Double Batch Of Bc Turned Gritty And Grainy

Baking By pinky73 Updated 23 Jul 2010 , 7:24pm by pinky73

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pinky73 Posted 22 Jul 2010 , 3:05pm
post #1 of 17

Gross. I have always made one batch at a time of regular 1 cup butter, 1 cup shortening, ps, pinch of popcorn salt and flavorings....and never had the gritty or grainy texture problem others have had. I use a standard kitchen aid mixer, the fats are room temp, the ps is various brands, depending on what I happen to have but everything from name brand C&H to Aldis to walmart store brand. Never had a problem.

I thought that to save time, I should go ahead and make a double batch and hopefully eliminate all air bubbles by having enough icing in the bowl to cover the paddle. I did everything according to my usual recipe but as I added the second bag of powdered sugar, it never came together, it started to get really gritty and the more I let it beat, the worse it got. I let it go for more than 15 minutes, added more sugar, still no improvement. I felt it with my fingers and I might as well had wet sand all over the place. So gross and so disappointing. I ended up throwing the entire batch away.

Could it have been that I simply overloaded the mixer bowl? I am going to try just my regular single batch and see if it works as it should. Maybe I had crappy ps?

Any thoughts?

thanks so much.

16 replies
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deMuralist Posted 22 Jul 2010 , 3:22pm
post #2 of 17

I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but if it was me the first thing I would do, especially since you are so used to making a single batch, is to make sure I actually did double all of the ingredients. I am famous for forgetting that I am doubling a recipe and only doubling some of the ingredients.

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floral1210 Posted 22 Jul 2010 , 3:29pm
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Funny, deMuralist...I thought the same thing because it has happened to me several times. I actually forget whether or not I did double in the middle of making it! Boy, can that ruin your day!

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pinky73 Posted 22 Jul 2010 , 3:34pm
post #4 of 17

LOL! Yes, I thought of that even before I started so I made sure to double everything. That would be just like me to double somethings and not others...LOL But this time I actually had the amounts correct, I just wonder if it was just too much to handle, that my smaller batches are the way to go.

Thank you for the thought though, I know what you meant!

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TexasSugar Posted 22 Jul 2010 , 5:38pm
post #5 of 17

What brand of PS did you use when you made this batch of icing?

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pinky73 Posted 22 Jul 2010 , 7:08pm
post #6 of 17

hi Texasugar,
This time I used walmart brand ps...normally I use Aldi's brand or Domino's...Could this be the culprit?

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DeeDelightful Posted 22 Jul 2010 , 7:19pm
post #7 of 17

Surprisingly, I have always had great results from the Great Value (Walmart) brand of powdered sugar. I think humidity contributes to icing coming out gritty sometimes. I had a "bad" batch last week. I didn't need it right away, so I put in the fridge a few days, took it out, added a package of dream whip and re-beat it (for a long time) and it came out amazingly good and smooth.

If you need it right away, try taking out some of the icing and heating it in the microwave a little bit, then re-whipping back into the batch. The heat might straighten out some of the graininess. I never throw away a batch of icing, not even a bad one. I believe it can always be transformed into cream cheese icing or a glaze, if all else fails

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pinky73 Posted 22 Jul 2010 , 7:27pm
post #8 of 17

Dee,
thanks for the tips about not throwing it out and instead adding some other ingredients, re-whipping, etc. I wish I had thought of that last night instead of filling the garbage bag will the swill I had produced.

It has been extremely humid here lately, I live in southwest Missouri and we get heat and humidity during the summers to be sure, I have the ac on but naturally, the kitchen always seems warm to me even if the thermostat at the end of the house reads 73. It was overy humid last night, maybe that was the problem.

I have used the walmart brand PS before and never noticed a problem but I can't say if it was humid at the time.

Next time (godforbid) I will remember your idea about adding Dream whip, which I actually have in the pantry, and give it a try!
Thanks again!

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ChRiStY_71 Posted 22 Jul 2010 , 7:52pm
post #9 of 17

The only time I have ever had grainy icing was from Walmart's PS...although I am not sure that was the culprit. I didn't throw mine away, I added more PS to it for stiffened BC to use for making my dams.

I keep hearing about dreamwhip...I'll have to give that a try.

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DeeDelightful Posted 22 Jul 2010 , 8:12pm
post #10 of 17
Quote:
Originally Posted by pinky73

Dee,
thanks for the tips about not throwing it out and instead adding some other ingredients, re-whipping, etc. I wish I had thought of that last night instead of filling the garbage bag will the swill I had produced.

It has been extremely humid here lately, I live in southwest Missouri and we get heat and humidity during the summers to be sure, I have the ac on but naturally, the kitchen always seems warm to me even if the thermostat at the end of the house reads 73. It was overy humid last night, maybe that was the problem.

I have used the walmart brand PS before and never noticed a problem but I can't say if it was humid at the time.

Next time (godforbid) I will remember your idea about adding Dream whip, which I actually have in the pantry, and give it a try!
Thanks again!




Very welcome! I had one pack of Dream Whip and decided if that didn't work, it would just be a loss. I did add 1/2 block of cream cheese, but it was hardly enough to taste. Maybe the cream cheese helped, too.

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TexasSugar Posted 22 Jul 2010 , 8:24pm
post #11 of 17
Quote:
Originally Posted by pinky73

hi Texasugar,
This time I used walmart brand ps...normally I use Aldi's brand or Domino's...Could this be the culprit?




It could be. Sometimes store brands are made using beet sugar not pure cane sugar. When I buy the GV brand I read to see if the ingredients says pure cane, cane or just sugar. If it just says sugar it could be beet sugar, which can make it gritty.

Every time I have bought the GV it has said cane sugar, but I have heard others that have bought it and it just said sugar.

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pinky73 Posted 22 Jul 2010 , 8:31pm
post #12 of 17

Thanks TexasSugar, I will take a closer look from now on...and look at my remaining bag of sugar in the pantry...I appreciate your help!

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amysue99 Posted 22 Jul 2010 , 8:42pm
post #13 of 17

I bought a huge bag of powdered sugar at Sam's and the icing made with it was very gritty.

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dguerrant Posted 23 Jul 2010 , 3:51am
post #14 of 17

i too have noticed this with the wal-mart brand. i love domino's powdered sugar for sure icon_biggrin.gif

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JaeRodriguez Posted 23 Jul 2010 , 7:00pm
post #15 of 17

amysue- That's funny because I used a huge bag from Sam's and had no problems with it! :] Walmart I have noticed but I just had the same thing happen with dixie Crystals! Who knows!!

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Kitagrl Posted 23 Jul 2010 , 7:11pm
post #16 of 17

Seems like sometimes regular buttercream does turn out slightly grainy, just the texture of the powdered sugar. But as long as its mixed smooth, it doesn't really mean its "bad".

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pinky73 Posted 23 Jul 2010 , 7:24pm
post #17 of 17

well naturally I only have one bag of sugar in the pantry and it's an Aldis bag so it's not one of the questionable items mentioned above. Interestingly, all it says is sugar, not much info there, but I've never had trouble with it so I'm not tossing it.

Seems that all of us have had trouble with all sorts of brands or conversely, no trouble when others have..I wonder if the way the sugar is stored before it hits the shelves could affect it...maybe the humidity in the house makes that much of a difference too.

Well, thanks to everyone and I will make sure to not toss it if I end up with grainy bc again. LOL

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