Ok. Maybe, I'm just being over sensitive, but I'm a bit disappointed. I have never had anyone say that they disliked my cakes, so when I followed up on my last order I was surprised when the mother said that she didn't like the buttercream. During the consultation we decided that I would use an Italian buttercream because it is lighter and not super sweet.
Her son has Type I diabetes. She tells me in my follow up call that the cake was beautiful and the cake itself was good, but the buttercream tasted as though I had forgotten the sweetner and it had a butter flavor. I explained to her again the difference between Italian and American buttercream and that it is actually made with butter thus the reason for the butter taste.
She seemed to understand, but I am so bothered by her comments. Do I offer her something back? I undercharged her for the cake because she had a tight budget. I'm so bummed.
Naw--no refunds just add more vanilla to your icing--you should taste vanilla not butter.
Naw--no refunds just add more vanilla to your icing--you should taste vanilla not butter.
Good to know. I've only made it once, and all I could taste was the butter. Thanks!!
Also make sure that you use unsalted butter in it.
Unsalted butter certainly makes a difference like costume czar said. Also each brand of butter will taste different and some can impart a stronger butter flavor because almost all of them add a butter flavoring, even LOL. The exception may be organic or Amish or other home made. This is a good reason why I need to try and make my own butter.
I also feel that you need to add flavoring to SMBC and IMBC. Either by adding more vanilla, some extract flavoring, white chocolate, fruit purée, etc. By itself it is a sweet, soft buttery flavor. I think of it as a base, not the final product.
Thanks for the advice. I used a recipe that my pastry chef instructor gave me. (I'm in culinary school) I added vanilla, but it sounds like I should have added more. The butter that I used was the Walmart brand unsalted. I'm going to check the label. I had no idea that some brands add butter flavoring. This is why I prefer working with fondant 
Her son has Type I diabetes. She tells me in my follow up call that the cake was beautiful and the cake itself was good, but the buttercream tasted as though I had forgotten the sweetner and it had a butter flavor. I explained to her again the difference between Italian and American buttercream and that it is actually made with butter thus the reason for the butter taste.
She might have been happier with a cake which had American b/c - and let her son scrape off the frosting. Because it makes no sense for her to complain about the type of frosting she specifically requested for her son's special dietary needs...
And there have been numerous threads on CC between American b/c and the meringue b/c users/lovers - both are great, but only if you like that type of frosting! (So the use of more vanilla in your mbc recipe might be a non-issue.)
So she listed her explicit requirements and you provided a great cake according to those specifications... So no refund for her.
HTH
It isn't your fault that she doesn't know the difference even after you explained the difference between the two icings. If she wanted a sweeter icing, she should have requested that you use a little artificial sweetener such as splenda for a little added sweetness (that way it would have been ok for her son as well).
Not only the bc but the cake is a problem for her son as well. People sometimes.....sheesh
If amping up the vanilla flavor use the best you can get your hands on. Steer clear of artificial. Try emulsions too.
Oh another store brand item (good to know for the American version of bc) to stay away from is Walmart powdered sugar. Their ratio of Conf sugar vs corn starch is "off" it almost (to me) has a strange dry burn smell to it - you might set your mixer on fire! Hee Hee!
She sounds kind of dense. Isn't she the one that asked for a change in buttercream because of the son's diabetes? I wouldn't refund anything, especially since you mentioned that you had already reduced the price for her.
I had a similar thing happen with a large birthday cake for a diabetic man. His wife ordered the cake and specifically requested sugar free. Later on she complained about the aftertaste and I reminded her that we had discussed that she can't possibly expect a sugar free frosting to taste exactly like regular buttercream.
So the next year she had a revelation of some sort and ordered regular cake for the guests and sugar free cupcakes for her husband 
Hahaha.. wait! I am confused.. Why do people think it's called "butter"cream? If it doesn't have butter, it's more or less just frosting or icing. I think the term "buttercream" has become so generalized, that people don't realize that buttercream has butter!
Hahaha.. wait! I am confused.. Why do people think it's called "butter"cream? If it doesn't have butter, it's more or less just frosting or icing. I think the term "buttercream" has become so generalized, that people don't realize that buttercream has butter!
Well, American butter cream is a type of frosting that originally used only butter but now uses shortening as well as butter, or shortening instead of butter (in order to allow more elaborate decorating without the worry of melting/drooping). (And hi-ratio shortening performs better than AP shortening like Crisco.)
HTH
Hahaha.. wait! I am confused.. Why do people think it's called "butter"cream? If it doesn't have butter, it's more or less just frosting or icing. I think the term "buttercream" has become so generalized, that people don't realize that buttercream has butter!
Well, American butter cream is a type of frosting that originally used only butter but now uses shortening as well as butter, or shortening instead of butter (in order to allow more elaborate decorating without the worry of melting/drooping). (And hi-ratio shortening performs better than AP shortening like Crisco.)
