I'm about to take the last of the Wilton 1 classes and I'm still having problems with icing consistency (as are others in the class). The instructor uses "dead" BC that has been piped about a thousand times and has no real consistency at all (this means she cannot give us examples of what we are supposed to be doing because it's always a gooey mess).
Please help...
I need to know what a stiff consistency is supposed to be like. Medium? Thin? Is the stiff supposed to be like the shortening? Is the thin supposed to be like Elmer's glue? Something, anything to please help. I get a lot of cracking of the BC when I try to pipe it (is is made the night before and kept in airtight containers until class).
It could be air bubbles? It could be that the icing is too old after 20 hours? It could be that there is little humidity where I am and I need more water in the recipe (class buttercream)?
Thick is almost like Crisco-works well for flowers but not much else. You cannot ice a cake with it.
Medium has a little peak when you pull the spoon or spatula out of it. If you pipe it, it is comfortable and you don't have to squeeze really hard, but it is thick enough to hold a very nice shape.
Thin is more like cool whip. The peak folds over when you pull the spoon out.
If it's cracking, it is probably a little thick and needs some water. It should not be too cold to pipe unless you are putting it in the fridge and it doesn't have time to get to room temp. You really don't need to refrigerate if you are. HTH.
Thick is almost like Crisco-works well for flowers but not much else. You cannot ice a cake with it.
Medium has a little peak when you pull the spoon or spatula out of it. If you pipe it, it is comfortable and you don't have to squeeze really hard, but it is thick enough to hold a very nice shape.
Thin is more like cool whip. The peak folds over when you pull the spoon out.
If it's cracking, it is probably a little thick and needs some water. It should not be too cold to pipe unless you are putting it in the fridge and it doesn't have time to get to room temp. You really don't need to refrigerate if you are. HTH.
I don't refrigerate the icing. I did that once and thought that may have created some of my problems. My thin was so thin last time that it ran out of the #3 tip.
Is Cool whip like yogurt or sour cream?
This helps a lot.
another trick for the cracking.........I had the same issue when I was making roses at the end of Wilton I and I just added like a tsp of piping gel to a cup of thick consistency icing and it was still stiff enough to pipe roses but kept the icing very smooth around the edges of the roses instead of looking dry and cracked.
another trick for the cracking.........I had the same issue when I was making roses at the end of Wilton I and I just added like a tsp of piping gel to a cup of thick consistency icing and it was still stiff enough to pipe roses but kept the icing very smooth around the edges of the roses instead of looking dry and cracked.
That's a good idea. Will corn syrup work as well as piping gel? Did you ever try that?
Are you weighing out your powdered sugar? If you use exactly one pound of powdered sugar and then follow the directions in the book, your consistencies will be perfect. Even a 1lb box of powdered sugar usually has about an extra 1/4 to 1/2 cup extra.
I am confused by your instructor. She is supposed to be using the student's icing to teach the different techniques so that she can check your consistencies.
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I am confused by your instructor. She is supposed to be using the student's icing to teach the different techniques so that she can check your consistencies.
She has not once even touched our icing. I think she looked at mine once when I put it right in front of her and asked her directly. Her comment was something about adding water. Another student asked about hers (same problem) and she answered the same thing.
I do weigh my icing. I might get my scale checked as I've had it a while. Knowing what the icing is supposed to be like will help me do the corrections to it.
A trick our teacher taught us is to stand your metal spatula/icing smoother up in the icing and kinda "shake" the container a little - if it's stiff, the spatula shouldn't really move and the spatula should stand straight up on it's own. If it's medium, the spatula should still stand up straight on it's own but when you shake the container, it should move around a bit. For thin consistency, the spatula shouldn't really be able to stand on it's own. Sometimes this technique works for me and sometimes it doesn't - sometimes I just have to start piping something and then I figure out "oh it's too stiff, or it's too soft" and add more powdered sugar (icing sugar or confectioner's sugar are other names for it) or a little more water (A LITTLE - you can go overboard quickly!) until I get the right consistency for what I'm piping. I've been doing this for a couple of months now and I still have problems - so don't feel alone! I took all 3 classes and had my teacher show us her little trick and I still have problems sometimes until I begin piping.
