Yes, I use creme bouquet too and it is wonderful. To me it has that "bakery icing" smell when it is used. I get it at a bakery supply store. Love it.

adven68 LOL you arr too funny.

I too am a little hurt by me being called unsophisticated. I can't even spell the word.

To each their own.

creme boquet is yummy. i use it in most of my frostings. i like to describe it as almost a little tropical. I know that doesnt really help much but that is waht i reminds me of. I just placed an order from CK and bought two big bottles of it since i use it so much.

I definitely want to try the creme bouquet...sounds really good. I use the half butter/half crisco recipe. I also try to spice mine up with flavorings. My newest combination is adding 2 different kinds of mexican vanilla and butter extract. Sometimes when I make yellow frosting I will add a little vanilla butternut extract...it tastes pretty good. Fortunately, around where I live...the grocery store cakes taste really good!
traci

Adven68, that was cute.

Nice to see others enjoy creme bouquet. Have either of you tried the creme royal?

"Now I'll have to kill you!" That's funny!

Well, that was certainly a lot of information to get through. I use 100% shortening for my icing. I have had no problems with it. I make it using water, milk, or whipping cream. I do find that using water you do get that greasy taste depending on how much confectioners you add. Using milk is better and whipping cream is even BETTER! I hadn't made it with whipping cream in a long time and I did this last week and BOY-O-BOY was it delicious!!!! I mostly just add butter flavoring and real clear vanilla ext. I have a hook up that goes to Mexico several times a year and buys me clear vanilla. I have approx a gallon of the stuff.

Anyway, I've tasted some pretty good grocery store cake frostings and then I've tasted some pretty bad ones. The pretty bad ones are mostly whipped cream type ones (completely different from my whipping cream one) The grocery store whipped cream ones have no texture or volume to them. They don't have much of a taste at all.

I like to have a really white icing to do my cakes with and to start my colors with. I've tried a icing that uses real butter and I had a yellow hue to it and my colors were all wrong. Never do that again unless requested to.

To each his own. I say stick with what you know is best and the consumer loves!


Amy

i used to use only swiss butter cream at the pasty shop i worked at for 4 yrs... it was great for icing, awful to make flowers with on a hot day... and to me it tasted like i was eating melted butter.. ... the recipe i use at home is the best buttercream ever!... its parcial butter and parcial shortening.. but i found through experimenting that using heavy cream in my buttercream makes it awsome that and salt to cut the sweetness... i get customers that ask me for this icing specifically on their cakes...and i know some decorators on here are parcial to using name brands in their recipe... i use all generic and its awsome

I tend to use generic brands as well I think they are just as good. Magentaa23 I would love to get a copy of your buttercream recipie it sounds great. If you don't mind and if not too much trouble could you email to me at [email protected]

Thanks

Yes, I will admit, the whiteness of shortening-based frosting is a definite advantage when adding color.

Those of you who use whipping cream in your shortening frosting--can you email me your recipes? I think I'll give them a try. I'm going to look for the creme bouquet too! My email is [email protected].

Obviously, buttercream is a hot topic!!

Sometimes I use the half/half recipe for frosting my cake, but recently I've started using the crisco one exclusively. I know, it makes me sick to think of what I'm eating (sometimes pure white icing looks like it could be crisco!), but then again, it's just a rare indulgence anyway, and it tastes so good! I don't remember cake wanting to be a health food anyway! Believe me, I've tried "healthy" versions, and it's not worth it! I just threw in the towel and accepted that it falls in that top little category on the food guide pyramid, to be used sparingly! I just gave up worrying about it, and enjoy it when I do eat it.
Plus, the workability of the crisco icing can't be beat. I've had so many people say they love it better than anything they've ever had. I use Crisco brand shortening, generic icing sugar, 2% milk, pure vanilla, butter flavoring, and a tad of almond.
When I tried using whipping cream instead of the milk, it got really fluffy on me! (understandably I think - has anyone else had this problem?)

I'd love to have the recipe too magentaa23 at [email protected]

I've used butavan flavoring.. it has a very unusual flavor and when used, you can smell it as soon as you open the box... I tend to not like using all almond extract by itself and no other flavoring in my icings.. but it's really up to the customers and all to do with what your area prefers. I've had some clients ask me what flavorings I use, and I just ask "What flavoring do you like?" I usually get told what they don't like and I'll write it down and make sure I DON'T use that one on their cake .. I think a mixture of flavorings is always good .. when they take a bite and you hear "mmmmmmmm", you know it's good .. and I also like it when you see them try to figure out just what flavoring(s) you did use .. butavan flavoring stumps them everytime .. they never can work out what it is... but then neither can I LOL

magenta.. I too would like to see your recipe. It sounds very much like the buttercream recipe I use and it would be great to compare the two. Thanks. [email protected]

http://www.winbeckler.com/flavors.asp

http://www.ccwsupply.com/cakedec/flavor5.asp

http://www.countrykitchensa.com/catalog/miniideacake.aspx?T=8&SubCatId=1056

http://www.doitwithicing.com/category.asp?cat=53

http://www.sugarcraft.com/catalog/misc/flavorings.htm#butavan
(you can find butavan and creme bouquet both on this website)

I found creme bouquet on this websites... not sure if it's the same.

