Help!!!! I made some chocolate buttercream without cocca power and it tastes grainy!! Help somebody!!! What did I do wrong and what can I do to save it?????????????????????????????????

What did you use to make it chocolatey then? Sounds like you might have used actual chocolate in which case sounds like you might have cooked the chocolate instead of melting it in which case you can't save it. It might simply be that you didn't seive the icing sugar and the grains are bits of sugar. If this is the case then leave it for a bit to allow the sugar to dissolve and then beat it again.

I used semi-sweet chocolate which I melted. I am so upset! I hate it when something does not come out the way I want!!!!! I think that I will let it sit for a few hours and then come back. I did not add any meringue powder this time - which I usually do living in HUMID North Carolina. Do you think if I went back and added it - it might help?

If you used powdered baking cocoa, that's why. I have done the same thing.... someone here told me the best way to get choc. BC was to melt good quality choc. and stir into your own BC recipe... they also said that they add a can of store bought choc frosting to the whole thing and it rocks....

Was the chocolate melted nice and smooth or is it possible for it to have gotten scorched or water added? I know water makes chocolate seize and scorched chocolate can happen in seconds and then it gets lumpy and nasty..

I'm sorry Chocolate is so bloody hard to deal with but so yummy.... dilemma

I agree with emmascakes, it sounds like the melted chocolate has seized up and ruined your buttercream.....

Well - !!!!!!!!!!!!! I will just start over!!!!!!!!!!! Any suggestions?????

I find that some chocolate simply doesn't melt well. I find Hershey's to be the worst. Ghirardhelli is mediocre. Valrhona and Callebaut are the best.

I've had regular buttercream be grainy. I figured it was the sugar, sifted and all, it was the only ingredient that could have made it grainy. I've also had Hershey's chocolate be "strange" and not incorporate into the bc. To say the least, chocolate buttercream made with "real" chocolate is not one of my favorites. I agree with adding a can or partial can, of ready made to your buttercream mixture.

I have been having trouble with "grainy" icing lately too.....i'm thinking not sifting the sugar may be to blame with the humidity so high!

I made some chocolate buttercream last week and I was not too happy with how it tasted either. I live in Colorado where the humidity is very low so I'm not sure what the problem was. Someone here suggested melting the chocolate melts and using those instead of cocoa powder and I did that but I just didn't like the consistency and flavor. I do wonder, though, if I "overcooked" the chocolate. Until reading these posts, I guess I didn't realize that the chocolate can be "overcooked" when melting it. I put the melts in a bowl on top of a pot with boiling water, but I did not melt them really slowly on low heat. Could that have been the problem? I turned the heat up to high because I wanted them to melt faster.

Could it be the sugar--use cane sugar not beet sugar. Check the bag. I picked up some powdered sugar and made frosting and it was nasty looked at the bag and it said it was beet sugar. I try to stick with cane sugar--same goes for granulated as well. All of the beating in the world will not fix it.

I use a combination of melted baker's chocolate and cocoa powder. You do have to be careful melting chocolate. If you do it in the microwave start with 30 seconds and then give it a stir. Melted chocolate will hold it's shape and it's not until you stir it that you see it's melting. I do it at 10 second intervals after that and stir everytime. When there are still a few tiny lumps don't heat again, just keep stirring because it will melt all the way.

When doing it over water don't boil the water just simmer it. After it heats up you have to keep stirring the chocolate to see when it's melted. Like I said before when there are little bits left remove it from the heat and just keep stirring.

After it's melted, I let it cool for a minute or two before I add it. I don't like adding really hot chocolate to my buttercream because that in itself can do funky things!

Personally my thought is the sugar that was used try a diffrent brand. I was using one had no problems the store was out the next time I had to get some so used another brand & had that issue. Went to another store bought what I had been using & no problems

Greetings! My very first post!!! (with graphic, even!)

Well, the quality of ingredients used is definately the problem when the BC icing comes out grainy. I purchased Wal-mart Shortening and Powdered Sugar... bad mistake... I ran to the store and bought the National brand... low and behold!!!! The fluffiest, creamiest, dreamiest BC icing ever!!!

You ladies, and guys, are great here! Thanks for all the useful info!

In addition to what koolaidstains said above, you have to be sure to cool your chocolate so that it is nearly the same temperature as the butter mixture you are adding it to (both at room temperature!) . If you add the melted chocolate to the butter mixture while the chocolate too hot, the fat in the chocolate will solidify and your mixture will get and stay grainy.