HTH
Yes, I know. I call it "Criscocream". I use SMBC exclusively, but even before I did, I would never call frosting buttercream if it in fact did not contain butter. To each their own, of course, but I do not understand how someone could complain about their buttercream tasting like butter unless they fall under the general assumption that all frosting is supposed to be called "buttercream".
I use the IMBC recipe by Warren Brown from Cake Love. You can find it on YouTube. I use two full tablespoons (yes, tablespoons) of vanilla in my recipe, plus I use Land O Lakes unsalted butter.
It tastes buttery but very vanilla-y.
so when I followed up on my last order
If you ask for feedback you need to be prepared to get an answer you may not want to hear. If you hadn't asked, she probably wouldn't have said anything.
I assume that when someone asks for feedback, that they really want it. A woman I work with once sent out a mass email asking for feedback on a spreadsheet she had created. I replied (to her, not to all) and made a couple of suggestions. There was nothing wrong with her spreadsheet but there were a couple of things I pointed out that could have been better, since she had asked. She was absolutely incensed! She sent me a scathing email in return 
so no more feedback from me!
Also, your customer needs to educate herself on Type I diabetes if her son has it. Cake with IMBC is NOT a diabetic friendly option. He really should be having a small slice of angel food cake with fresh fruit for his birthday!
Thank you for the response Elcee. I am always open to positive and or negative feedback when I do my follow up calls to clients. However, this particular response caught me a little off guard since we had specifically discussed the difference between Italian and American BC. I should have provided her with samples since many people are not familiar with the differences in taste and texture.
I would have to disagree in response to whether the son should have had his cake with the BC. As a mom of a child with Type I diabetes myself, it's ok to have the fun stuff every now and then as long as they administer the insulin that they need for it. Angel food or not, it's a carbohydrate and they're going to need insulin. When your caring for a kid who endures multiple finger sticks, insulin shots, and sleepless nights of high and low blood sugars they deserve the occassional treat. The last thing they want to hear is what they can't have and good luck telling the birthday boy that he has to have angel food cake with fruit at his party.
As a mom of a child with Type I diabetes myself, it's ok to have the fun stuff every now and then
Let me rephrase...based on my knowledge of diabetes, a cake with IMBC (or any other frosting for that matter) would not be a good option. Nowhere in your original post do you refer to your child having diabetes. I would NEVER second-guess your parenting decisions nor would I have even commented if your post had been about your child.
just add more vanilla to your icing--you should taste vanilla not butter.
Totally disagree with this statement. Buttercream should have a buttery bite to it as well as a vanilla taste. If is doesn't have butter in it then it isn't buttercream in my book, it is merely icing - not the same thing.
just add more vanilla to your icing--you should taste vanilla not butter.
Totally disagree with this statement. Buttercream should have a buttery bite to it as well as a vanilla taste. If is doesn't have butter in it then it isn't buttercream in my book, it is merely icing - not the same thing.
I totally agree!
just add more vanilla to your icing--you should taste vanilla not butter.
Totally disagree with this statement. Buttercream should have a buttery bite to it as well as a vanilla taste. If is doesn't have butter in it then it isn't buttercream in my book, it is merely icing - not the same thing.
I believe the two of you are talking about two different things. IMBC and SMBC can have bit a buttery bite and a vanilla flavor. I make several different flavors of SMBC. The favorite one right now is my mocha SMBC which has both a buttery bite and mouthfeel, but the taste of mocha.
You can not reduce the amount of butter in SMBC to get lass buttery *taste*. But you can add flavoring to retain that buttery bite and give it a different taste than eating a stick of butter. The beauty of this kind of frosting is it's versatility.
just add more vanilla to your icing--you should taste vanilla not butter.
Totally disagree with this statement. Buttercream should have a buttery bite to it as well as a vanilla taste. If is doesn't have butter in it then it isn't buttercream in my book, it is merely icing - not the same thing.
I think it's more a "this tastes like a stick of butter" versus "this has a butter undertone". Adding more vanilla gives the latter which IMO is what BC should be. A butter base of flavoring. This is also the most common complaint of people and IMBC/SMBC when the proper flavor ratio hasn't been achieved. The correct ratio should prevent anybody from saying this tastes of butter b/c they won't be able to "taste" it; it's just a subtle undertone.
just add more vanilla to your icing--you should taste vanilla not butter.
Totally disagree with this statement. Buttercream should have a buttery bite to it as well as a vanilla taste. If is doesn't have butter in it then it isn't buttercream in my book, it is merely icing - not the same thing.
I think it's more a "this tastes like a stick of butter" versus "this has a butter undertone". Adding more vanilla gives the latter which IMO is what BC should be. A butter base of flavoring. This is also the most common complaint of people and IMBC/SMBC when the proper flavor ratio hasn't been achieved. The correct ratio should prevent anybody from saying this tastes of butter b/c they won't be able to "taste" it; it's just a subtle undertone.
The first few times I made IMBC, I hated it! I described it exactly like you did...like eating a stick of butter...and I couldn't figure out why so many people were crazy about it. My FIL loved it, because he is a butter addict, but he was the only person who wasn't overwhelmed by it. I fixed it with more vanilla! 
