2 Questions About Buttercream
Decorating By TabathaRubio Updated 9 Sep 2006 , 3:05pm by ChristaPaloma
I have had 2 issues with buttercream that I just can not solve. First is I am getting spots in the buttercream that I color. I will use a toothpick and put a little color into the white buttercream, cover it and a few mins or hours later, there are spots in it? My purple buttercream has pink spots??? Any answers as to why????
Also, after I ice the cake, I let it sit before delivering it. The icing is CRACKING??? It is smooth after I ice it. It looks great. Come back later and there are cracks in the icing???? Any answrs as to why this is also??? I just cant figure either one out. Please help.
Thanks
Hmm, I probably won't be much help. Not sure what recipe you use, but the only thing that comes to mind with the spots would be...could it be lumps of powdered sugar that aren't fully blended in? That would possibly account for them not turning fully purple, just bright pinkish? Did you sift the powdered sugar before adding it?
No ideas about cracking, sorry...but someone will know...
Usually the cracking is from movment of the cake. Mine used to get cracks when I just had them on card board, but my father made me some cake boards out of MDF and the cracking has stopped. I have heard of lots of people having trouble with purple color.
I have had 2 issues with buttercream that I just can not solve. First is I am getting spots in the buttercream that I color. I will use a toothpick and put a little color into the white buttercream, cover it and a few mins or hours later, there are spots in it? My purple buttercream has pink spots??? Any answers as to why????
Also, after I ice the cake, I let it sit before delivering it. The icing is CRACKING??? It is smooth after I ice it. It looks great. Come back later and there are cracks in the icing???? Any answrs as to why this is also??? I just cant figure either one out. Please help.
Thanks
Hi Tabatha...
Did you use a whitener in the icing before coloring it? If so, it is actually a bleach and will cause this in your colors...or check any of the flavorings you use to see if they have any whitening agents as part of their ingredients.
To the second, I would guess you did not give any "settling time" to the cake itself, before icing it, as one possibility. Not sure as I have never had this happen, but I always cool my cakes and wrap them in a clean towel overnight and then fill and ice the next day. Alternatively, the icing recipe would be helpful to review. Do you do the smoothing process after it crusts?
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