Hi All! I have read different forums about Rich's Buttercream and Pastry Pride (I think that is what it's called). What exactly are they and what are they used for? Can you ice and decorate and cake with either of them. I am planning on making the 60 mile round trip to buy some if I determine it's something I will use and enjoy. Please give me some feedback. Thanks
Maria

I have used both. I'm not crazy about the pasrty pride but the frostin pride is good and richs bettercreme chocolate is pretty good too. I holds up pretty well when icing a cake and you can make flowers with it too. It has a nice light flavor like whipped cream but it's more stable. The only problem that I have with it is that it doesn't crust. It's super easy to make. I would recommend it.

I use rich's and love it. One big tip: Make sure you keep the icing cold. It smooths and pipes easily when cold. If it warms up, it gets impossible to smooth and ugly to pipe.

What I do is keep it in the fridge until the last minute. Then when I go to make colors or ice, i put the icing in a bowl, and that bowl into a bowl of ice water. And I dip my spatula in ice water. Works great this way. Also is great for ice cream cakes, and then you don't have to worry about keep it so cold, cuz the ice cream is cold

i use pastry pride all the time. i don't really like frostin pride. it's more like buttercream and not as light as pastry pride. i found the key to smoothing PP is to slightly underwhip it. a hot spatula also works great. i've done roses with FP. PP is too soft and won't hold up, but i've done basketweave and shells. everyone always asks how i get my icing so light and creamy.

Well I made the 60 mile trek to get Rich's Bettercream and Pastry Pride. I am not sure about the pastry pride the bos stated it was a non dairy whipped topping and Rich's bettercream and Frostin Pride stated that they were a nondairy icing and filling. I bought the chocolate rich's and the frosting pride should I have bought the Pastry Pride. I am a little confused about what I should have purchased. Please advise. Thanks in advance.

the same thing happened to me when i went to buy pastry pride. i read the packaging and opted for the frostin pride as well. made a cake and whipped it up. it came out thicker than i wanted, but it whipped up stiff enough to make roses. i prefer a lighter frosting. so i've been using pastry pride to ice my cakes ever since. but when i need a stiffer consistency for decoration, i go with frostin pride. i've never used rich's bettercream, but i might give that one a try too.

It just depends on what you want to do with it. To me pastry pride is just whipped cream and although (to me) the frostin pride tastes like whipped cream it holds good just like buttercream but it doesnt crust

I love Pastry Pride, use it all the time for Bavarian filling. I have iced cakes with it as well and it holds up nicely for borders. Probably too soft for flowers. Here is what I call a dessert cake, not really a decorated cake as such.
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=coppermine&file=displayimage&meta=allby&uname=ShirleyW&cat=0&pos=27
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=coppermine&file=displayimage&meta=allby&uname=ShirleyW&cat=0&pos=26