My mom is taking a Wilton cake decorating class at her local Michaels and was wondering if she must include the Meringue Powder in the icing?

She and I both really dislike the icing and we think it's because of the Meringue Powder.

My mom asked the instructor if she could omit the powder and she replied something along the lines of "This is a Wilton class, you'll use the Wilton icing!".

I took the series of classes awhile ago and always used the Powder.

Just looking for answers or a better icing recipe!!

I don't know, but can you maybe make 1/4 batch without the meringue powder just to try it and see if it tastes better but still pipes okay?

JGMB: thanks for the advice! I will try that.

You can make it with out the MP. There are many recipes out there that don't have MP in them. Chances are if you leave it out your WMI will not know.

I can understand with her wanting you to use the class icing recipe, but not how she said it. I don't think leaving the MP out is enough not to make it class icing. In the new books Wilton actually says it can be omited if needed because of egg allergies.

As a WMI I do ask my students to use the all crisco version of the icing in class because we know how it will hold up to the use we put it through in the two hours we are in there handling it.

There are many recipes out there that you can try out and see what works and tastes best for you. I do let my students know they can always use half butter or all butter in the wilton recipe, but ask that they try it either just on icing the cake, or at home. You an sub milk or cream in place of the water. Add salt to make it less sweet, as well as play with the flavor combinations to find what works best for you.

I went for a while not using it in my icing at home, but had to go back to adding it in because I was having more and more issues in the summer with the heat and humidity. Since I added it back it seems to help, in my opinion.

I think as far as just icing the cake you can definitely go without the MP. But for flowers, piping, etc it definitely helps hold their shapes. As far as Wilton recipe its just plain nasty with or without MP.

Texassugar-- I tell my students the same thing-- if they want to make 2 separate batches- then they can get a tasty icing to for frosting the cake- and then use the more stable icing to practice the decorations. I do encourage the use of meringue powder- but I would never INSIST that a student use it.

sugarchef-- is she using the butter flavoring in her icing. That is my least favorite- to me it gives a funky after taste. Tell her to play with it a little- it might not be the m-powder after all.

Thanks so much everyone!! She and I wouldn't mind using the MP for decorating but I'd prefer to not ice the cake with it. I didn't even think to make 2 batches (it's been a long day, lol)!

As far as the flavoring, I *believe* she combined butter and vanilla in her latest cake. We both agreed that it wasn't our favorite. Guess we need to just play around more!

Thanks again ladies!