Wilton Frosting...friend Or Foe?
Decorating By angelas2babies Updated 2 Feb 2006 , 1:13am by auntiecake
FOR THE CLASSES - You NEED TO MAKE THE CLASS BUTTERCREAM. If you use the butter recipe - you will have issues with it being able to hold up to make the flowers. Class buttercream does not taste that good, but it is consistent and you will learn what stiff, medium and thin are supposed to be. If you bring in something besides that - you are just going to make it hard on yourself. You can change and use different recipes AFTER you learn the techniques.
I still use the "practice" cream that my instructor gave us (it is basically crisco, water and sugar) to do practice cakes with. It is great and cheap! So I agree, it is a good idea to learn to make icing, and to get use to using it. I would never eat it...it probably tastes nasty! I prefer butter for making real butter cream.
I personally don't care for a lot of the Wilton products. I have never used their buttercream mix, but if it is like the fondant (yeck!) I wouldn't use it.
bubblezmom, that's possible. The tootsie rolls that I nuked last night were only a tad more sticky than the ones I didnt, but starbursts might get stickier. I did some with starbursts initially, and they didn't get nuked, but they were still pretty sticky. You have to know exactly where you are going to put it before you make contact with the "flower". I was thinking dusting them with sugar might help with that. I have not had a chance to follow through and test out that theory yet though.
Kids are all awake and standing here demanding my attention, so I guess my computer time is up! 
Well...I answered my own question today. I made a batch of the frosting to practice with, and I tried it...and I don't like it. It's fun to work with, but it distinctly tastes like shortening in an overwhelming way, and it is very sweet.
Angie
Well...I answered my own question today. I made a batch of the frosting to practice with, and I tried it...and I don't like it. It's fun to work with, but it distinctly tastes like shortening in an overwhelming way, and it is very sweet.
Angie
Buttercream will be sweet.... unfortunately there is no way around that...
But don't completely disregard it.. It is wonderful to use especially when you are making character cakes.
Try adding other flavores like butter extract, almond extract, etc..
You know, I tasted it after the frosting had crusted a bit on the cake, and it tastes better. I just don't like the shortening taste, but I thank you for the tip on the butter extract. I was going to try butter flavored shortening as well to see if it makes a difference.
The butter flavored shortning WON'T WORK in the class buttercream....it has a higher water content and it will break down quicker too. Stick with the plain old crisco for the class. 
Try adding a little more of the almond extract - it really does make a difference. I use a full teaspoon of each (vanilla and Almond) and I add about 1/4 teaspoon of plain popcorn salt -it cuts the sweetness some too. (some folks dissolve it in the liquid - but I have never had an issue with it)
Thank you. I will try the almond extract. You have all been so helpful. I can't thank you enough.
Angie
I like adding vanilla and cheesecake flavor to my buttercream (all-crisco)...everyone seems to like that.
I have tried the half butter/half crisco version and it is harder to make decorations with it because its much softer due to the water content issue...it's great to ice the cake with but again, doesn't crust, so it's good for when you're not looking to have a perfectly iced cake...I'm a beginner I just started decorating last July/Aug.
Sheila,
I'm wondering if my Starburst flowers were a failure b/c I nuked the candy for a few secconds? It was easy to shape, but too sticky. The petals stuck to themselves. I was forced to eat my botched rose.
I can think of a lot worse things I could be forced to eat than a Starburst rose.
Yup Sheila, tis me!!!!
I have tried the half butter/half crisco version and it is harder to make decorations with it because its much softer due to the water content issue...it's great to ice the cake with but again, doesn't crust, so it's good for when you're not looking to have a perfectly iced cake...I'm a beginner I just started decorating last July/Aug.
I use half butter half crisco all the time. Used it for the entire first Wilton Course and never had a problem. And it does crust just fine. Also I now leave out the meringue powder, I think Wilton just tells you to put it in so use one of their products. But there is really no need for it. If you look at my cake pics you will see the cakes I made for the course, and they are all so smooth because I used the Viva paper towel method to smooth them. You can only use this method with a frosting that crusts. I didn't find that it got too soft onme. If anything my frosting was a little too stiff at times.
Euphoriabakery,
Your cakes are very smooth. The chocolate one is perfect.
That chocolate one looks to die for! I see in the one with the big flowers that the icing does look soft to me though....(like it does when I use butter in my icing). If you aren't using it for flowers that need to stand up - you'd be fine using it.
Again, for the class.....use what they ask you to - then widen your horizons after you have the technique down! Have fun with your classes! 
I used the same recipe for the big flower icing as I did for the roses on my chocolate cake. And the icing I made the roses from was way too stiff. The reason the icinf for the flowers looks so soft is because I made it nice and thin so the stars would be easier to pipe and I added a little piping gel to get a nice sheen.
Ok - that explains why it looks so soft! That is the look I get when I use the butter recipe and hold it in my hands for toooo long! (I am one of the hot hands folks) I was looking at the sheen on the cake itself, not the flowers. It is a very pretty cake.
Have you tried Lemon extract instead of almond in your practice. It tastes good and smells good.
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