Decorator's Buttercream

When piping borders and flowers, icing consistency it crucial to a successful outcome. Meringue buttercreams, while delicious, lack the stiffness for well defined petals and layered border techniques. A decorator’s buttercream should take color well, hold up as best as possible to the heat from your hand, be stiff enough to hold it’s shape, but smooth enough that petal edges don’t appear jagged. Sounds like a tall order.

The Icing Diva, Lucinda Larson, shared her decorator’s buttercream with us in Volume 1 Issue 7 of Cake Central Magazine, where she used this amazing buttercream to pipe gorgeous buttercream orchids.

Lucinda Larson’s (The Icing Diva) Decorator’s Buttercream
2 pounds confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup canned evaporated milk, full fat
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
Dash salt
2 cups vegetable shortening

Beat sugar, milk, salt and vanilla into a smooth paste.
Add shortening and beat until smooth and well combined.

Prepare this buttercream a day in advance for best results. Using an icing spatula, beat slowly by hand to remove air bubbles before each use.