I have an order from my chiropractor (yes, he was explaining it to me while adjusting me!! Haha!) and he wants something he used to get at a french bakery in Canada as a pre-teen. I really want to impress him, so I have a couple things to run by you for input. First of all, he wants a REAL buttercream, meaning it must contain butter. I don't normally make that, so what recipe do you think is just REALLY good? I have looked at the buttercream dream, and think that might be my best bet because the recipes I've looked at for Duff's BC and similar, well, they don't have any flavorings in them, and I just don't know how they'd taste. I have to assume that, with as famous as he is for it, it would have to be GOOD, anyone tried it or have an opinion on this matter?

Part 2: He wants a cake that's about 6" round, and the top is just one giant rose! (???) I mean, I could use the giant petal tip and make a Wilton type rose on a grand scale... or does anyone know of another method to make the entire top of the cake into a rose?

TIA for any help!!

Try my meringue buttercream - It is sooo yummy!

Not sure about piping a 6" rose, though. Sounds like they might have had a special super duper extra large tip.

ran across this, might help:

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-316583.html

Tammie

I only use butter in my buttercream. I promise its good. My customers LOVE It. I just 2 lbs of real unsalted butter, I let them come to room temp, so there soft but not runny. THen I paddel it on med speed until the butter turns white, I then add 2lb of Powder sugar, you can turn the speed up if you like, Then when its really creamy I add 1/4 or less of heavy cream. And my customer really seem to like it with Orange flavoring. Its smells to die for. I use a crumb coat, then put it in the fridge then when thats had I re-ice it. It getting really hard in the fridge. And travels well, it doent melt as fast as you would expect. I personally love it, it doent taste like a mouth full of butter and its not extremely sweat. Also it needs to be served at room temp or the icing will stay hard and no one wants warm icing. Let me know if your going to do it and have any questions. ( all my cakes are made with it, your can view my pics if you'd like) ALSO about the Rose, Im thinking Fondant is going to be your best bet, post a pics when your done.

Thanks for all the feedback! I just made a batch of the buttercream dream, and I don't know how I feel about it yet. The jury is still out! I have been searching around for a 'true' french buttercream, and man they seem like a lot of work, and I'm not excited about using real egg whites, so who knows what I'll end up with! Haha! I will certainly let you know when I decide! aviles, the recipe you talked about sounds easy, yet good! Maybe I will have to try that out! Thanks again!

The buttercream dream sounds close but it does have the crisco in it. I would have your family taste it and see if they taste a hint of greasy or crisco taste, You definitly dont want him to taste any. If he said real butter, I would think all butter although he probably doesnt know what he wants exactly, I know french chefs are faithful to there meringue, Im almost finished with my associates in baking in pastry arts and all my chefs are french and they wont allow us to make any other buttercream. I know what you mean about the egg whites and as long as your sugars as long as your sugar is at the write temp, you'll be okay. I always mess the meringue up at home and even at school. Good Luck. I dont even know what that man wants. Good Luck with the rose too. I still want to see your end pic!

Yes, he was VERY adamant that he wanted REAL BUTTER bc! He is french, and he doesn't want a layer of Crisco on his cake! Hahaha! He'd probably really like my normal BC, but I don't want to disappoint him, so I'm searching for 'just the right thing' to please him. He's a really neat guy, and something tells me he could open up a whole new market for me, (translation: People with money who won't be afraid to pay what a cake is worth!!) so I want to knock his spine right out of alignment with my cake! I will definitely post with whatever I get worked out!!

I would ask him what he means by a "real" buttercream, because buttercream dream and a meringue buttercream are two different monsters.. SOOOOOOOOO completely different. I would ask him just what type of BC he means by real and maybe take him a sample of each kind. You can add flavorings to the meringue buttercreams.. just do it at the end when it's all come together. I like a good vanilla.

Ha ha,,, Your Funny! And your right.. Good Luck

I second using a meringue style buttercream for your cake. If the guy remembers a cake from a French bakery you can be sure it would have been a meringue buttercream on it.

