I love all aspects of baking an decorating...it has officially become an obsession! 
But man am I tired of making BC!!! I LOVE the way it tastes, but...it has become THE most frustrating part of the whole process! I mean, I have a 5 quart KA, and I double my recipes...but I still usually have to make two seperate batches. And by the time that I am done, well my kitchen looks like we have just suffered from the snowstorm of the century...INSIDE!! Now, I do make my cakes from scratch, I know there has been a ton a debate on that subject. So, what about BC? Do most of you make your own? Even if you have several cakes due at once? I was watching "Hell Week" on Ace of Cakes last week, and I couldn't help but to notice that he had some BC with him onsite for a cake, and it was in a huge tub!! With the labeling blocked out! Soooo, I can only assume that he got it from somewhere?? Right??
Sorry this turned out to be long, I was just curious! 
LOL yeah I hate making buttercream but oh well! I mostly use boxed mixes (doctored up) so the least I can do is say my buttercream is from scratch with real butter haha. Everyone loves it so I might as well keep it up.
I do have a 6 qt mixer that makes a quadruple batch of the Wilton half butter/half shortening recipe so I usually don't have to make TOO many batches.
I am really picky about the way BC tastes and havent found any premade that I am crazy about so I make my own!
I recently bought my first tub of Sam's club buttercream, and with some flavoring, this stuff tastes, to me, just like home-made buttercream. So I'll use the tub stuff when I can. This weekend, I ended up with some tub (ran out! argh!) and some home-made... I am definitely spoiled by the tub! I grumbled the whole time I was making the buttercream from scratch. LOL
Yes, I make my own buttercream too....and I hate the cleanup more than making it! GGRRRRR! I'll have to try some of Sam's Club icing....I must admit, I would love to pull out a tub of buttercream when it's time to decorate....but then again, I guess I could make several batches and put mine in tubs......naaaa, I'll try the premade stuff! he he!
I always make my own buttercream and I always make a double batch. When I was doing a lot of cakes, I found that I could make it ahead and freeze it. I agree about the mess. I hate it but I despise the chemical taste of canned icing. I usually bake my cake, make and color my icing on one night and decorate the next.
Yes, I make my own buttercream too....and I hate the cleanup more than making it! GGRRRRR! I'll have to try some of Sam's Club icing....I must admit, I would love to pull out a tub of buttercream when it's time to decorate....but then again, I guess I could make several batches and put mine in tubs......naaaa, I'll try the premade stuff! he he!
Yeah, we have a Sam's Club close...after reading what everyone has to say about it, I think that maybe I will give it a shot!
i hate making butter cream, that is the worst part, sugar everywhere and I have the same 5quart mixer and i always have to make 2 batches but i live here in AZ and I hate canned frosting, one time for a small house party i thought Ill just buy a can of frosting for the borders so I don't have to make any and in this az heat i got home and had soup had to keep refrigerating it and it keep melting for some reason so i have to stick to making my own where i can control the moisture content to bad i can't control the mess i make i have tried but i have never succeeded 
yah i always make my bc the same way you do jhansen13 if its a large cake that is. i usualy end up using the first double batch for crumbcoating; filling and icing and will need another for decorating especially if the cake requires alot of diff colors. i'm terrible about estimating how much each colored frosting i'll need so i always end up making too much. i dont mind really though. its how i've done it all these yeras. one wedding cake i ended up making ten batches of frosting for all the tiers (four tier bottom was false cake) other wise it would have taken more frosting lol. used the leaf and vine motief over the whole cake with clear edible glitter (etc) anyways i ended up coming to the reception with three to five bags of frosting with diff tips just in case. by this time i'd done this cake i'd had done two others and manged to get the timing down for each batch to 2 minutes, this was by the electrick hand mixer- i didn't have the kitchen aid then. actually i did- i just hadn't learned how to use it for frosting yet lol iwas so used to how i knew how to do it by the small mixer. just had the right feel to it.
recently i tried a tub of wiltons already made (the big 4lb tub) and though it was convienient; i'll most likely never buy it again. it didn't hold up like mine did.... had to be thinned too much to be workable for the crumbcoat and decorating- and after a certain time it showed you that youd' used too much to thin it- it just - well let go. melted kinda.
nor does it stand up to heat very well- home made bc stands up better then the tub did..
well not to turn this in to the debate honest hehe
for those who doctor up the cake mix what do you use? does this firm it up? thats why i use pillsbury; their mixes at least up here tend to be nice and moist but still durable for 3d pans etc.
