I made one that is 3 cups shortening/butter, lessened the Crisco and added more butter and with 2 pounds of 10x, it's still too sweet for me. I added in about a 1/4 tsp. of salt, maybe more (I didn't measure...I know!) and it's still too sugary. Does anyone have a good bc recipe that is buttery and not sweet that will still crust (is that possible)?
Thanks!
You might consider trying an Italian Meringue Buttercream. It tastes completely different than traditional bc. You can add liqueurs to cut back some of the butteryness if you need to . Martha Stewart has one on her site that lots of folks here swear by!
IMBC doesn't crust but it ices really well and it pipes like a dream. I really liked working with it the time I used it but it is so different from what people think of when they think " buttercream" that my crowd isn't in to it. But I am going to try adding a favored liqueur and see what happens!
IMBC doesn't use any powdered sugar or crisco. It uses egg whites, cooked sugar and butter.
Here is a link to the recipe:
http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=content&id=recipe1980&contentGroup=MSL&site=living
i too have also searched for a crusting buttercream that is not ridiculously sweet. I tried IMBC and love it for my adult cake. I still want a crusting icing because i can use the viva method to smooth it. I was unable to get as clean of an edge with the IMBC, but i dont know could have been doing something wrong.
I use IMBC all the time. I too am a little afraid of using raw egg whites so I use merigue powder. It works the same. A lot of my customers prefer the less sweet taste of IMBC.
AlamoSweets, how do you substitute and doesn't affect the taste?
It does effect the taste. In order for it to come out right you must use a good egg and a good butter.
One time I tried a different butter (it was less expensive) and threw the whole batch out it was that bad.
Not sure but I do add almond flavoring with a little vanilla. It has always been a hit. One of my most particular clients requests it everytime.
I read on another post (thank you to whoever posted this tip!!!) that you can add just a bit of violet to make the icing whiter and it actually works! Something about violet is opposite of yellow on the color wheel. You just have to add a tiny, tiny bit at a time. I do that until it looks pretty good then I add some of the wilton white to finish it off. The poster said if you get too much violet you can add a touch of yellow to go back the other color direction.
I too almost had a heart attack when I saw how much the natural maket butter was! 
Where can you find a color wheel? I REALLY need one of those. It's seems when ever I try and GUESS the color, I just always guess wrong.
I would guess an art store. I'm glad I'm not the only color impaired one!! I had no clue about the violet thing!
Instead of purchasing a color wheel try this link instead. Hope this helps.
http://cakecentral.com/article2-How-To-Color-Your-Icing.html
I just found this not sure if it would help but it's a color wheel. I found 3 sites that looked pretty good.
http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://chem.csustan.edu/JTB/HELP/COLOR/color-wheel-numbers.gif&imgrefurl=http://chem.csustan.edu/JTB/HELP/COLOR/color-index.htm&h=479&w=413&sz=22&tbnid=sQYXfFhnd3cJ:&tbnh=126&tbnw=108&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcolor%2Bwheel%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D&oi=imagesr&start=3
http://shell-shocked.org/3/images/color%20wheel.gif
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/floriculture/container-garden/lesson/colorwheel.jpg
Hope this helps
Sylvie
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%