Wbh House Buttercream - Wow!
Decorating By SweetResults Updated 3 May 2008 , 5:52pm by bostonterrierlady
I can't believe I have had the Whimsical Baskehouse book for so long and NEVER tried their House Buttercream!
For those who have not tried it, it is a shortening based powdered sugar BC, but it has the consistancy of IMBC that I always use, and it does not crust over, smooths beautifully! Now the taste is not quite as good as the IMBC, but it certainly is super! I did not have hi-ratio shortening, so I am wondering if I get that will that get rid of the little bit of Crisco aftertaste? I also added a bit of Creme Bouquet to it and that minimized it even more, so I think if I use flavor drops or something then it will be really great.
I swear, butter and eggs are so d*mn expensive that I really think I may have to switch over to this as my standard frosting.
Again - what a big DOPE that I never actually read the front of the book explaining the frostings - I always wondered why the frosting looked like IMBC consistancy but was colored so bright and beautiful!! DUH!!!
oh, meeee too! I loved the brightness of their buttercream but I never tried it since I do all my cakes with SMBC and everyone seems to fall over when they have it, but it's so expensive too.
I guess today I will be pulling out my WBH book and giving it a 10th read. lol
Thanks for bringing this up!
Hey ButterWench,
What is your SMBC? I'm a newbie and have been trying to find a good buttercream recipe. I have always used the Wilton BC recipe becaus it is easy and it crusts so that I can use the paper towel method. The only catch is that I hate the icing taste....it is waaay too sweet.
I'd love to try this recipe! Where can I get it? Is it in the recipe section on CC? If not, could someone post it for me? Thanks! 
Here is the recipe:
Whimsical Bake House Buttercream
In Mixer bowl, stir together:
6 Cups Confectioners' Sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Using whip attachment, add and whip on low speed:
1 cup boiling water (3/4 cup on hot days)
Whip until smooth and is cool.
Add and whip until smooth again:
2 3/4 cup Hi-Ratio or regular vegetable shortening
6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) butter; slightly chilled and cut into 1" pieces
Turn up mixer to medium-high. Whip until double in volume and is light and fluffy. About 10-20 minutes. Recipe will almost fill a 5-quart mixer bowl when done.
Makes 9 1/2 cups
For chocolate Buttercream exchange 1 cup of icing sugar for powdered Cocoa.
I posted this recipe a few years back!!! It is Fantastic and I use it exclusively!! My customer love it!! It does have a bit of a greasy aftertaste but high ratio shortening cuts that down!! It's all I use..I find the chocolate WBH is quite slippery and runny but if is left to refridgerate over night...very nice.I wouldn't use it in the warm months though...doesn't stand up!! Chocolate flavor is very soft and smooth!! Thanks again for posting this recipe and how much you like it!!Most don't!
WBH is all I use! High ratio totally makes a difference. 
Kiddiekakes - what do use for the high ratio shorening?? I mean brand? and where do you get it from?
Thanks, Lorene
Hey ButterWench,
What is your SMBC? I'm a newbie and have been trying to find a good buttercream recipe. I have always used the Wilton BC recipe becaus it is easy and it crusts so that I can use the paper towel method. The only catch is that I hate the icing taste....it is waaay too sweet.
Hi guys.
One of my Chef Instructors tweaked my recipe and we call it
"1,2,3 Buttercream"
1 pound egg whites ( I buy frozen egg whites but you can get the 16 oz containers at supermarkets)
2 pounds granulated sugar.
3 pounds room temp butter cut into pieces
* I put all of the first 2 things, ( sorry I just edited) in my mixer and stir with a wisk while I have some water boiling in a saucepot that is just large enough to hold my bowl. When the water begins to boil I put my mixer bowl with my sugar and egg white mix and keep stirring with my wisk until all the granulated sugar is dissolved.
I will let a drop of the mix fall on my finger tip to make sure there are no grains of sugar ( this takes about as long as it takes the water to come to a second boil.)
When all the sugar is dissolved ( remember to keep wisking or you will have sweet scrambled egg whites! and this is actually the hardest part!!)
Place your mixer bowl back onto the machine and with the balloon wisk attachment, let that baby whip your meringue for 7 to 10 minutes ( I set a timer because I'm always walking away at this time and forget! lol)
When you have whipped your meringue for 7 to 10 minutes, you can add your room temp butter
flavor to taste. This recipe as is will allow you to use UP to 2 ounces of flavoring.
