are they good?

TIA!
Kim

I've tried it. I think it was the "house bc". I think there were two types in the book. I liked it..it wasn't as sweet as the regular bc I make. It doesn't crust though. I made it during the summer so it really was soft but everyone liked it.

I also like it for the flavor, but it is really soft and I find it hard to decorate with as the heat from your hands makes it really, really soft.

deb

I've used the house buttercream also. Everyone loved the texture and the taste. It seems more like a whipped buttercream and is light and fluffy but it doesn't crust. I'll still use it if I don't need a crusting buttercream.

Debbie

These two are my favorite buttercreams. My children especially like the house buttercream. You can pipe and make some some flowers with it, especially if you make them on a waxed paper and freeze them before you try placing them on the cake. The house is also great for filling in a fbct since it's softness allows it to smooth wonderfully. (I won't use for outlining though, I generally use canned chocolate for that.)

If anyone was wondering, I did make this buttercream. It was a whipped buttercream and absolutely delicious, but like previous posters said, it was very very soft. I wonder if reducing the amount of water would help to make it more stiff for piping?

I love it too and played around with adding powdered sugar to stiffen it. It was OK- sort of a cross btwn the WBHBC and standard BC.

I use the WBH House BC for all the cakes I do for a local party place - kids love it, it's not that sweet, it smooths beautifully .... downside - you can do basic decorating with it but it's not stiff enough for anything highly detailed (roses, stringwork, etc.) and it doesn't crust which is fine with me. I have played around with the water/sugar amounts and found that there isn't much of a difference except getting sweeter. In the summer I only use 3/4 cup of water and in the winter I use the full 1 cup.

Kaye's BC (the other recipe in WBH) is more of a SMBC/IMBC - not too sweet, butter flavour, better for adult cakes.

HTH

I just got this book from the international loan library system and I love this book. The decorating is so cute and the recipes all sound really good. My DH likes fluffy bc, so I thought I would try the house bc for his birthday cake.

It doesn't crust at all? I should have known...the boiling water. I wonder if I only put half the ps in the bowl, then pour the boiling water in like the recipe says, mix it a bit til it cools some, then add the other 1/2 of the ps...wonder if it would have a little bit of a crust then? Maybe I should just stop being so scared of a non crusting BC and just try it!

I got sooo side tracked...what about the cake recipes? Has anyone tried any of those? They sound really good.

I haven't tried the icing recipes but I have tried the Chocolate Butter Cake. It always gets rave reviews and so it is the chocolate cake recipe that I use. The only thing is that I have never gotten the same yield although I make the recipe right by the recipe.

I've also tried the Yellow Cake (I believe that's what it is called) and it was good also.

I use the house buttercream alot. It doesn't crust but for some reason I can make it smoother that some other recipes I've tried. have tried the freckled mocha cake. It was good with chocolate / nutella filling. love the book. I always get it out to look at the transfers she does.

I have it and have tried nearly every recipe in the book. Both buttercream recipes are good. They are soft, so I use a different recipe to make my decorators icing.

I love their BC recipes. I use one or the other for every cake I make and the book is a permanent fixture on my kitchen counter. If it's outside or humid, I use the house buttercream but everyone always prefers Kaye's. It's perfect. Kaye's is the best for smoothing but you have to chill it after the crumb coat to get a smooth finish, mine are never perfect but I don't aim for a completely smooth finish anyway. I've made roses with both recipes, it holds up great for piping borders and such but I've never done stringwork or anything too extreme.
As for cakes, i used to use her chocolate cake recipe but after trying hershey's cake recipe, substituting coffee for the water, I've never gone back. I also tried the freckled mocha cake but i couldn't figure out which icing and filling to use with it. I tried regular buttercream and coffee or chocolate, I forget which and neither were quite right. I always meant to try it again but never got around to it. I've also tried the lemon cake but wasn't a fan, it was too heavy but I think that's just my taste, I prefer oil based cakes or fluffier cakes rather than dense cakes.

Where can i get this recipe do they have a website? Thanks

Why would boiling water affect crusting? Just curious. Sharon from Sugarshack uses "hot" (not boiling) coffee creamer in her icing, and it crusts. Is ther something about boiling water that affects crusting. Sorry to turn the discussion, but I have just not heard of this before. Thanks!

I've used hot water for the house buttercream instead of boiling water and it doesn't make it crust, the icing is just grittier.

the crusting effect is due to the ratio of the fat (butter/shortening) to sugar. lots of sugar to the amount of fat will make the BC crust.