I really urge you to try it, it is not complicated at all. Granted it does take longer than regular BC, but it is not difficult. The mixer does most of the work. And with regards to flavouring, I always put vanilla extract in mine, and I have made it with orange zest too which is also delicious. The butter gives it a wonderful flavour in itself so you really do not have to add a lot of things to it to make it taste good. The mouthfeel of meringue buttercream is just amazing, yum! Hm... got to go to fridge to see if there is leftover cake.....

When he says 'real' he is saying 'real butter' buttercream, in other words, NOT CRISCO! I don't think he cares about anything past that. Also, I would love to have him taste the choices, but he is 45 minutes away and he wants the cake on Friday. BUMMER!! But I know I can come up with something that will make him happy. I guess I will have to try the french meringue buttercream. Do any of you recommend a certain recipe that you like?

Toba Garrett has a French Vanilla Buttercream that is all butter. I have never tried it, but I have heard it is excellent.

Most of meringue recipies are the same, Im not a good one for that but I can say meringue buttercream is damb good. Im always afraid to make it cause I always mess up but it is sssssooooooooo Good!

Ok, I looked up Toba Garretts recipe and it had shortening in it so I tried Duff's BC which is all butter. Gah! I know the problem is MOST LIKELY that I am not used to that type of BC, but it's the weirdest thing I've eaten in a long time. It was like buttery foam... I can't explain it. I think it made me like the buttercream dream better, but what if that's the type of icing he likes? I don't know what to use. Ergh!! This is really frustrating!

I wanted to try this one for a while, but was always afraid of screwing it up, if anyone tries it, let me know how it comes out!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_21747,00.html?rsrc=search

What about this one? I made it before and it was delicious. All you have to do is omit the vanilla beans.

http://www.oprah.com/foodhome/food/recipes/food_200504_vbfrost.jhtml

What about if you used the Buttercream Dream recipe using the Crisco butter flavored - that way you still have that "buttery taste".

Here's another:

http://www.oprah.com/foodhome/food/recipes/food_20020726_sheepbird.jhtml

Sorry....forgot that you did not want to use real egg whites.

I would stick with an all-butter buttercream since that's what he requested.

Even though you're not used to the taste/texture yet, I promise you that many crazies (myself included) love this! If you don't like it on its own, what about paired with cake? That can make a difference.

You could try the Cupcake Cafe buttercream. It's all butter and uses whole eggs. I think they even have the recipe on their website, but I'm not sure. They pipe lots of flowers with it, so it would probably be great for piping.

I like Martha Stewart's SMBC for flowers. I find that SMBC is more stable than IMBC. I use at least half SALTED butter, though. This is so against all culinary expert advice, but it just tastes better to me. Thanks to ShirleyW, I've also started added about 1/2 tsp orange extract in addition to vanilla. It cuts some of the buttery taste and gives the icing a nice fresh taste (it doesn't taste overtly orange).

Also, I guarantee he will notice if there is shortening in the icing. If you're used to all-butter, it is very noticeable, even if it's butter flavored.

I sound so snobby! I promise, I'm really not.

Ladybuglau, I totally want to try Alton's bc recipe, but I'm not sure about the dark corn syrup!! But I love Alton, so I may try it some day!

You know what I did??? I took the bowl of Buttercream dream, put it back in the mixer and dumped the half batch of Duff's BC that I made and whipped them together. I think I have my answer. It's not bad. Definitely not going to quit using my regular BC recipe in favor of this, but it should work for this job. Of course, I will have a lot left since he wants a small cake... but oh well. Maybe I'll make a few different little test cakes and let people try them to see what they think.

Thanks for everyone's input, you are irreplaceable!!

Here's that Cupcake Cafe recipe:

Cupcake Cafe Vanilla Butter Cream


4 cups granulated sugar
1 cup water
6 eggs, at room temperature
2-1/2 pounds unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

To make the sugar syrup, combine the 4 cups of sugar and 1 cup water in a 2-or 3-quart saucepan and heat over medium-high (moderate) heat, stirring occasionally, until it starts to boil. When the mixture boils, put the lid on the pot for a few minutes. Cover now and again to wash the sugar crystals back into the syrup. This is particularly important for decorating purposes so that you do not end up with pieces of sugar clogging your decorating tubes.

