I iced the one with the little cat in wcbc (not "whipped buttercream" but "whipped cream buttercream" which, by the way, is not a whipped cream icing but I am supposing they named it wcbc because it tastes lighter than a regular buttercream...but I digress...) I quartered the recipe, so it incorporated waaay too much air into it and the icing is NOT smooth at all in that sad little rush-job of a cake.

I did another which is not in my gallery, but it's a 2 tier iced and filled with wcbc and then covered it with fondant. Can't remember the other time I made it but I did notice it doesn't get air bubbles when you make a full batch. FWIW the birthday boy's grandma liked it so much, she wanted the recipe.

Anyway I don't know if that helped you at all...since I didn't color the icing for either of those cakes!! But the point is, since it's a powdered sugar icing, it should take color normally. I prefer fondant for deep colors, just because I worry about the food coloring changing my icing taste and I don't have an airbrush to just add the color on top. But that is totally just me!

You're quick! Yes, everything you said helped a lot. Do you like the taste of it? I hope it doesn't taste as sweet as regular buttercream, even though I don't mind the taste, the rest of my family does. Glad to know you can use fondant on top. Thank U!
Cat

I am not a huge fan of powdered sugar buttercreams (I like IMBC), and if I do have one I prefer it to be chocolate since the unsweetened cocoa takes the sugary taste down a notch. That said, if I have to make a vanilla PS buttercream, that recipe is definitely my favorite! It's still sugary icing, compared to the smooth "whipped cream" taste of something like Bettercreme, but it's still pretty decent. If only you could completely fondant a Bettercreme cake, that would be awesome! (Uh, well, if I could buy the danged stuff anywhere )

does anyone know where to buy the reeses syrup/topping? I live in the chicago area and havent been able to locate it in any store.
i would really like to try the peanut butter filling

I am almost sure I saw it at Wal-Mart like at the end of the freezer section with the ice cream!

I don't like the prewhipped. I use the liquid.
Be careful you can over whip it and then it will look all clumpy. You can add your pudding mix and flavorings to the liquid before whipping. If you're adding cream cheese then smooth that out first and fold in after whipping.

Yes the resses in my walmart is with the pb&j

Okay, so I FINALLY found Bettercreme in my Sam's Club!!!
It was the frozen kind, so are there any particular quirks I need to know?
Like do I need to rewhip??? How much to use???
I understand you can't cover a cake with fondant that has the Bettercreme on it, but can I fill the cake with the Bettercreme, and then buttercream the outside before I use the fondant?
So many questions!!!!!!!!!

Thanks!
Susan

Has anyone ever combined Bettercream/Pastry Pride with Jello Gelatin?

If so, how?

I'm trying to create an Orange Dreamcicle type frosting but not buttercream if possible and I don't have a Loranns Orange flavoring to use.

Any suggestions?

TIA

There's an ice cream syrup out now that is orange/vanilla that would be great! I don't think jello would work. It would be too gritty.

CakesbyLJ - Thank you so much, I'll give it a try!

OK, so I finally found Rich's Bettercream at my local restaurant supply here in WNY. It's liquid form and they had chocolate and vanilla, so I bought both. My question is (I only searched 15 pages!) what attachement do you use to whip it? The wisk or the paddle? I'm doing a cake today for my SIL, and she's my guinea pig.

Whisk!! Just like you're making whipped cream

Have fun. I'm jealous that you found it locally

ceshell....have you looked at Cash & Carry or Smart & Final? If they don't have the Rich's Bettercream they may have the Dawn brand or the Pastry Pride. I prefer the Rich's but the container is too big for me so I just buy the quart size Pastry Pride which is a lot cheaper.

Thanks for the suggestions Kathy. S&F carries carry chocolate Bettercreme, but not plain. We don't have a Cash & Carry here and the only similar place I've found only sells to people w/a resale license (but they don't carry it anyway!) I've tried Pastry Pride but I reallllly didn't like it. No luck here!

CakesbyLJ said there's a place in Glendora that has it but that is pretty far, although I might have to work in a detour if I ever need to go to Pomona lol.

More updates with (liquid) Pastry Pride and prewhipped Bettercream from Sams. Those are the only two I have been able to find so far and try. I liked the liquid Pastry Pride because it isn't very sweet so when you add extra flavors that are presweetened it isn't too sweet. The flavor is good but I have notice that I get a funny dry tounge after eating it. The prewhipped Bettercream is very convinent (sp) but it is very sweet so that when I add extra presweetened flavors it seems too sweet. The texture is also so much dryer and needs more moist flavorings which also add to the too sweet taste. I made the mistake of using it for the first time inside a wedding cake after only experimenting with the liquid Pastry Pride. The filling was kind of dry, not enough liquid. Although I did like how stiff it was when I first put it in the layers and noticed that I would not have a problem with bludging. It tasted smooth at that point but after the cake sat overnight the filling did get dryer and less desireable. I'm not sure what to use at this point. Since these are the only two products I have been able to purchase so far, do I use the liquid Pastry Pride that uses less flavoring to make a smooth good tasting filling but leaving a dry tounge or do I use the pre-whipped Bettercream that seems way too sweet? Any suggestions would be appreciated! (Sorry sooo long)

Quick question to all of you...I do love Bettercream, but how do you smooth your cakes? the last time I used it my cake wasn't smooth at all!

Thank you!

I'm not sure that Bettercreme is intended for icing a cake. I can only speak for myself, but I've only used it as a filling for cupcakes and for swirling on top of cupcakes. Therefore, I've never tried to smooth it. I smooth buttercream with a hot metal blade like on SugarShack's DVD, but I don't think I would try that with Bettercreme because of the heat. It is temperature stable though so I don't know. Has anyone had any luck smoothing Bettercreme?

[/i]Bettercream can be smoothed with a hot spatula (or the bench scraper).. It does not crust, so neither the Viva paper towel, nor the Melvira roller method will work. It might take a little practice, but once you get used to it, it goes much faster than regular buttercream. hth

Thank you very much Puffcake and CakesByLJ...I think I read somewhere (maybe in this thread) that yes you can cover a cake with Bettercream, but maybe it takes some practice to get the hang of it, huh?
Thank you both, you're so kind!

Durn, I'm not getting updates any more! Sorry!

Bettercreme is fantastic on a cake. I love making what I call bliss cakes. I torte the layers into at least four, then fill with Bettercreme flavored to compliment the cake and then ice with the same. (Banana and coconut are amazing like this!! And of course chocolate malt!) Smoothing it is super easy, it comes out naturally smooth it seems. Just use a bench scraper as was mentioned... you will get a super smooth surface as long as you have not overwhipped it. If it's over whipped, then it looks clotty and you cannot smooth it. If that method is not working for you, then you can do the only other easy option... use a cake comb and make the sides textured! That looks really neat too!

Good luck all, and if I can help, never be shy about sending me a note!!

Okay did anybody else stop getting email notices on this thread besides me??

My notices get turned off all the time. The threads usually show up in my "watched topics" list, but I don't get an email notification. Once I turn it back on, it stays for awhile ...

Yah it happens to me a lot too, unfortunately I don't have the time or memory to check my watched topics often enough. I usually only pop in when I get a notice. Which would explain why I am absent all the time!

I tried out Melvira's Malted cupcake suggestion from her original post on this thread and thought I would post the pic. I also just added this pic to my photos. This was my very first Bettercreme experience. Very easy and very yummy! Thanks for the inspiration, Melvira!

My pleasure puffcake! These remain one of my top sellers. Everyone loves them. There's just something about 'em.