I have all of Sharons Dvds now. They are so great. I have one left to view. Boxes and Bows. After viewing the Sheet cakes and the Langaipe this is what I hope you do in the future. Buttercream Borders, Buttercream flowers. More design galleries. Anything buttercream. I am so enjoying your dvds.

I have 4 of her DVD's and I love them!

I have 3 of her dvds, the stacking one, perfecting buttercream and the last one I bought was the sheet cake one. Since I do more sheetcakes than anything else, I really love this one. It is just nice to find a dvd geared towards sheetcakes and more use of buttercream. I would love to see more of this. Her work is awesome.

Be sure to check out her Topsy Turvey dvd it's great.

Thank you all so much! I am so glad you all like them. I just try to teach what I wanted to know when i was learning that technique. Thank you again!

I am waiting for my perfecting bc one (my first one)... but I did her bc for the first time a few days ago... and I am in heaven.... it's the most incredibly delicious bc I have ever tasted and the consistency is I_N_C_R_E_D_I_B_L_E_!_!

I can't wait to get all of them!

I have all of DVD'S and have watch them all a few times. each time learning something that I missed the frist time.
Sharon is a awsome teacher. and I'm waiting on her next DVD what ever it about. Thank Sharon for taking your time and knowledge and sharing with us.

Well I'm a happy caker. I just received my DVDs yesterday, Sheet cake secrets, perfect buttercream, (watched both of these today) successful stacking,flawless fondant, topsy turvy and boxes and bows. Now I'm gunna practice practice. 2 words for Sharon YOU ROCK.

I have a couple of other questions for Sharon. I looked for those bags you use but could not find them online. That you wrap your cakes in. Also what recipe do you use for your white cake and what do you use for your Topsy Turvy cakes for carving?

SO glad you all are happy! Thank you for the nice words!

recipes here : http://sugaredblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/few-of-my-favorite-things.html

I use the durable for the topsies

bags are here ( or u can use plastic wrap): http://www.webstaurantstore.com/bun-pan-covers-21-x-6-x-35/182C35.html

Than you. Do you use this same recipe for just your regulat buttercream cakes?

I use the WASC with pillsbury for my regualr cakes

except chocolate, i always use durable

HTH!

Thanks so much for all your help you give me and everyone else.

Sorry to hijack this thread that I have a quick question for Sharon....this weekend was the first time I finally(!!!) got a smooth buttercream however I had a hard time icing/smoothing my cake because the BC would crust too fast!!! I have no idea what I did wrong
I followed your recipe but I adjusted to a 4qt KA.

Anyway, I viewed your video at my local library and it's awesome!!!

Please write down the exact recipe and amounts that you used, and I will see what we can figure out.

Thanks for sharing!!!

A person really has to have a huge heart to share as much of her business as Sugarshack does. She can't lose with such a sharing, giving spirit and I really appreciate it. The information that she gives is just so helpful and thorough. You never feel like she's cheating you or leaving out details. It's all a matter of following her directions and the results are great. I know the videos are good, when my husband stands in the background watching them (behind my back of course).

you guys are too kind.

I am happy to help in any way I can.

You make me blush.

ditto on the borders videos. I'm always looking for new borders. I seem to be stuck on the same two borders

I have 6 of the DVDs and am learning so much from them! A lot of the stuff that Sharon teaches is not intuitive to the beginning decorator so it's so great that we get to learn from her years of experience and all her trials and errors. Thank you Sharon! Also, I wish I had your kitchen...I'm so jealous.

Ditto on the kudos!
I only have the "Perfecting the Art of BC" DVD, but it won't be my last!

Hi Sharon, thank you for answering you're an angel!!!

I started with this:
4 lbs of sugar
4 cups of Sweetex
16 tbs of liquid (flavoring and coffee creamer diluted in hot water)....but noticed that as I mixed it needed more liquid since the mix looked, sort of, dry so, I added about 4 tbs more of liquid.

Then I noticed that my sugar wasn't still enough to cover all the KA paddle so I added another 1 LB of sugar until I saw the paddle completely covered.

Like I said, when my BC was done I was jumping up and down to see that it was indeed very smooth exactly how you show it in your video but then I had the hardest time smoothing because it would crust so fast we're talking I iced the top and when I try to smooth it already crusted...you think maybe I'm just too slow?

Ok Sharon thank you again you rock!!

Rosie, Your ratio of sugar to fat is too high. The more sugar to fat= more and faster crusting.

always keep your ratio at one cup fat to one pound powdered sugar, and you should be ok!

try 4.5 cups fat/4.5 pounds sugar for your mixer. if you still need more volume, then do 5 of each. let me know how it works for you.

and again, thank you all for the very lovely words! hugs!

Sharon - thank you for that tidbet of info (on the sugar to fat ratio).....that is going to come in handy for me now.

you re very welcome!!

Sharon, I was curious what type of countertop you have? What material is it?

granite

sapphire blue is the color, but it is really not blue

New Convert Here!!! I requested and received the butter cream DVD for Christmas. I've been playing with the techniques here and there since then but hadn't made Sharon's recipe following all of the directions until last week. Well, let me tell you it was the BEST batch of butter cream I have EVER made! And virtually no air bubbles!! Hoorahh!!!!

Actually, I made 2 batches. Yes, that was a lot of butter cream but well worth it. First batch was with store brand (Food Lion) shortening with trans fat, second batch was with CK's hi ratio.

Observations - The batch with the store brand shortening was super yummy just the way it was. The batch with the CK was creamier than the store brand shortening but left a slick greasy feeling in my mouth.

Since everyone raves about the commercial hi ratio products I'm not sure if I did something wrong or if my palate is just different than most. I used 5 cups each of shortening and sugar, 3/4c of hot creamer and the flavorings.

I know Sharon recommends Sweetex over all of the other brands but I don't know why. Can someone enlighten me?

Not all hi ratio's are created equal. I ahve tried some brands that are just YUK!

I have not tried the Ck brand, so have no opinion on that.

But is it possible to have a store brand that tastes better than a yucky hi ratio. Sweetex is the cream of the crop, and after trying many kinds, will use no other.

if you are happy with the store brand, then use it! That is great!

HTH