Buttercream! Swiss? American? Italian? Help!

Decorating By nbrockman Updated 15 Feb 2016 , 3:31pm by Jinkies

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nbrockman Posted 14 Feb 2016 , 5:22am
post #1 of 11

What does everyone use for their wedding cakes? Swiss? Italian? American?

Do you berm the outside edges for settling? 

Thanks! :) happy baking!

10 replies
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kakeladi Posted 14 Feb 2016 , 5:44am
post #2 of 11

Probably 90% of my wedding cakes were ABC.  Don't understand your other ?.

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julia1812 Posted 14 Feb 2016 , 8:33am
post #3 of 11

I use swiss meringue almost exclusively. American bc is too sweet, sometimes I use it for kids' cakes.

Have you looked into german/ cooked flour buttercream? Maybe that's an alternative. ..

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Ozabby Posted 14 Feb 2016 , 9:39am
post #4 of 11

I am not overly keen on American buttercream I find it too sweet. I like French buttercream but for large cakes it is much too rich so I combine Italian and French buttercream together and you get an amazing moouse  like texture that is not too sweet not overly buttery and you don't end up with a giant pile of egg yolks you don't know what to do with 

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-K8memphis Posted 14 Feb 2016 , 3:38pm
post #5 of 11

abc doesn't have to be too sweet -- it's overly sweet if it's made that way -- it's a wonderful wedding cake icing -- it crusts -- it can be a faux fondant -- super versatile --  

i used to use Wilton's french buttercream recipe (cooked flour/ermine) then in the 90's i switched to swiss --

no abc is a wonderful tool to have in the arsenal -- i make mine with buttermilk and add salt -- using butter and vanilla paste -- you can even add a dash of white balsamic to zip the tartness level  akin to cream cheese icing without the refrigeration issues --

best to all

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Bakrwomyn Posted 14 Feb 2016 , 10:37pm
post #6 of 11

Almost always I use Swiss meringue buttercream. Italian meringue's nice enough but I don't fancy waiting around for the sugar to boil at the soft ball stage! 


My SMB always ends up beautifully glossy and delicous! [postimage id="2505" thumb="900"]

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nbrockman Posted 15 Feb 2016 , 7:05am
post #7 of 11

Kakeladi: I was came across a YouTube video from Global Sugar Art and a few other blogs that they claimed when you Ice larger cakes (wedding for example) that they settle and your ABC will bubble on the sides as if fondant? I've never had that but I've also never done a large cake with more than 3 tiers. 

Thank you everyone for the replies! 

Bakrwomyn beautiful succulents!!

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Bakrwomyn Posted 15 Feb 2016 , 7:40am
post #8 of 11

thank you nbrockman 


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-K8memphis Posted 15 Feb 2016 , 10:30am
post #9 of 11

allmost all of the icings i've worked with will get air bubbles underneath including swiss and abc -- i don't specifically recall the french/ermine recipe doing that but it probably did -- and it can happen on any size cake -- keeping pin holes open in the icing layer/s helps prevent this -- just place them where they can't be seen -- makes an escape hatch for the bottled up air

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kakeladi Posted 15 Feb 2016 , 3:05pm
post #10 of 11

Probably over 90% of my cakes were done in ABC.  I had little problems of bubbling!  I never made pin holes either.  My opinion of that is that people are not using enough pressure to adhere the icing to the cake when applying or smoothing it thus allowing air pockets.    If I remember correctly, the few times I did have 'blowouts' it had to do with elevation changes.  I lived most of the time  at 3,000 ft.  and 'going down into the valley' or climbing higher in elevation was about the only time it happened.  Anyway, that was my experiences.  

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Jinkies Posted 15 Feb 2016 , 3:31pm
post #11 of 11

I agree.  I use both SMBC and ABC and the problems with bulging is more from technique than the type of icing you are using.   Air bubbles happen but you just have to learn to combat them early on so they are not an issue.

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