Allow the syrup to reach 236°F, using a candy thermometer to determine this. If you do not have a thermometer, you can test the temperature by letting some of the syrup drop off the spoon back into the syrup. It should fall a bit slowly, the drops coming together to form one drop that should lengthen and just begin to form a thread; do not cook longer. If the syrup gets too hot, it will go from the "soft ball" stage to what's called "hard ball" or "hard-crack" stage. This term means that the syrup is on its way to being usable for making hard candy, and when cooled it will become brittle.

If this happens, when you add the syrup to the eggs they will not combine smoothly and instead will form an unusable mixture of sweetened eggs and bits of hard candy. You don't want this to happen, so stop heating when the syrup is at 236°F.

When your syrup is at a perfect soft ball stage, remove it from the heat and cover it. Have your eggs ready in a bowl large enough for the eggs and syrup. Beat the eggs first and then slowly add the hot sugar syrup, using an electric mixer. If you do not have an electric mixer, beat the eggs first in a blender and then gradually add the syrup to the eggs, blending continually. The syrup must be added slowly so as to gradually heat the eggs, avoiding the unpleasantness of chewy bits of candied scrambled egg in your frosting.

The egg and sugar syrup mixture, the "goo," has to cool to room temperature before it is added to the butter. Just allow it to cool in or out of the fridge. The mixture can get a sugar crust on top if it is not covered, so, if you won't be using your frosting right away, you might cover it with plastic wrap or a bowl lid. You can make the egg and sugar syrup well ahead; covered and refrigerated it will keep for several days. Let it warm awhile if it is very cold before you use it.

If you need the mixture cooled quickly, you can hasten the process by putting the mixture in a (preferably) metal bowl and setting this bowl over another larger one filled with ice cubes. Stir occasionally until it has cooled to room temperature.

When the "goo" (the egg and sugar mixture) is cool and you are ready to make butter cream, place the tempered - room temperature - butter into a mixing bowl large enough for everything. Beat the butter with an electric mixer first until it is quite smooth, then gradually add the "goo" until it is completely absorbed. This can take anywhere from 2 to 6 minutes.

For frosting or basting the cake, the butter cream can be quite soft and somewhat airy; for decorating you'll probably want it a bit firmer. Beating the butter cream longer will usually make it whiter and fluffier.

Add the vanilla after you've added the egg mix or at the same time. If the egg and sugar mixture has been stored overnight, sugar crystals will sometimes form. Use a strainer or sieve to strain the mixture and remove anything that might clog your decorating tips before you beat it into the butter.

Makes about 10 cups (enough to decorate one large two-layer cake)


I found it at an online site so there shouldn't be a plagarism issue!



If you haven't checked out their website, do so! Their flowers are incredible.

I use Duff's recipe and my clients RAVE about it. I just add the flavoring that I want. Usually just some REAL vanilla. It is REALLY great to work with.

Also, I'm thinking the GIANT ROSE tip from Wilton. If he wants a REAL Buttercream.....probably wants a REAL buttercream rose too!

Just my thoughts.

Beth in KY

Oops! Looks like you already figured it out.

Good luck with the cake!

Hi. I am a newbie here. I have a question about Duff's buttercream. It says sugar--- does that mean granulated or powdered? I have been wanting to try it. Thanks for your help.

Melvira - did u decide what to do about the rose? i'm more interested in finding out about this than the BC......my guess is that a MMF/gumpaste mix is the way to go, but am anxious to hear if the huge tip worked

I have tried Duff's recipie and it was too buttery, but VERY fluffy and creamy. I didn't like it, though. Neither did my sister or any of the other people that came over that day (7). Granted we are red-necks in Idaho!

This is the recipe I use for Italian Meringue buttercream:

http://www.baking911.com/asksarahbb/index.php?showtopic=913

But as a previous poster mentioned I think the recipes are pretty much all the same. If you are not at all used to all butter BC you may find it weird. But if you think that is what the customer is going to like I guess you can do it for this cake, and not have to worry for your other cakes. I am the other way around, I am terrified of Crisco which is a bit of a problem considering that it would be a great thing for me to use in the hot climate here. I just can't stand the sight of the stuff. Now that they took the trans fats out of it it is probably healthier than butter too, so maybe I should try it.