AI first must introduce myself, as I am new to the forum. My name is Jake, and I make amateur cakes as a hobby for occasions and parties, until recently, that is.

My friend has hired me to make him a cake; 3 layer vanilla cake with buttercream filling, simple. BUT, he says that he wants a frosting that "hardens". He describes this frosting as crunchy when dry, and that I should be able to cover the whole cake with it, AND pipe with it. That being said, I am stumped. I was thinking of adding meringue powder to regular buttercream, but I am worried it wouldn't add the "crunch" that he's looking for.

Any help or ideas with a recipe would be greatly appreciated!

Jake

ASearch bar: Crusting Buttercream

AI tried a buttercream recipe with a higher sugar to fat ratio for a better crust, but did not solidify through. That's the tough part. It's not just a crust, but solid through the entire layer.

AI don't know of any that crust all the way thru...that's just odd and I would think that it would fall off the cake when cut if it was dry enough to crust all the way thru.

Are you maybe thinking of a meringue buttercream? They firm up all the way thru after they sit for awhile, making it great for holding up for decorating. It doesn't crust, it's just firm

I use this recipe that I learned form a teacher in my high school.

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup Crisco

1 tbsp. vanilla

2 tsp. butter flavor

2lb powder sugar.

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2-1 cup of room temp. milk or water...

it crust really well and taste really great.... if you use milk it will cut some of the sweet.

I agree I have never heard of one like this..it almost sounds like royal icing....

He may be referring to Royal Icing.  It can be thinned and used to ice the cake.  However, to get it nice and smooth, it needs to be layered on in order to let it dry between layers.  Royal icing is used to ice cakes when doing oriental string work.

Happy Baking!

ALol. Forgot about royal icing, which you can't ice a cake in. Although in Europe I think they royal over marzipan. That may be an outdated practice but I remember reading about it in one of my books.

A

And obviously I have never done oriental string work!

AI was actually thinking about taking a meringue icing recipe and adjusting it slightly, as I have heard that it does kind of "solidify" , but I am worried about it's piping ability... Has anyone ever added powdered sugar to meringue icing to perhaps get it to a piping consistency? Just a thought...