I read a couple of weeks ago that some people swear by Blue Bonnett in their buttercream. I am a bit of a butter snob, but always willing to try something new. So I tried it tonight.
It was a disaster. I decided to use it in the cake first. I put it in Toba Garrett's chocolate fudge cake and the thing I noticed was that usually the batter usually "whips" up, it becomes light and fluffy. This however, did not. It was very runny and not smooth at all. I thought maybe it was operator error until I tried it in my frosting.
Mind you, I wanted to do baby steps. So I did 1/4 cup Crisco, 1/2 cup butter, and 1/4 cup Blue Bonnett. The frosting turned out exactly like the cake batter did. It would not get to a light and fluffy consistency at all. The frosting was thick, but runny if that makes any sense at all! After it sat for a while I could see little pools of yellow oil (the margarine) in the made frosting. And the thing is, I used very little of the margarine and it really threw the consistency of my buttercream off.
What gives? Did I do something wrong? Do you not use the stick Blue Bonnett? I am sure that there must be something I did wrong with it or many people would not have success with it.
Margarine has more water than crisco - in the buttercream, you should have substituted 1/2 the margarine for the butter, not the crisco. You need the full amount of crisco (at least 1/2 cup) to keep up the consistency of the buttercream. HTH!
I have no idea why it would have affected your cake . . . I've never noticed a significant difference when I switch between butter or margarine, and I really can't say I notice a significant difference in brands of margarines either. Could be your particular recipe was particularly sensitive (especially if it was a scratch recipe) - the margarine might have more water than the butter.
I'm sorry you had so many problems! If you want to try the margarine, don't give up. I would say, however, to keep at least 1/2 crisco in the recipe.
I actually was replacing the butter, not the Crisco. I don't care for Crisco, I prefer more butter in the recipe. I was making half a batch, and that is the amount of Crisco it calls for. Also, I used less water than usual. Gee that sounds argumentative, but it's not meant to be! Oh well, I think I'll stick with butter.
No offense taken! The only thing I can think of is that margarine has a fair amount of water in it. Most people use buttercream recipes that are 1/2 and 1/2 crisco to butter or margarine. Perhaps because your recipe is so heavy on the butter and light on the crisco, the extra water content in the margarine affected the chemistry? Sorry . . . I'm out of ideas other than that. I guess I'd say if your recipe works for you and you like it, then there is no need to change it!
Thank you for your input tkeys. It's definately trial and error. Maybe I will try it again using the 1/2 butter 1/2 crisco way. I do notice Crisco does give it a bit more stability, so it is very possible that your last statement is true. Thank you again. 
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%