Help Needed From Australian Folks
Decorating By SquirrellyCakes Updated 28 Apr 2008 , 5:25am by chuelchie
I am trying to remember the brandname of the product you folks buy that is like our all vegetable fat shortening. What is the product you use for your buttercream icing in place of our Crisco or high-ratio shortening?
Hugs Squirrelly
Heehee, yes, poor little squirrels!
I think it is Copha, thanks so much. Sweetex may also be available to folks there now, seems to me I saw a post about that awhile back, I will mention that too.
Thank you all so much, I appreciate it!
Hugs Squirrelly
copha is the closest thing we have in that form in the supermarket but its actually a shortening based on coconut oil.... so it gives a terrible taste when you are making buttercream so its not really a direct comparison, it also sets pretty firmly.
SOLITE is the best we can get here but its only avaialble wholesale but it is almost identical to what you know as white shortening.
I now use a product called cream cup shortening sold at CAROLINES SUGAR ART..... its fantastic.
Holy cow, thank you everyone for the help. I particularly appreciate the comments comparing the products too and describing them. You folks are such a big help, I really appreciate it!
Hugs Squirrelly
I have bought it a few times and the last four have been label free. I have only seen it labelled once with "cream cup" .... NO ingredients listing which is against the Australian Food Standards Code.
I'm not worried about it though! I did have to make a cake for my neighbour that was 100% peanut free and having no ingredients listing made that difficult. I could not get the information in time so I had to use butter which gave a yellow colour to the BC and made it harder to get the colours I wanted.
There is almost no chance that there is any trace of peanut in it but working in the food industry for a spice company, I came across a few products that you would never expect to contain peanut or peanut oil that do contain peanut.
Olivia is violently allergic so can't have any peanut at all so I did not want to risk using it.
I live in Adelaide and go to Caroline's to get my stuff from them but I have never used the cup cream mixture, I'm interested to know how to use it. Do you mix it with something else like icing sugar or use it as is? Can you mix colourings/flavours in it?
Yes it stores in the fridge and looks like butter but feels different... the oily consistency of shortening I would imagine. You add 1kg icing sugar (icing sugar mixture is fine... no need for pure). THe trick is not to overbeat....
being honest though I am not a super fan of the taste... I have a preference for more of a frosting flavour but that being said....
IT IS FANTASTIC TO USE... always spreads and smooths and pipes perfectly.
Give it a go.
Wholesale we pay about $2.90 including GST from CAROLINES, not sure what the retail is from them and that is for a 500gram tub. So much cheaper than miranda but good to know for emergencies..... is the price you quote retail or wholesale???
Let us all know how you get on.
Do you know the shop name?
Now that is interesting because our shortenings you store at room temperatures unless it is really hot.
Hugs Squirrelly
Funny you should say that as initially when we got it there was no label information about fridge or no fridge and given it was sent by normal mail I assumed it would just store in the cupboard but when I next placed an order I asked them and they said put it in the fridge... so I am a little puzzled, if it is a fridge item you wouldn't think they could send it normal post from another state.
Anyway that being said... you can't use it straight out of the fridge, you need to leave it out a bit.
I will be interested to know how others who use CREAM CUP store theirs....
THis topic has been great for me.... lots of info about the product... well done.
Funny you should say that as initially when we got it there was no label information about fridge or no fridge and given it was sent by normal mail I assumed it would just store in the cupboard but when I next placed an order I asked them and they said put it in the fridge... so I am a little puzzled, if it is a fridge item you wouldn't think they could send it normal post from another state.
Anyway that being said... you can't use it straight out of the fridge, you need to leave it out a bit.
I will be interested to know how others who use CREAM CUP store theirs....
THis topic has been great for me.... lots of info about the product... well done.
It has been a real learning experience for me too because I had 2 queries about this and really knew very little. One was through the message board at Baking911.com and another was from an email sent by a member of the Wilton site. It has come up through members of this site before too. auzzi, another Australian that is on this site and others also had some information about the use of Copha and how you cannot just substitute it for shortening so it is all beneficial information for Australians everywhere.
I have seen several people say to refrigerate it too. I wondered if that was due to climate. We know that the vegetable shortenings we use in Canada and the U.S. can melt at temperature of 89-99F. We also know that even though this product has a long shelf life, it can go rancid, likely too, due to fluctuations in temperatures. I have had it happen to me.
The interesting thing for me is that we store lard - animal fat in the refrigerator. Also, older generations are sometimes known to store shortening in the refrigerator even though it isn't required here under those temperatures.
It would be interesting to be able to find out the melting point or breakdown point of these products too as that would tell you when you have to worry about the icings. The shelf life would also be good to know.
So it is all great because everyone has provided feedback and preferences and even where to purchase these products.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes
I'm not sure if I posted this before...
Some Aussie bakers wanted to know why they couldn't get Crisco there..so I emailed the company and asked.
Evidently Crisco is not allowed to be sold in Oz due to an "agreement" of sorts with the companies that make your brand of shortening.
It is not that Crisco would not like to sell there but there is a restriction.
If you guys/gals want Crisco you will have to scream and holler and jump up and down to get the law changed. 
Do you have a Wilton Cake classes in Adelaide? If so ring them and ask what they have that would be suitable to use, you can probably also get hold of Cream Cup there but you might have to let your fingers do the walking in the Yellow pages to find oiut where from.
other than copha what other shortening's can you use. I really don't like the taste of copha and I think it would overpower the taste.
A lot of people recommend Frymaster instead.
Hugs Squirrelly
other than copha what other shortening's can you use. I really don't like the taste of copha and I think it would overpower the taste.
A lot of people recommend Frymaster instead.
Hugs Squirrelly
where can you get frymaster? I have never heard of that
other than copha what other shortening's can you use. I really don't like the taste of copha and I think it would overpower the taste.
A lot of people recommend Frymaster instead.
Hugs Squirrelly
where can you get frymaster? I have never heard of that
Socake mentioned it here, perhaps you could Pm her. I have also heard it mentioned by some pals of mine from Finland but I don't know where they got it either.
Hugs Squirrelly
I am surprised to hear about the reason why crisco is not here as the only other type of shortening really here is copha and I think it is well established that they are not even remotley closed especially with how they can be used.
Frymaster is really not suitable for buttercream....... its a fat used for frying as far as I know.
Cream cup is the next best thing here....but not readily available everywhere although perhaps more so than we think..... maybe if everyone could advise where they buy theirs from...ie store name and state.....
karen
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