Is it possible to look at the ingredients in a BC recipe to know if it crusts or not. I like to try out new recipe but sometimes I need it to crust and sometimes I want non crusting (for cupcakes).

Thanks

You can to a point.

If it is a cooked recipe using egg white, butter and regular sugar then it will not crust.

If you are using powder sugar and crisco/butter, then it will depend on the ratio of fat to sugar. The higher the fat the less the crusting. The higher the sugar the better the crusting. A good reference point is 1 lb sugar to 1 cup fat (butter/crisco). 2lbs sugar to 1 cup fat will crust very well and probably fast. 1lb sugar to 2 cups fat will be slower to crust if it does.

Usually will if it has meringue powder.

My recipe crusts very well so I use that as the yardstick. It's 1-1/3 cups fat to 2 lb of p.sugar. I start getting suspect when the ratio hits a 1:1 (2 cups fat to 2lb p.sugar).

There's a debate on whether meringue powder really contributes to the crusting or not. My icing does not have MP.

The one I generally use under fondant (so I don't need it to crust) is a 1:1 ratio of fat to sugar. It has meringue powder in it. It doesn't crust.

BTW Indy, tried your recipe a few weeks ago. Loved it!

Thanks! I'll try some new BC recipes out this week!

I swear if you see salt in the recipe it will help it crust too.