I have been trying to find an all-natural cake for my wedding. I went to one bakery today and they said that they can't make buttercream without shortening but their cream cheese frosting is all natural and make without trans fat.

I would much rather have buttercream due to the taste but I thought, ok whatever, the cream cheese tastes ok.

Here's the problem though, when I saw the cream cheese frosting side by side with the buttercream frosting it looked a little off. Almost like a dirty white. So I have a few questions:

1. Is this normal for all cream cheese frostings? I could have sworn it was whiter than this! I thought it was pure white.

2. If it IS normal for it to be off white (tint of yellow) is it not really noticeable once you have your cake done? I'm just worried about the cake not looking like a traditional white wedding cake (which is what I would like). I really want to take good pictures of this cake.

Cream cheese has a natural soft white color. Don't compare it side by side with the buttercream, instead think of it on the finished cake. It will be lovely........I know because my daughter just got married, and I iced her cake with icing made from cream cheese, butter, and hi ratio shortening. It was a beautiful creamy white that blended well with the burgundy and orange flowers that adorned it.

I will post a link to the cake as soon as my sister (she's a real photographer!) posts it or sends me the disk. But if you google cream cheese wedding cakes you can see pics....here's one on CC that is about the color of the cake I made:
http://cakecentral.com/cake-photo-1817494.html


Yes, I'm sure the shortening made it a little bit whiter than if I had used all butter....but is the bakery's recipe just richer in cream cheese? I was afraid the weather would be warm, so I chose a recipe with shortening to make it a little more heat resistant!

The wedding was in a different state, so I had to bake & decorate in my in-laws' kitchen. The weather turned out to be cool, but my clueless father-in-law was careless about transporting the cake to the reception venue....he left it in the car while he ran an errand, and of course the car got hot from the sun which really softened the icing, then he drove too fast and hit a few bumps which caused some of my borders to droop. Oh, well, the show must go on, so I covered the damage with flowers as best I could and put a smile on my face, because nothing was going to spoil the day!

I guess you have to decide if you want a pure white cake made with all shortening or a soft white cake made with cream cheese. I really think the difference would not be noticed by most people who view the finished cake!

Thanks again CakeyThings,

You've given me some things to think about. I might just use the cream cheese and cover it with fondant. Of course, that will cost $50 more! Hum....So many decisions

I'm a little worried that this bakery might not be telling me the truth about the shortening. Maybe I'm just being paranoid :-S

There are many fine bakers that use smbc or imbc. Why not find one of them to make your cake.

how about getting a second or third opinion from other bakeries? surely you can find one that uses all butter if that's what you are looking for.

I may be wrong but I think the only way to get a pure bright white bc is to use all shortening or use pure butter without any coloring added. Not sure but I think I saw somewhere that butter isn't naturally yellow the color is added.

in2cakes - I'm sorry but I am not sure what you are referring to.

mbark - The so-called organic ones (I don't need organic, just want 100% butter, but it seems like only the ones that claim to be organic do this) charge $6-$7 per serving right off the bat. My limit is $200...Maybe $225. I do want a cake with frills and once you add those I'm spending $400 for a very small cake. This cake is only for 12 people

Plus, I'm limited to people that can make a cake in less than 2 weeks. Crazy I know (it's a very long story how it came to this) but luckily I have one craigslist person and one bakery that claim to be able to do this.

Unfortunately the craigslist person just emailed me and told me that she can do a cake without hydrogenated oils because her crisco doesn't have any. Now, I don't ever buy crisco but I'm fairly certain that it hasn't changed since the last time I've used it. It's basically the definition of trans fat.

In2Cakes - Wow, that's interesting. I know that if butter sits out it gets more yellow. Ever notice how alot of times whipped butter is whiter than stick butter too?

Sorry if I am rambling but SMBC and IMBC don't use shortening as they are both meringue butter and sugar. You are on such a tight budget and time schedule your going to be quite limited. Good luck and hugs to you!!

the icing could have been off white b/c of the butter used in the cream cheese frosting. What colors is in the wedding because you may not tell the difference.

I use the Wilton White coloring in my cream cheese frosting to get it that bright white color.