Good luck! (Oh and why is she using "dead" buttercream? What is the purpose of even having that around? Can she pipe anything w/ it? Have you brought extra powdered sugar to class so she can help you add it to get to the right consistency? Doesn't sound like a great teacher to me.... might want to look around for another teacher for classes 2 & 3)
You might want to get your scale checked. My consistencies have come out perfectly every time since getting my scale.
Your icing shouldn't be so stiff that it cracks when using the stiff icing. It shouldn't hurt to squeeze it out of your bag either!
Thin icing should not drip out of your bag. It should be the consistency of the canned icing that you can buy at the store. That is thin consistency. That is why you can't really decorate with it, only ice a cake.
Medium is right between those two. 
I stick a spatula straight up in my icing. If it stands up and doesn't move when I shake it a little bit then it is stiff. If it stands up and falls over when I shake it a bit, it is medium. If it won't stand up at all it is thin.
Does that help?
I keep seeing over and over on CC that the Wilton instructors aren't doing what they should. Luckily, I had a good instructor, but there was just too many in the class for any individual help. We kinda helped each other. I finally quit but my daughter took all 3 courses. As she went on, the classes got smaller and she got more help from the instructor. I don't like fondant so I don't feel I missed out too much. I don't do that much decorating for hire anyway.
Back to the instructor........I would be contacting Wilton or the manager of the store where I was taking classes. You are paying hard earned money for these lessons and shouldn't have to contend with an instructor that doesn't teach you how to make your icing correctly. I certainly wouldn't take the next two courses from the same instructor.
Diane
I have brought extra powdered sugar and extra bottled water (the room we have is somewhat less than sanitary) to no avail.
I don't know why she uses the "dead" icing. One time I even offered her the tons of extra I had.
The spatula idea is great! I'm going to try it. We have very, very low humidity... about 6 percent... so stuff dries out quickly. I don't even have time to use a hairdryer after washing my hair because my hair is dry by the time I get to thinking of using one.
I keep seeing over and over on CC that the Wilton instructors aren't doing what they should. Luckily, I had a good instructor, but there was just too many in the class for any individual help. ............
There are only three people in the class, including me! I thought perhaps she didn't think the class was worth the effort.
Consistency is a big deal! To pipe roses, the icing has to be stiff. I went so far as to purchase the Wilton icing for roses. By the time we got to piping the roses, the icing had warmed up and was too soft. I'm trying to work on it today but gave up and the frosting is in the 'frig. It seems the weather outdoors, the temp indoors, the humidity--it's very frustrating.
If you follow the Wilton I instructions for Buttercream; your icing should come out perfect every time and you really don't need your instructor if you do that!! The book gives you the instructions for all three consistencies!!! Hope that helps!!! 
I had a great teacher who showed what each consistency should be like as well as checking the icing that we brought to class!! She would let us know if ours was too thin, etc. You might need to talk to Michael's if you're not getting help with the buttercream; that's the basis of the whole class!!!!
I have followed the instructions to the letter in the Course 1 Wilton book. The problem is that I live in an unusual area. Normal humidity is ten times what it is here. It is very, very dry. I live in a desert. Wilton wasn't considering that when they wrote the book, but I thought the instructor would help. She hasn't.
I'm going to try the suggestions here about the spatula to try and get the consistency right. The instructor hasn't even given us a good example to go by.
I appreciate everyone's input as this has been very frustrating.
Another desert dweller here -- have found that I need to add quite a bit more water than the recipe calls for to even get stiff icing using the Wilton instructions...
Generally, when making one batch of Wilton (as in the course book) I add at least an additional 3 tablespoons of water -- that gets me to stiff.
Then I add another TBL per cup to thin down for each stage....
Lisanne
Learning how to make the icing and the different consistencies is one of the key components of course I. Several CC'rs have given great descriptions looking for peaks or using the spatula idea to determine correct constency. 
I've never heard either of these so, this is a big help to me. It doesn't sound like this instructor should be teaching the course. I would definitely look for a different instructor for courses II & III.
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