Wow, I suppose that I'm the only one who likes making BC. I make 3lb. batches in my KA. I only pour small amounts of sugar at a time so it rarely splashes over. Cleaning is pretty easy... I just lick everything! Ha!!!
I make my own BC - but I don't like using the pouring shield attachment of my KA as I make more mess when I use it. The center hole is too big.
I prefer making a mock shield with 2 pieces of aluminum foil - cover the top half of the bowl with one and overlap with the other piece. When the beater moves, I just gently coax back the foil to cover the center. This way, no powdered sugar mess
I make my own buttercream as well BUT (and I'll get to my grrrrr in a minute), our local cake decorating store sells buttercream in a bucket (25lbs) and it's really good to me (CK products). I don't always have $40 to fork over for it so I just stick to making my own. I could order the huge buckets of Brill (what they use in the local grocery stores etc), people eat it of course, but it's not all that good to me.
Now making my own buttercream...LOL I thought it was just me. I absolutely hate it and if I ever start making the big bucks, I think I'll hire someone to do it for me...as well as bake my cakes. Yep, I hate that too. I only like decorating...oh and making fillings 
Don't mind making cupcakes either . Drawing, painting, etc has always been my thing so I do love decorating, it's just the other little things like MAKING ICING. HA HA HA HA HATE IT!
not a big fan myself! i add sugar by a couple of tbsps at the same time, which takes forever, but it's much cleaner. i also started taking a large dishtowel straight out of the drawer, wetting it and wringing it, then draping that over the bowl, around the top of the paddle beater. it still moves just fine, but i can lift it up and peek every so often.
I make my own BC - but I don't like using the pouring shield attachment of my KA as I make more mess when I use it. The center hole is too big.
I prefer making a mock shield with 2 pieces of aluminum foil - cover the top half of the bowl with one and overlap with the other piece. When the beater moves, I just gently coax back the foil to cover the center. This way, no powdered sugar mess
oh i like my bc. thats w hy i prefer it over some of the others stated. i know some folks by some made by albertsons but i've never done that; i usually forget about it till later.
Wow, I suppose that I'm the only one who likes making BC. I make 3lb. batches in my KA. I only pour small amounts of sugar at a time so it rarely splashes over. Cleaning is pretty easy... I just lick everything! Ha!!!
i went through the extra effort to buy this too and tried using it it was a pain in the keister to assemble and use. i just mix my bc on low till all the stuff is almost incorporated then i up the speed to mix it better.
if i get CS all around the counter no big. it cleans up easier then any frosting does lol aka grease! lol..
buttercream's my friend. it masks almost any imperfection and for the most part very forgiving.
I bake a lot and I only have the 5 quart bowl. I used to have the pour shield but one of my darling children melted it in the dishwasher. 
I don't know if this tip has been posted or not because I just skimmed all the posts but I always put a clean kitchen towel over my mixer. (It drapes over the mixer top and covers the edges of the bowl.) If you dampen it a bit (slight mist with a spray bottle works perfect) you won't have any flour, sugar or whatever "puff" out of it when you remove it. I never have to clean sugar off my cupboards since I've been doing this. It worked even better before my pour shield met its demise! 
I can't help you with the rest of your clean up (other than to say have the dishwasher open and ready to load; and do it as you go. Also have a damp rag handy to wipe up spills as you go.) but I hope that helped.
I have used the damp dishcloth as well and that really seems to help cut down on the dust cloud in my kitchen.
I have an 8 quart Electrolux Assistent DLX2000. I LOVE this thing, but, one thing it CAN'T do in the 8 quart bowl is mix wet ingredients together. I can in the smaller bowl, but who wants to switch bowls during baking?
So, I cream the butter, add the powdered sugar, and then add the flavorings and water to desired consistency. I always make 6 lbs of powdered sugar and what is it for the wilton formula? 6 lbs of butter? I could do 8 lbs of each, but then I'm risking a spill-over.
I then use what I need and freeze the rest in appropriate sized containers.
Another nice thing about this mixer is that it doesn't "poof" the sugar like a KA does... with that said, thsi mixer has a steep learning curve as it's different way of mixing, but I love it. Best part is I use different parts to make the cake batter and I always double that too and make 4 8" rounds and freeze the spare for next time.
