I made sugarshack's icing, and it is separating...or SOMETHING I've used an entire container of Wilton's color on about 1 cup if icing. The icing looks (and kinda feels) grainy, and whitish-I can see the shortening.
HELP!

I haven't tried her recipe yet but I did make some icing the weekend and that EXACT same thing happened!!! I was sooo mad! I added a little more powdered sugar and that helped some. Did you use crisco?

No, I used the store brand...2.5 gms trans fat. I just don't know. On the up side tho, it seems to smooth like magic!

I've used Sugar Shack's recipe that last 2 times and had no problems at all. I didn't use hi-ratio though, just Crisco.

Maybe the shortening or powdered sugar was bad.

mmmmm... never had this happen before. I only use her icing. I do use HR shortening but have used crisco before. I will say that her icing has never bled colors on me... like dark colors being piped onto white ones... always stays the right way. I hope you will try it again, you will love it!

I've never had problems with her icing either. It takes color great for me and doesn't bleed, like SugarBakerz stated. I also used Crisco with no trans-fat.

I use sugarshack's recipe all of the time (with hi-ratio shortening) and never have had any problems with it taking colors. I wonder what happened? Good luck!

thank you all...I will certainly try her icing again
BTW, what flavorings do y'all like with this icing?

The only one I've ever tried is the Wedding Bouquet. It's De-Lish!

Do you know how (if) the Wedding Bouquet tastes different than Creme Bouquet (which I LOVE)?
This particular customer wanted just "butter" buttercream. I use the CK flavors, and it (Sugarshack's icing) tasted pretty good with just the butter flavor, altho I'm not a fan of the taste of any icing really

I actually just bought some Creme Bouquet, but I haven't tried it yet. It smells more like lemon to me.

creme boquet tastes more like lemon too! bought two bottles a year ago before i realized this and now the only time i feel it's okay to use it is when i have a citrusy type cake. not what i would use on everyday cakes, especially chocolate. to each his own i guess.

as for the icing not taking color and seperating...i too use sharon's recipe. however, when i use high-ratio shortening everything seems to work perfectly. but, when i mix half high-ratio to half crisco or even do all crisco, i get the problem with coloring coming out right. it either looks separated as you stated above or it is both seperated and grainy.

i have thrown out two seperate recipes of icing since using her recipe. both were due to being very grainy, almost like that funky looking modeling clay that kids use these days (the kind that looks like styrofoam balls - what is it called...floam?)

the first time this happened i had mixed accordingly and it looked really pretty but it seemed to be too thick so i dipped back into my hot water/creamer mixture and added another TBS or two into the icing and continued mixing. it was at that point that the texture of the icing got really grainy looking. after i tossed the icing in the garbage (all 5 cups of shortening and almost 3 whole bags of powdered sugar wasted), i tried a new batch and went for the hot water/creamer mixture again and noticed it had grease "balls" or clumps stuck all around the inside of the glass measuring cup i mixed it in. i deduced that it must have been the fact that the mixture wasn't still at near-boiling temp when i added it to my icing and therefore caused the oil in it to clump up. well, at least that is what i figured it had to be.

so, i poured the mixture out and used straight water and flavoring - no creamer this time - and it turned out perfect. now i don't use the creamer.

Thank you for the info!! I just finished watching one of her videos and I'm ready to try this out! I will try it with and without the creamer (but will make sure it is hot!)

because i haven't yet ordered any of the wedding bouqet i use vanilla and almond. i only use half of what her recipe calls for. where the recipe calls for 11-12 TBS of the liquid creamer mixture, I use 12 TBS of just hot water and then only 2 TBS of flavoring - usually all Almond, but sometimes I'll do 1 1/2 almond and 1/2 vanilla - this is just because i don't personally like too much almond flavor and the clear vanilla doesn't quite make me that happy either...

my customers like the new recipe as do i. i usually use a little over 2 and a half bags of powdered suger (2lb bags).

i do love the recipe when i get it right because it is so smooth. but i've found that when i only need half of the icing for coloring, i always end up stirring air bubbles into it while mixing the color. if i could use the whole recipe in one color that would be great because i'd just add it when i'm creaming the shortening and liquids together...but i rarely have a cake large enough to use a whole recipe.

as for shelf life, it seems to start smelling a little "off" about 5 or 6 days in (that's at room temp). about 2 weeks in the fridge.

Well, I did pm Sharon, and good news if you want to make up a big batch...she said shelf life is "weeks on the counter top, indefinitely in fridge or freezer".
So, I'm off in search of Sweetex
I'll try one batch to start with, and hope it lasts without, as you say fytar, smelling "off".
Happy Fourth of July to you all.
Kathy