Are there any good 'light' alternatives to buttercream icing? I am doing a cake for a child's birthday. It is a beach theme so it will have water on one side and sand on the other but the Mom wants to know if we can use something other than buttercream because of the fat and sugar. The cake is a 1/2 sheet single layer double chocolate cake. Don't know why we are concerned with they icing when we look at what is in the actual cake but hey - I will give them what they want if I can. Anyone know of an alternative icing that will hold the color, taste good and keep until Sunday? I will be making the cake tomorrow, they will pick it up on Saturday and the party is Suday.

Thanks for your help I know I have come to the right place for answers!

Never heard of such an animal! Sorry! It's rather amusing, really, that she will eat the cake but has issues with the fat and sugar in the icing. But, like you said--you will do what you can.

I know there are some icing recipes using sugar substitutes here. I have never tried one of them. Also, I will not give my children the sugar substitutes, but that's just me.

The Whipped Cream Buttercream Frosting in the recipes section here is really good. I use 1/2 butter, 1/2 shortening instead of all Crisco, though. I also use high-ratio instead of Crisco. It has a nice, light taste.

Maybe you could try to spread it on really thin to aid in the calorie cutting.

OR--tell her to scrape it off! For heaven's sake--it's a KID'S party! lol!

Good luck--let us know if you come up with something.

Lisa

I would do fondant and they can take it off. It is fat free so you could tell her that.

I would not use sugar substitutes with anyone. It can cause a lot of side effects in people, and you might have a lot of angry parents. Plus they taste terrible, and I wouldn't want my reputation tarnished.

If she's looking for light I highly doubt she's going to want Crisco or shortening, which is full of transfats.

You can look for "light" frosting recipes but my guess is that they would not work all that well for decorating a cake. They'd probably be hard to smooth, or not pipe well or something.

Bah! Cake and icing is not diet food!

She can always scrape the icing off the cake.

When my customers ask for a 'light' frosting they mean the whipped non-dairy topping, like Cool Whip. I use Rich's Bettercreme or Dawn's Velvet Top. Rich's can be purchased in primary colors. It can be tinted but the colors will not be deep. If you have a food distributor or a Cash & Carry store, they will have it. Also, you can purchase it from the bakery at Sam's Club.

It's very easy to work with and because it is non-dairy & stable, it can sit out for hours without concern.

Hope this helps!!

Thanks for the tip, I will pick some up at Sams the next time I am there. Since I put this posting up my client has called and changed her mind on the design (again) and pretty much said she wants it to be pretty so don't worry about the light frosting.......gotta love it!

It may be different from store to store, but here, it comes in 5 lb. buckets. Sometime they have what you need, but they will order for you. You don't have to prepay. It's a good idea to call first.

Not to sound dumb, but what is Dawn's Velvet Top? I have never heard of it. Is it something you make from a recipe, or is it something you purchase?

Wilma

The diabetic icing recipe on this site is really good, it is made with cream cheese and splenda. Splenda is not like other sugar substitutes it tastes much more like sugar and is actually derived from sugar. I don't think the recipe is very low in fat though, but my diabetic father-in-law loved it and I actually liked the taste better than buttercream and definetely more than fondant! It was very easy to decorate with and held color great, I even did a frozen transfer with it and it worked great.

Many large food distributors have a version of non dairy whipped topping. Dawn Foods is Velvet Top. Sysco has one too, but it's pre-whipped. I like Bettercreme and Velvet Top because its in liquid form. You can use what you need and freeze the rest.

found following site while looking for more info on bettercreme.

many of the cakes are costed out and have a suggested retail -- great info for getting idea on how we might price our cakes by comparison.

http://www.bettercreme.com/listcakes.cgi