Before I ice my cake I will remove a few large spoonfuls and stir in some Jams, fruit or fruit puree to make my filling
If you use it plain you can add a little vanilla. I use my cake icer tip to ice my cakes so I don't glob this on, smooth with my spatula, trow into the freezer and when it's frozen solid, I swipe the icing again with a bench scraper to smooth out all my imperfections and I have a smooth, iced cake.
When I want to decorate the top with a lot of color or airbrush, I will add a thin layer of the wilton butter cream so I have a nice white surface that won't turn my clolors, but people really don't mind the slight yellow color of my butter cream.
you can make larger batches of this recipe by taking the basic proportions of 1, 2 and 3 and multiplying by 2 or 3 or whatever...
to double or triple or whatever the recipe.
if you're kitchen is cool overnight, you can leave it out ( I've left it out for 3 days at a time with no ill results- we left it out longer in school!! you are cooking the egg whites to the point of killing any little unwanted guests lol)
But I only leave it out overnight now that I have a shop. I take it out before I leave leave the AC blasting overnight and work on my cakes the next morning.
Sorry this is so long, lol
if you find that your 1, 2, 3 icing is still too hard to work with, toss into microwave for a few seconds, you can bring it back to life by trowing it into the mixer for a few.
************************
Also, if you see that you make your icing and you're getting soup, don't worry, it will tighten up as it gets cooler.
***********************************************
this is my way of making it...
I like to whip my meringue at higher speeds, I will then lower it to the next to off speed add a pound of butter and bring it back up to as high as I can to incorporate.
again for the second pound
again for the 3rd pound
************************************************
if you feel your icing is too soft, just make another batch and mix them, the second batch, add 1/4 more sugar and an extra stick.
This is actually foolproof, I would love to post a video but right now things are super tight with my budget.
So my apologies on the length of this post, but I was trying to cover it step by step.
the WBH recipe is in the book, and I don't know if I can post it here; The 1, 2, 3 butter cream is so adaptable that it could be anyone's, but that is why my pirate friend calls me THE BUTTER WENCH, my cakes are made with butter and so is my icing!
Butter overload anyone??? lol
Wow! Thank you for all of the info about this icing and your version! 
I find this icing hold up pretty good too and I use it under my fondant.
If anyone for any reason needs more info on this, you can pm me.
Thanks
Oh good, cuz I'm a fondant girl. Can't wait to try this!
I actually got the WBH book for Christmas, but it never came home from mom's house (where we celebrated on Xmas Day) and we think it somehow got thrown away with all the wrapping paper and stuff. Wah!!! I haven't had the extra dough to buy it again and don't have the heart to tell my aunt that it's gone. 
you can always go to the library or a book store and read the recipe from WBH cookbook. It's a great little book.
I know, but I think it would just hurt too much to have to put it back on the shelf, knowing that I was given one as a gift and it disappeared. LOL!
aww , so sad for you! I love my books. lol
awolf24: I've made this recipe a few times and I think I have a 4.5QT bowl. I've never had a problem with it overfilling the bowl. It'll increase in volume a little bit when you are mixing it, but I've found that there is plenty of room after I mix it for 10 minutes.
Even though the frosting doesn't have much taste to it by itself, I think it compliments the sweetness of the cakes nicely. My main concern with it is that it doesn't crust, which makes it more difficult to smooth. What I've decided to do is to use the WBH Buttercream as a filling and use my regular buttercream for the outside of the cakes. The texture of the WBH Buttercream is nice and silky, which I think makes for a really good filling. I've tried adding some additional flavoring to it prior to filling in order to give it different flavors. Next time I'll try to mix in some icing fruits into it and use it as the filling.
I made the WBH BC for the first time today, and wowza, I loved it! I refuse to eat shortening-only based BC because the very thought of eating a spoonful of Crisco icks me out, but oh goodness, I ate an absolute sinful amount of the WBH BC today and loved it! It was great fun to ice and decorate my son's BD cake with it, but I did not acheive the vibrancy of color that is shown in the WBH book. I used hi-ratio shortening, a high quality European butter, and Americolor gels...but my colors were muted.
Oh well, he loved it anyway and of course it was devoured.
Thank you for this thread. I've had the book for years but finally decided to give it a whirl after reading your post.
Sherri
I made the WBC House Buttercream for the first time today. OMG!!! It is sooo good! It's so fluffy though, which I love, but will it hold up as a filling in a stacked cake?
Yah, that's what I would think too, just collapse because it is so soft and whippy. Thank you!
after reading this i really wanna try this recipe now. thanks.
It is an excellent, light and fluffy, less-sweet frosting. I use it as my whipped buttercream and people love it. Try it, you will not be disappointed.
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