Melissa
Making BC doesn't seem to take very long to me.
Yes, on the damp clean towel. Plus I lay parchment paper (or wax paper or a big towel) under the mixer. When done, just pick up the paper or towel. I make batch after batch after batch and dump it in a big giant bowl (I have a couple of bowls that hold about 5 batches). Quick, simple and easy to just decorate from the big bowl. Easy to mix up a small batch of colored BC when needed just by scooping out what I need from the big bowl.
Oh, but I agree with above - it's not the making of it that bugs me, it's the clean up - especially if I have several colors which means MORE bags, MORE bowls, MORE of everything greasy... yucky grease!
melissa
I actually don't mind making BC. I too have a KA; I use the pouring shield, plus cover the heck outta it with damp paper towels, leaving just enough of the "spout" of the shield open. The damp paper towel sticks pretty well to the outside of the bowl, so it contains all wayward PS rather nicely! No snow in my kitchen! 
Making BC doesn't seem to take very long to me.
Yes, on the damp clean towel. Plus I lay parchment paper (or wax paper or a big towel) under the mixer. When done, just pick up the paper or towel. I make batch after batch after batch and dump it in a big giant bowl (I have a couple of bowls that hold about 5 batches). Quick, simple and easy to just decorate from the big bowl. Easy to mix up a small batch of colored BC when needed just by scooping out what I need from the big bowl.
Me, too! I'm telling ya, debi, we WERE separated at birth!!! 
Actually, I've decided to nip this little problem in the bud. Instead of making multiple batches of buttercream in my KA, I am now in the market for a floor model HOBART mixer. I figure it this way: ONE giant batch of icing, ONE time, ONE bowl and paddle/whip to clean, ONE mess, and I can get to the fun stuff that much sooner!
I know it's selfish, but it's my only indulgence this week!!! 
Odessa
). I usually spend an entire day making buttercream & coloring it. The first hour or so is kind of fun and I eat a lot, but after that it gets old and my hands start hurting. My KA Accolade has a soft start & it helps with the poof-but when making double batches, I still get it. I got the following no poof tip from the KA forums, it's a plastic lid with a straight line & hole cut in it, and I understand the same can be done with a paper plate. I haven't tried it, but it looks like it would work well-I'm on my way to find a lid that fits now.
I usually spend an entire day making buttercream & coloring it. The first hour or so is kind of fun and I eat a lot, but after that it gets old and my hands start hurting. My KA Accolade has a soft start & it helps with the poof-but when making double batches, I still get it. I got the following no poof tip from the KA forums, it's a plastic lid with a straight line & hole cut in it, and I understand the same can be done with a paper plate. I haven't tried it, but it looks like it would work well-I'm on my way to find a lid that fits now.
Yep...I'm loving this!! But how would you add your sugar?
I usually spend an afternoon making it. I usually make 24 lbs of it, in my kitchenaid, 2 lbs at a time. I make it, store it in the freezer in different large bowls, and take out only what I need and color it at the time of decorating. I love doing this because I always have it ready when I need it instead of making buttercream while I am decorating. I also use the damp towel over the top when adding the powdered sugar and this helps eliminate a mess.
Another thing I do is use regular vanilla in most batches because a small shade of dark vanilla isn't bad when adding color to the buttercream. But I make one or two with the clear vanilla and add the bright white to it and put those in special bowls marked WHITE. Therefore, I am saving my clear vanilla for only white buttercream, whereas before, I was using it on all buttercream and going through it quickly.
I hate, hatE, haTE,hATE,HATE to make my own Icing. I can't stand to measure out the shrotning and sift the powdered sugar. It's disgusting.
I buy the one at Sam's club. Thoug I must say that it is not that great anymore. They used to use the DAWN brand which came in a tub or a block that you could mix what you neede with water. It tasted good, it worked good, it stored good. Then Sams changed to this other "store made" stuff. It doesn't taste as great, it seperates in the tub during storage, (even after just 2 weeks), and lately it doesn't seem to spread smooth or hold the shape of borders. I think they must have changed their receipe or are using different quality/brand of ingredients.
I have bought the DAWN icing directly from them. They have a great variety of stuff. Cream Cheese icing, chocolat fudge, whipped...
The company only lets you buy once from them with out a tax id. But if you have one and order $200 or more they will deliver. I had to drive to some creepy place in Houston to get it. But it was well worth it. Well worth it.
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