OK... I have struggled to find an icing I can decorate with that people will like. Fondant... they don't like the texture and too sweet, xxx buttercream too sweet and consistency not liked. Now I love the merengue buttercreams but I have been told that people don't like all that butter...filmy feel in the mouth. What the heck is left???? I get so frustrated....

What do those NY Italian bakeries use? It's light, creamy tasting and they decorate with it too........?

You are asking the same question I have had for a loooooooong time!!! What I thought was my best icing doesn't smooth well, so I have trouble getting those beautiful cakes. The ones based with lots of Crisco do not taste good..... the IMBC tastes like a stick a butta....

I want to know what Duff uses too....and all the others. I swear, I think alot of them use bucket icing...maybe? Great question - I'll be watching it!!

Have you tried the Whimsical Bakehouse House buttercream recipe? If you do a forum search, I think the recipe is on here somewhere. I really like it...fluffy and not too sweet. It also makes a great filling when mixed with other things (oreos, etc!). Maybe you could try that? Hope that helps!

I have not tried WBH bc yet but isn't that another merengue icing with lots of butter? I like those icings myself but I am having trouble with folks not liking that buttery/filmy feel in their mouth. With fondant they don't like taste or texture...any fondant, with xxx bc, they don't like how sweet it is or that xxx feel & taste... w/merengue icings..cooked syrup, egg whites or yolks or whole eggs & lots of butter... well...as stated above. I want to scream and throw the cake at them! LOL! It really limits what you can decorate with... I like all those icings but favor merengue and ganache. I may have to try the one that uses a cooked flour type mixture first. But I want to use regular granulated sugar... Still in search of "The Icing Grail"... thank you!

No...the house buttercream is not a meringue based buttercream (Kaye's buttercream from the same book is). I really like this recipe...it is not too sweet, fluffy, and goes with everything! Surprisingly, it also doesn't leave that greasy feeling in your mouth (which I hate!) You can also add lots of things to it to make a filling (dulce de leche, chocolate, etc). Here's the recipe:

Whimsical Bake House Buttercream

In mixer bowl, stir together:

6 cups powdered sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla

Using whip attachment, add and whip on low speed:

1 cup boiling water (3/4 cup on hot days)

Whip until smooth and is cool.

Add and whip until smooth again:

2 3/4 cup hi-ratio shortening or regular vegetable shortening
6oz (1 1/2 sticks) butter; slightly chilled and cut into 1" pieces

Turn up mixer to medium-high. Whip until double in volume and is light and fluffy. About 10-20 minutes. recipe will almost fill a 5qt mixer bowl when done.

Makes 9 1/2 cups

For chocolate buttercream exchange 1 cup of powdered sugar for powdered cocoa.

That WBH buttercream sounds very interesting. I have to bake a cake and try it out (been looking for an excuse to bake all day )

I thought the butter taste of IMBC was overwhelming too the first time I made it, but when you use unsalted butter and put in melted and cooled white chocolate, it's awesome.

Icings made with Crisco, a lot of the time, tend to have a greasier feel because Crisco and shortenings have a higher melting temperature than butter. Butter melts basically at body temperature, and Crisco around 140 I think, which is why shortening icings feel greasy.

Try the white chocolate IMBC....unsalted butter. It's fabulous.

the WBH house BC was my first successful attempt at BC. I like it too because it's not too sweet and it's fluffy. You can pipe with it too. But I have to say that SMBC is really the best tasting one I've tried so far. I just love it.

I swear by hi-ratio shortening.. and Sharon's Sugarshack buttercream and icing technique....


THE BEST!!!!

I didn't realize there were so many more postings to this. Cool.... I haven't tried that WBH bc icing. I'll give it a shot. Thanks. I made the WBH spice cake the other day. It has buttermilk in it and it is wonderful. Make the house smell like Fall. I used a spicy rum merengue icing that uses whole eggs. I thought it was amazing but some thought too buttery. I did flower piping and borders with Colette's bc and tinted it with a bit of brown and added spices to that too. It was yummy. Also it was my first time using upside down method to ice a cake. I am sold. I made a couple of mistakes but in all I got this amazing smooth top. The merengue icings work great with this technique.

the mums are gold and like a reddish brown (I wanted maroon).

I can't open the picture I posted in this thread. I posted the cake in my pics. Doesn't look that special but it is amazingly smooth and it was delicious.

I love sugar shack's recipe but I changed a few things. Instead of using powdered non dairy creamer, I use the liquid french vanilla non dairy creamer and heat that up. It has an awesome vanilla taste. I also can't get my hands on her flavoring or high ratio shortening so I just use vanilla and a 1:1 ratio of shortening (w/ trans fat) and unsalted margarine. Fleischmans makes the unsalted one. It's yummy. The only thing is with the vanilla and the margarine it is an off white ivory color - it's not pure white.