Sharon your cookies are gorgeous! Would you mind sharing the glacé recipe you use?

The pulling in towards the center is working for me but my edges are still not crisp...what could I be doing wrong?

Hi Sharon!!!!!

Nice to see you here too!!!!!!! Isn't she the greatest eveyone?!? Just was wondering how long your recipe stays good and if it needs to be refrigerated??


THanks!
Mindy

Sharon your cookies are gorgeous! Would you mind sharing the glacé recipe you use?


Thanks! it is from Toba Garrett's book.... if i rememeber corectly it is one pound powdered sugar, 6 tbs each of milk and corn syrup and about 1 tsp flavoring. you thicken some of it up to pipe outlines and flood in with the thinner stuff.

The pulling in towards the center is working for me but my edges are still not crisp...what could I be doing wrong?

oh, how hard are those edges huh???? how many nights of lost sleep they have given me. I would say maybe you still are leaving too much icing along that top edge, and the typing paper smoothing is a big help. i do the top, kind of pressing down along that top edge just a tad; then come at it from the sides, going back and forth with the paper and fondant smoother trying to get it crisp. i ain't gunna lie, it is tricky! just takes a lot of practice and trial and error but you will get it!

I was just using a knife to mix in the color because it was fairly small amounts of each color that I was making (apprx 1 cup.) Next time I'll try a spoon or my hand mixer instead - I don't make enough cakes to color an entire batch in one color! That's a LOT of icing in one recipe!!!

oh yes me too; if I am coloring only a cup or so for piping i do it that way too. but if i need a large enough amount to ice a cake with; i use one of the other methods so as not to get air in it.

Just was wondering how long your recipe stays good and if it needs to be refrigerated??

HEY MINDY!!!

it stays out for 2 weeks sometimes till i use all the scraps.. no need to fridge.

I have been reading everything ya'll have been writing about air bubbles in icing. I have just recently started decorating cakes and I am a little confused by this, that is something that I have never even thought about. What is the reasoning by trying to keep out air bubbles. I just mix up my icing and frost the cake and then decorate it! I know this might sound like a crazy question, but just please bare with me I'm learning!!!!

Thanks
Connie

Thanks Sharon. So where is the Ask Sharon section of CC? Those flower cookies on your site, I just love them, sooo pretty.

I'll keep chuggin on the center thing....definitely going to take practice.

What is the reasoning by trying to keep out air bubbles.

just simply to get a super smooth iced cake.... no pock or air bubbles showing on the surface....

hi can anyone tell me the aprox. amount of cups of icing this makes. thanks

Hi Sharon, I just wanted to tell you thanks! I think you've helped me to create smoother, less air-filled icing, although I am not using your recipe. When you mentioned that your recipe fills up your bowl almost to the top of the paddle, I started thinking maybe I could double my recipe (I've always assumed it would be too much for my Kitchenaid to handle.) Low and behold, it fit! AND, I have never had icing that came out looking so free of air!

For some reason my icing will not let me do the copy paper trick though. It always sticks to the copy paper and ends up making just a big mess! Aggravating! Not sure if it's because of the moisture coming up from my cake (I freeze my cakes and thaw a little) or due to the icing recipe or what. My last resort is to let the cake thaw longer and maybe let the icing sit on the cake longer as well. Hmmm...

BUT I AM THRILLED TO KNOW I CAN MAKE A DOUBLE BATCH OF ICING IN MY KITCHENAID (4 LBS. SUGAR)!!! Boy, the work I could have saved myself over the years knowing that. LOL

great LISA!!! if your cakes are partially frozen when they are iced; its the condensation causing you to not be able to use the paper trick.

good luck!

I just made the hugest mess in my kitchen but I had a BLAST!!! I think I am going to salvage the best icing I have ever made though. It still tastes like crisco at the moment but I can fix that! Thanks for your tips - your cakes are true inspirations!!!

sugarshack~
Do you torte, or layer?? Your sides are so even and straight. How do you fight the bulge??

Hi Sniker; I just level the cake layers and use 2 layers with one layer of filling. i use a very stiff BC to dam my filling in, and then I just ice the cake as staright and level as I can.

Sweet success, thank you for the nice words; I am just a home hobbyist who has a little home business going...

So I don't like shortening based icings at all. Hate the taste. I only use them if a customer requests.

I use a SMBC recipe - any tips on how to get it even smoother? I occasionally have air bubbles and what not - I use a combo of spatula and plastic scraper to smooth it. But since it doesn't crust, I can't use the Viva method nor the computer paper to get it even smoother. Any ideas?

Oh and by the way, your cakes are FANTASTIC!

thanks Candy!!! I am sorry I cannit help with non crusting icing; i cant use it. I have read some frdige it then use a hot bench scraper to smooth?

I wanted to thank you Sugar shack for these tips and the ones about quilting on buttercream. I tryed all of them for the first time on my sons graduation cake. I was pleased with the results. Thanks for all the tips. I didnt even try them out first. Dumb i know. Got lucky after reading everyone of the post. I posted it in the gallery. Now I have to make my neices. We will see how it goes.

Sharon I have another question for you. Can your icing be used under fondant if a cake is not going to be refrigerated for about 10 hours?? I'm making my first wedding cake for friends later this month & was going to use WBH BC but have now found out that it won't hold up under the fondant. Will yours??

Where is the article about quilting mentioned here?

I will try to find it for you. It was in another posting with sugar shack.

I've got to try this recipe!!! Thanks Sharon for posting it. My icing recipe will crust but it takes forever. Viva will stick to it if you try it before letting it sit 1/2 hour. I just don't have that kind of time!! The humidity lately makes it worse- last night I had to smooth a cake while it was in the freezer!

One question - do you put all ingredients in the bowl and mix? I'm used to creaming crisco & extracts, then alternating powdered sugar and liquid...

Welocme, Sugarshack! Thanks for your willingness to share your talent! I know that as a newbie I sure appreciate it and have learned tons from you!! My question is this: Will the liquid coffee-mate creamers or the International Coffee creamers work just as well as you 1 cup powder to 1 cup water? Thanks!

Sorry for the stupid question but what is a bench scraper and where do you get one? I am going to try all these tips on my next cake

Extreme newbie here. I've read a lot of posts that talk about the use of coffee creamer. Can anyone tell me the purpose of using this? Is it to help with crusting or to use in lieu of milk? Do you use just plain and not the flavors?

mjlaw, you can get a bench scraper anywhere. They are usually about 4-6 inches long and about 4 inches high and flat. You have probably seen them before. Bench scrapers can be plastic or metal. Bread bakers use them to scrap the dough off the work surface and to move the dough around. I'm sure that you can find one at Bed, Bath & Beyond, your local cake shop or any online sites like King Arthur Flour, etc.

This network of cake enthusiasts is amazing. I can't tell you in the couple of months that I've been visiting this site, the amount of things that I have learned.

To save time, I was going to make this recipe(sugarshack buttercream) today to ice a cake on Friday. Do I just leave it out, and remix on Friday? Will it turn out the same?

welcome sugarshack and thanks for tall the great advice.

This may be a stupid question but I am still brand new to this and I am all about smoothing a cake. I was confused about the liquid measurements. can someone explain that to me... I think I am just having a brain fart!!!!