Brand new to cake decorating, and I'm only on Class #2 of the Wilton Course 1. For my first cake, made after the first class, I followed the recipe in the book for class buttercream frosting, and it tasted weird. I figured I did something wrong with the flavoring. Then I made the frosting again, followed the recipe exactly, and it still tasted just awful. Brought it to class and instructor agreed with me. My 6-year-old niece spit it out.

I'm new to decorating, but I'm a very experienced cook and baker. I don't think Wilton class frosting is supposed to taste great, but everyone else in the class had at least made edible frosting. Why did mine suck? Why did it taste like a**? (My best friend asked, "Well, Gin, did you use vanilla, butter or a** flavor?")

Then I took a good hard sniff of the brand new can of crisco I used. And there it was. A bad smell, and probably a worse taste. Returned the can to the store and got my money back.

Anyone else ever had frosting ruined by bad shortening? Is this a common thing?

I taught the Wilton courses for 3 years and never experienced that! Shortening obviously can go bad, but I don't think it's a common thing at all. In class I followed the Wilton recipe and for flavoring used half almond, half vanilla and many people loved it. I think you'll find it will be much better with a new can of the Crisco! Best wishes for a better experience!

After reading your first paragraph, I was going to say it's probably the shortening . Sorry this happened to you. I've had it happen too, and it is gross, and makes things completely inedible. But, I only did this ONCE. Now I always smell it first. I learned my lesson the hard way, as did you (unfortuntely). But, I guarentee you will never do this again. Best wishes and welcome to CC.

Wilton frosting tastes like @$$.

I did buy a can of Crisco that was rancid. Rancid oil can make you sick so you really need to be careful. It is easy to smell though, that yucky odor, and I notice that bad shortening is not snow white but tends to yellow slightly in color.

I try to buy it now from stores that have a high turnover like Walmart so I know it has not been sitting on the shelf for very long. Never buy it from a discount store or "bent can" store or any time you don't know how old it is. Storage in a dark, cool place with the lid on tight will help prevent it from going bad too quickly.

I never knew this was possible. It just gave me a thought that I should always check my shortening once I open it. Just make sure you don't touch any type fecal matter or anything associated with it while baking since that could be another cause.

Yeah, don't play with poop when you're making cakes!

I had Wilton clear vanilla go bad on me once. My buttercream tasted like soap! I couldn't smell it from the bottle either, but when I tasted it, yep...it tasted like soap. Back to real vanilla. So what if the cake isn't brite brite white.

From the original poster: I made good frosting today! Used some new shortening - the bar-shaped kind (an expensive way to buy it, but it will be a while before I trust cans again) - and the frosting turned out just fine.

Oh, the bad can of crisco came from walmart! It wasn't rancid. It just had kind of an industrial smell.

Have fun with the Wilton classes, and post pics of your projects!!
And welcome !!!

I had dryer sheet flavored frosting once. It was disgusting. I had a new box of dryer sheets in the same closet as an unopened bag of powdered sugar (several shelves away). The sugar absorbed the scent of the dryer sheets through the bag. Not only do I make sure to not have anything like that near my food anymore, I also only buy the powdered sugar in the 1lb boxes. The box seems to keep out the odors from the sugar better. It may cost more but my frosting is delicious now!

As for shortening I like to buy the stop and shop generic brand. Never had a problem with it, and it still has trans fat in it which is hard to find nowadays. I hope they don't change the formula anytime soon.

OK, just gotta ask, what does a** flavor taste like????

Maybe you can get some special insurance that covers poo-flinging monkey-made cakes?

You guys are hilarious!

sarahpierce - I love your signature!!! Too cute

Shortening can go bad......

Jen