I've tried SO hard to keep powdered sugar from flying around my kitchen, but it's futile... and ant season is approaching thus the gallons of vin/water spray that I incessantly use while baking/icing.

Show your support (please), because if I'm the only one who can't make BC without a HUGE mess (even with the mixing shield and wet paper towels over the mixer) I give up...

I got a cuisinart mixer, and the pouring shield snaps down and almost totally covers the bowl. So I was all excited, thinking that the sugar cloud would be contained...But then when I raised the head of the mixer up, the sugar that had stuck to the shield all poured off and created a godawful mess

So now I whack the shield on the top to shake the sugar off, adn most of it stays in the bowl. But it's still messy. Nothing that you do will prevent it from totally happening, so don't feel too bad! Maybe mix REEEEALY slow to start out.

I am with you K2! I hate the sugar dust too! Do you have a big white flour sack kitchen towel? I get one of these wet, wring it out really good, completely cover your KA with it and crank it up to 6 or whatever! The dampness of the towel attracts and catches all of the sugar cloud. Oh you will still have a little mess just getting to the point of having all the ps in the bowl , but, the flour sack towel works really well and sure cuts down on the end result mess of the ps.

Sister, I feel your pain!! I am seriously contemplating buying my fondant instead of making it just b/c of that reason. The only problem is I'm cheap & making my own is WAAAAY cheaper.I can't believe how quickly that stuff spreads. It's an ingredient virus.

me...me!! I detest it. I look like Yeti after a wild batch of ps.

I'm with Teecakes - flour sack towels are the way to go! I always drape my mixer with one - keeps batter splatter at bay too!

Bec

My motto is "If I'm not making a mess, I must be doing something wrong!" lol

I HATE that mess!!! But I have to giggle a little bit every time I make it if I think of my neat freak mother in law seeing the sugar all over. If you spill a little sugar on her counter mixing a cup of coffee she jumps up right away to scrub down the whole counter. I think her head would explode at a vision of my kitchen post-buttercream mixing! LOL

It's always fun to tell a customer who comes in the shop, "Wait a second, I have to wipe the sugar off of my glasses ..... there! NOW I can see you!"

And when will I figure out that wearing black pants on icing making day is a really DUMB idea?

Saran wrap worked like a charm when I used to make my icing. I've recently become a Sam's icing convert (holy cow is that stuff good!) but prior to that, I would add all the PS and then wrap the open area between the top of the mixer, etc. - just one piece about 2-3 feet long and then let that puppy rip.

The only place the PS would go was a tiny spot on the left where the bowl snaps into the lift. Once it was not flying around any more, I pulled it off and threw it away. HTH

I'll see your mess and raise you three words:
Italian. Meringue. Buttercream.

I don't even offer that powdered sugar BC anymore. That's how much I hate it...hate making it, hate working with it, hate smoothing it, even dislike eating it. Hate hate hate. Dh says I need to find another word to use lol.

I'm totally with ya! I'm making fondant tomorrow for a 4-tier cake and DREADING it just because of the PS. Like another poster said, it's much more cost-effective to make it but...UGH!!!

~Sarah

And by the way, last time I was making batches of buttercream my five year-old happened to walk through the kitchen -- she gasped and pointed to the mixer and said, "Mommy, your cake is smoking!!"

It was funny, but at the same time -- not!

~Sarah

Yep, I'm with ya. Somehow it goes from the bowl, to the counter, to the floor. And then I have to clean up all the area's. And once you put a wet cleaning wipe on it or paper towel, it takes even longer. So I usually sweep it all up with a dry paper towel and then wipe it down with a cleaning wipe. It's just a total process! LOL.

loved all the great tips, I will have to try the wet towel

I have been baking cakes for only a few months now and that is one thing I hate!!! What I do to solve that problem is in the mixer I blend my fats first (butter & crisco) I then add flavor, corn syrup and milk. I mix for a few mins. I then take the bowl off the mixer and fold in the sugar. I do this until all the sugar is covered. I then put the bowl back on the mixer and finish mixing. I have no powder sugar problems.. Because the mix at first is so wet that the powder sugar dosen't go everywhere. You have to add the sugar very slow also.

Well, it's a relief to know this isn't just something I'm doing.
Last night I made my first batch filled to the top (usually I'm guilty of one batch at a time, thus the air pockets=my pitty BC). Anyway, I guess I hadn't realized how much more sugar was going to fly around (eventhough I was working very slowly). It was well worth the effort, although next time I think I'll make 3 small batches, than combine the mixed icing into to mixer and suck out the air.

That said~ This is the first time EVER that I've made BC that is smooth and silky... I had no idea that was even possible.
I cannot wait to ice my cake tonight!!!

The flour sack towel method is great. It also reminds me not to talk to someone and add sugar at the same time. I've had the kitchen look like a sugar tornado came through a couple of times because I've become distracted doing too many things at one time and added sugar without thinking...POOF!!!...walls, cupboards, floor....you get the idea.

OMG! I just recently bought my standup mixer and could not wait to try it out. I made my first batch of icing last week and thought I was going to make less of a mess with it, especially while it had a cover. Well to my surprize it made a bigger mess All over the mixer, counter and walls. So the other day I made my first batch of the Sugarshack Icing (very yummy and great to work with by the way) and I covered most of the top and sides of the mixer with a kitchen hand towel. NO Mess

I feel your pain - it is the worst part of the whole process - making and coloring the icing.

I think they should make super powered exhaust fans to put over our mixers for that purpose alone. Wouldn't that be neat. If we blew our nose after our many mixing sessions would buttercream come out?!?!? hehehe

Its so funny reading that I'm not the only one with this issuse. I just roll with the punches now because I give up!

I have several 6qt bowls for my mixer so I make only one batch (2 lbs PS) at a time and there's really no mess, unless I stumble and spill. If I try to use 4 lbs PS cleaning up the mess takes as much or more time than making 2 separate batches.

For my fondant I have started using a very large baking pan with high sides. I dump my PS into that and then my ball of fondant and do the kneading in the pan. This is so much neater than using the counter top and clean up is a snap.

Okay, the powdered sugar fairy must have heard me complain, because today when I was paying for my cake stuff the powdered sugar bag developed a hole and it got all over me, the supermarket checkout belt and the floor. There was NO HOLE in it hwen I picked it up off the shelf, I swear. I don't know when it developed, but I know it had somethng to do with this thread!

I have a 20-qt that I make icing in, so the smallest batch I make uses 7lbs of p.sugar. It has 3 speeds and a separate on/off switch (unlike the KA, which sets the speed as you turn it on).

You wont' BELIEVE the mess that happens when you don't notice the mixer is in the faster gear and you turn it on with 7 lbs of dry p.sugar in the bowl.

Here is a scond for the Cuisinart mixer! I LOVE mine because it has high enough horse power to make my home made Marshmallows (I have killed 3 kitchenaids) and the snap on cover is awesome.

I've used the towel on my KA and it does work well. However, I also have a Bosch with a two part lid that completely covers the bowl. I dump all the PS in, put the lid on and let 'er rip! No mess! Love my Bosch!