There's a point where you can add too much vanilla, and it becomes overwhelming, but not enough is just as bad IMO. I add 3 sticks of butter instead of 4 per recipe, too. I'm not a big butter fan, but I like the texture of IMBC, so that's my compromise. 
just add more vanilla to your icing--you should taste vanilla not butter.
Totally disagree with this statement. Buttercream should have a buttery bite to it as well as a vanilla taste. If is doesn't have butter in it then it isn't buttercream in my book, it is merely icing - not the same thing.
I think it's more a "this tastes like a stick of butter" versus "this has a butter undertone". Adding more vanilla gives the latter which IMO is what BC should be. A butter base of flavoring. This is also the most common complaint of people and IMBC/SMBC when the proper flavor ratio hasn't been achieved. The correct ratio should prevent anybody from saying this tastes of butter b/c they won't be able to "taste" it; it's just a subtle undertone.
I love the taste of vanilla, so I don't understand the concept of too much vanilla .
I use both vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste. That way I get a true, rich vanilla taste without imparting too much alcohol fro vanilla extract into the frosting.The first few times I made IMBC, I hated it! I described it exactly like you did...like eating a stick of butter...and I couldn't figure out why so many people were crazy about it. My FIL loved it, because he is a butter addict, but he was the only person who wasn't overwhelmed by it. I fixed it with more vanilla!
There's a point where you can add too much vanilla, and it becomes overwhelming, but not enough is just as bad IMO. I add 3 sticks of butter instead of 4 per recipe, too. I'm not a big butter fan, but I like the texture of IMBC, so that's my compromise.
just add more vanilla to your icing--you should taste vanilla not butter.
Totally disagree with this statement. Buttercream should have a buttery bite to it as well as a vanilla taste. If is doesn't have butter in it then it isn't buttercream in my book, it is merely icing - not the same thing.
I think it's more a "this tastes like a stick of butter" versus "this has a butter undertone". Adding more vanilla gives the latter which IMO is what BC should be. A butter base of flavoring. This is also the most common complaint of people and IMBC/SMBC when the proper flavor ratio hasn't been achieved. The correct ratio should prevent anybody from saying this tastes of butter b/c they won't be able to "taste" it; it's just a subtle undertone.
Exactly. I've made several kinds of IMBC and each one had a unique flavor (cinnamon, caramel, green tea, etc) but had an undertone of butter flavor. I've tasted it before adding anything to it and it is very buttery tasting until I add a little vanilla and whatever else.
Although I honestly don't see how anyone could screw it up and have it taste overwhelmingly like butter if they just add a little vanilla. I usually only add a teaspoon to my whole batch and it plenty of vanilla flavor.
My only problem with IMBC is that I just want to eat spoonfuls of it and that is not good. Man I love that stuff!
I love the taste of vanilla, so I don't understand the concept of too much vanilla .
I use both vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste. That way I get a true, rich vanilla taste without imparting too much alcohol fro vanilla extract into the frosting.
I feel the same way about peppermint extract.
just add more vanilla to your icing--you should taste vanilla not butter.
Totally disagree with this statement. Buttercream should have a buttery bite to it as well as a vanilla taste. If is doesn't have butter in it then it isn't buttercream in my book, it is merely icing - not the same thing.
I think it's more a "this tastes like a stick of butter" versus "this has a butter undertone". Adding more vanilla gives the latter which IMO is what BC should be. A butter base of flavoring. This is also the most common complaint of people and IMBC/SMBC when the proper flavor ratio hasn't been achieved. The correct ratio should prevent anybody from saying this tastes of butter b/c they won't be able to "taste" it; it's just a subtle undertone.
I love the taste of vanilla, so I don't understand the concept of too much vanilla .
I use both vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste. That way I get a true, rich vanilla taste without imparting too much alcohol fro vanilla extract into the frosting.The first few times I made IMBC, I hated it! I described it exactly like you did...like eating a stick of butter...and I couldn't figure out why so many people were crazy about it. My FIL loved it, because he is a butter addict, but he was the only person who wasn't overwhelmed by it. I fixed it with more vanilla!
There's a point where you can add too much vanilla, and it becomes overwhelming, but not enough is just as bad IMO. I add 3 sticks of butter instead of 4 per recipe, too. I'm not a big butter fan, but I like the texture of IMBC, so that's my compromise.
I have no idea why this post showed up under my name. I did not post it. I wrote a post, but it did not show up. And I cannot figure where this came from either.
I also wasn't crazy about IMBC until after a few tries - now I just love it as much as cream cheese frosting (my other favorite) But like others have said it can't be fresh out of the fridge when eaten because it will definitely taste like a stick of butter - it has to be at or near room temperature to taste mmm mmmm delicious It seems like whenever I put butter in any type of recipe (whether it's cookies, icing, whatever) I know people notice because I tend to get way more compliments
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