I have been chasing down the smooth consistency and flavor of bakery frosting for too long now. After reading and trying all the high ratio bc recipes here on cake central the only thing I haven't tried is 6x powder sugar which is mentioned often, it's not easy for me to find and I don't know if it will make a difference. So far I've changed to high ratio shortening, tried expensive 100x powdered sugar, used "bakery" flavoring, I always use 1/2 butter with my high ration shortening. And it's still not the frosting you get from a bakery cake. What can I do different? I've got to move on from this already and have something I can count on so I have more energy to focus more on my decorating. Thank you for any support and help here.

When you say "bakery" do you mean like store bakeries (Wal-Mart, Costco, etc.)?

If you gave a reference point (i.e., "I want to make icing just like XYZ Bakery") someone might be able to point you in the right direction.

My only suggestion is that if you want icing like Wal-Mart, buy it by the bucket at Sam's and save yourself the hassle, expense and mess.

a lot of bakeries use Rich's Bettercream.

Have you used meringue buttercream? Try Jan's or Shirley's in the recipe section. They are good. Not too sweet and not too buttery. You can flavor them whatever way you want.

When I worked for a bakery, we used a "sugar" icing and a "whipped" icing. The Whipped was Rich's Bettercreme and the Sugar was shortening, powdered vanilla of some kind, almond flavoring and water.

HTH!

About 10 yrs ago I decorated cakes at 'Albertsons' grocery and the buttercream we mixed up came in a huge 'block' of about 40-50 lbs. I would throw that 'block' into the floor/stand commercial mixer with about 12 cups of water and that produced a wonderful buttercream. I didn't need to do anything else to it other than 'mix it'. It had so many compliments for taste and the smooth texture was great to work with. I have no idea who the supplier was, I just can't remember the mfg name but I will try to go by there and see if an old friend of mine who still works there can find that out for me. Possibly today I can do that and I will post here what I can find out.

Morphogirl, have you tried "Kaye's Italian Buttercream" from the Whimsical Bakehouse book? In my opinion, it is the closest thing to real bakery frosting ( I am in Chicago also, so I am guessing we may have the same idea of "bakery".) I think it is to die for!

We get our blocks of icing from, "Brill". The one we use is called "Smooth 'N Light". It comes in 23# or 45# blocks. You add a quart of water to each 23# block and when we make it up in the large mixer we use 4 of those blocks. It makes a lot of icing. I have never tried making it at home. I don't know if it would turn out the same in a small mixer or not.
"Brill" does sell to individual customers at their distribution centers and you can call them to get the locations. They do not do mail orders and to order it from their truck you have to order at least 5,000 pounds of product.
Their website is;

http://www.hcbrill.com/v2/

Love to hear the answers to this one--- no ideas. Just posted here to find the link. Not too happy with my icings either....

i've heard dixie's icing is good...

dixiesicing.com

Wow, so grateful for some fresh ideas. You have no idea how happy I am right now for some new direction.

I've never tasted a walmart or sams but have tasted a costco cake and did see they have a giant bucket of it they sell. I don't know if it's the same as they use. I would think but you never know. I will be asking when I go on Thursday.

By bakery-like I mean your local bakery in your town. Someone else suggested Meringue too and I do have the Whimsical Cookbook. So thanks. i love this block idea and adding water. Definitely going to try that.

What about this idea of using 6x vs 10x powdered sugar, does it taste better?

I too am always looking for that "bakery" type icing, not too sweet, smooth...have heard a lot about the Rich's Bettercreme, where can this product be found? I am in Canada, and I know it is currently only sold in the States....am taking a trip to Florida soon, so if anyone can give me an idea of where to locate Rich's Bettercreme I would surely appreciate it.

I don't think the the 10x vs 6x PS is going to make a difference. I think it just lends to smoothness and how well it holds up. I've never really noticed the difference. I personally thing it's the butter that you always use that is throwing you off. I hate butter in butter cream. Try using sugarshacks recipe. It is soooo smooth and creamy.

You can find Rich's bettercream a GFS (Gordon Food Service). If you do a search for GFS you can find all of their locations to see if there is one near you.

The grocery stores here use Dixie's icing as well as the local DQs, here's the link to her web site http://www.dixiesicing.com/

Mindywith3boys, thanks for the info, I will certainly try that....

I think the difference is that store icing can never be as smooth as other crusting Icings.. I like both Icings..But if I am doing a wedding I want an icing that is extrememly smooth.. And other buttercreams dont hold as well. My favorite is the 7 minute icing. Is like fluff.
Edna

I have found the Buttercream recipe on this site from serious cakes is the most like store brand for my taste. i mean that in a good way!

Bettercreme is used by many bakeries as their whipping icing. If you contact the manufacturer they should be able to tell you where in Canada it is available. In Ohio, I buy it a GFS Marketplace.
http://www.richs.com/product_info.cfm?catid=6159

Does anyone have any favorite bakery like frosting recipes they are willing to share? Thank so much for the ones mentioned. I will be trying them. I just ordered a Dixie sampler pack for $15 to try it.

Every bakery i worked at used brill in the 50 pound blocks.

We used dawn for awhile in the 45 pound blocks...to me the blocks have a much better taste than the buckets do.

maybe a bakery would be nice enough to order some for you, I used to sell the blocks of dawn from time to time.

I dunno if you can ever get it as smooth at home as the pre made blocks...they have emulsifiers in there we prolly can't get.

you just chunk some off, add a little water and whoop it up.

i do home made icing now, my customers like it better than the other kind.

I only use Dixie's. She taught me how to decorate, and I think she makes a superior product. I love the taste, the texture, and how easy it is to decorate with (I use her original almond vanilla and her chocolate icings). But best of all, I can mix up colors and store them in my cake fridge for up to a year. No last minute scramble to mix up red or black icing! No having to mix up an entire batch of icing because I'm one cup short.

I use brill icing sometimes. I buy it at Clarks restaurant service by the 5 gallon pail. It runs about $65.00 or so and taste really good and seems to last for a very long time.

I cut out this recipe ( I think from Taste of Home magazine) awhile ago, but I haven't tried it yet. Here ya go!

BAKERY FROSTING
2 cups shortening
1/2 cup non-dairy creamer
1 teaspoon almond extract
32 ounces powdered sugar
1/2 to 3/4 cups water
Food coloring, optional

In a mixing bowl, beat the shortening, creamer and extract. Gradually beat in sugar. Add enough water until frosting reaches desired consistency. If desired, add food coloring. Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 months. Bring to room temperature before spreading.

Yield: 8 cups

Cris

I haven't tried that taste of home recipe, but know someone who loves that recipe!

Here's mine... I think it's pretty close to the recipe that the bakery I worked at used.

4 C. Shortening (I use crisco)
4 t. Almond Extract
2 t. Vanilla (use clear for white-white)
4 lb. Powdered Sugar
1/2 C. Milk or Water (I use milk)

Cream shortening until creamy, add flavorings, powdered sugar and liquid.
Mix slowly until powdered sugar is moist and then mix on med-high for about 6 minuets.

Thanks for that website!! Everyone is being really helpful on this. I will say that when I come up with the recipe I have been yearning for I will gladly post it as Homemade Bakery Frosting.

I checked into it but BCJean beat me to the post . That is Brill and the info BCJean gave was way more than I got from my visit today so I learned even more... thanks for that info, WTG!

I checked into it but BCJean beat me to the post . That is Brill and the info BCJean gave was way more than I got from my visit today so I learned even more... thanks for that info, WTG!