I am going to pick up some Creme Boquet or Valencia. What's the difference?

Ntertayneme, thanks for that...I will try out the Butavan. And yes, that is the creme bouquet on that site.

I would like to see the whipping cream recipe too. Do you just use it for the liquid...a few tablespoons?

ntertayneme

How much butivan do you use in your icing recipe? Is this used as your sole flavoring? I just recently ordered a bottle of butivan and I am unsure how to use it properly. I have just heard wonderful things about it. Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I use 2 teaspoons of butavan or any other flavoring when making my icing... when using butavan, the only other flavoring I've used along with it is clear vanilla flavoring. You can use just butavan or a mixture of butavan and vanilla.. either way, it really taste good!

ntertayneme

Thanks for the quick reply on the butivan!

Fellow Lake Charles resident.

The Whip Cream added to buttercream is probably this recipe. Is the one I use:

I use Heavy Whipping Cream, but I guess you can use just Whip Cream:

2 cups of Shortening (I use Crisco)
2 lbs of powdered sugar (10x)
1/2 of salt
1 tsp of vanilla and 1 tsp of any other flavor you like
6-8 oz of Whipping Cream ( I use Heavy Whipping Cream cause is thicker)

This buttercream is super delicious.... Star with 6 oz of whip cream. If you want it thinner add slowly till you get consistency you want. Up to 5-6 oz is thick enough to make roses.

It stays white.

Procedure:

1. Beat shortening until fluffy. Add flavors and blend well.
2. Add about 1 oz of whip cream and blend with shortening.
3. Start adding powdered sugar, alternating with whip cream.
4. Blend well.

It comes out really creamy. The original recipe calls for adding shortening then powdered sugar then whip cream and flavors. But it gets lumpy when you do that. So I add some whip cream, then sugar, then whip cream and then sugar and comes out better.

Give it try and tell me what you think.

Thanks Maria, I'm going to try cream in my next batch of frosting and see how it is!

i made the wilton-style buttercream with all butter (1 lb icing sugar to 1 cup salted butter) this weekend, flavoured with almond, vanilla, and orange and lemon oil harvested from the peel with sugar cubes (no bits of peel that way.) i haven't made buttercream in years, having mostly done only dessert cakes iced with chocolate mousse and ganache recently, and i and the guests at my niece's birthday party all found the buttercream icing too sweet, but with good flavour.

i don't like cooked buttercream, as i do find it too buttery and greasy (and yes, a huge pain to decorate with if it's too soft), and shortening (crisco) is tacky because it doesn't melt in the mouth (nasty hygrogenated fats with their high melting point!). i love using chocolate mousse cream (no eggs or gelatin -- the chocolate sets the cream) or ganache instead of chocolate buttercream; i just need to come up with a similar recipe in white (i tried white chocolate chips last night and it was awful -- perhaps i should try a purer form of white chocolate).

Ok, I've just read all 4 pages of this thread, and I have a question about the wilton buttercream. I've always just make it 100% crisco, which my family goes crazy over, but with a 50-50 ratio of crisco and butter, is it just equal amounts of crisco and butter? I thought you had to add water with crisco to get an equivalent to butter? For instance, usually i use 2 c crisco, would i just use 1 c of each crisco and butter? Also, would i still have to use the wilton butter flavor?

I would like to have the actual use of the word "tacky", when referring to Crisco based icings, described! It seems to me that most of the icings talked about here are made with Crisco in whole or in part so I'd just like to know why the constant use of the word "tacky". I really take offense to that word and would really appreciate it if it would quit being used! To me, tacky is used when describing something with a less than desireable appearance not taste!

Amy

I'm pretty sure wilton has a half and half recipe in the front of book 1. At least I thin I've seen it there. It's been a while since I looked.

Too cool CajunDaisy I actually work in Lake Charles and live outside the area. It's great to have someone from the area on here with me!

cakemommy/amy: sorry, i meant (and i assume others have meant) tacky as in plasticy-feeling in the mouth...as in the perception of greasy unmelted fat coating the roof of your mouth. not tacky as in poor flavour or as in cheap or in bad taste, but rather tacky as in texture...like slightly sticky latex paint that isn't dry yet. it is not meant as a put-down but merely to describe the plasticy feeling many of us experience when eating items made with shortening (like danish and puff pastry, as opposed to the rather lovely unctuousness butter gives in items like croissant -- foodstuffs like butter and chocolate seem to have been made for human consumption, as their fats, unlike the fats in shortening, melt at just around our body temperatures, and thus don't generally leave a tacky feeling in the mouth).

i hope that clarifies things, and that you aren't offended by people simply stating their preferences. that's the wonderful thing about taste: you don't have to share other people's, and other people can enjoy and espress their own tastes without it being of any consequence to you...it doesn't change your enjoyment or dislike of something just because someone else feels differently, does it?

Well, I think that covers an entire encyclopedia of explanations. Thank you for clarifying it for me!


Amy

Hi,

I've enjoyed reading all the posts and have learned so many new things. If you make buttercream with whipping cream or milk do you have to refrigerate your cakes after icing? Just checking ...
Someone told me recently to add coffee creamer (powdered kind) with water to the crisco based frosting.