Hi! I've been making buttercream icing for a year now & thought that I was making good progress with it. Just a little more practice, and my buttercream will be smoother.

But I read somewhere in Flickr that she doesn't have shortening & powdered sugar in her buttercream icing that's why it doesn't crust. She put the cake in fridge (already iced with buttercream) and then take it out after few hours (I think) and then uses a a clean spatula to smoothen out the icing.

And I've got to hand this to that lady because she was very good with cakes & her buttercream icing are really smooth and clean.

Do you have the recipe of this type of buttercream? I really am going crazy just looking it up on the internet.

P.S. I am kind of curious about her buttercream because one of my customers just last month made a comment that she wanted an icing that doesn't crust after putting it in the fridge. I can only think of using whipped cream but it's a bit expensive to where I'm at.

That sounds like Swiss meringue buttercream icing..It wont crust, but, it will harden in the fridge. There is a few recipes here in CC for it
Edna

I think you might be referring to Meringue Buttercream. There are two methods of making it: Italian (IMBC) and Swiss (SMBC). This type of buttercream uses eggwhites, granulated sugar and butter.

Try one of the recipes in the recipe section.

Yup. Swiss (SMBC) or Italian (IMBC) meringue buttercream. THE best buttercream around. And honestly, I don't consider shortening mixed with powdered sugar and NO real butter to BE buttercream. There are lots of recipes for both SMBC and IMBC in the recipes section of the website. Once you go meringue, you don't go back!

Me neither! And I was so excited to try it but it tasted like a big ole' bite of butter with some sugar mixed in.

Ditto w/ thinking it tastes like a big bite of butter!

I certainly rather eat a spoonful of sugar than a stick of butter.. but that's why I prefer the overly sweet American buttercream opposed to Swiss/Italian Meringue.

=)

Im so glad I am not alone on this!...I felt like I was eating butter!..I mean, I am not saying is not good, is just that for me..there is a point I gag!
Edna

I couldn't figure out why people were raving about it - it is literally pounds of butter with egg whites and a miniscule amount of sugar.... it looks gorgeous and I think that's what alot of high end decorators use but I can't believe that many people really enjoy it.

I think the average palate would not care for it but who knows!

ShirleyW's IMBC recipe uses less butter thanmost:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-2426-Italian-Meringue-Buttercream--Shirleys-Method.html

Melysa's SMBC recipe uses LOTS of flavoring to cut the butter taste:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-6927-Very-Vanilla-Swiss-Meringue-Buttercream.html

Buttercreams that don't crust:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-1610-No-Crust-Buttercream-Icing.html

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-3533-Creamy-whipped-buttercream-icing.html

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-2110-6-Marshmallow-Creme-Buttercream.html

HTH

have ya'll .seen that commercial where the guy gets caught peeling the paper from a stick of butter and proceeding to eat it? Seriously, that is just what I used to do 'cept it was oleo...for real...I then, advanced to butter and sugar sandwiches...aka a bendover(lol...that sounds funny now) at least a 1/4" thick layer of 'oleo' and a heavy pour of sugar...press the sugar into the oleo (we did call it butter even though we knew it wasn't), bend it in half and ENJOY...every now and again, I go back...oh, my...the happiness a tablespoon(not the measurin' kind) and a jar of Blue Plate mayonnaise would bring ( I prefer Hellman's now though).

Soooooo, if it's icin', I'm there!

lmao allforcake..thats funny..still a bit disgusting..but funny...hahaha
Edna

My DH would and does agree that it's disgusting...I tell him to turn his head...oh, the sour cream thing really makes him ill...I didn't tell ya about the sour cream thing...it's like the mayonnaise thing only with the sour cream.

and for those who haven't tried it yet....God bless! the swiss meringue buttercream made with packed dark brown sugar instead of the white granulated....I ain't jokin' I had to roll over and smoke a cigarette after eating a spoonful of that stuff!

It was like a rich caramel flavor but with the smooth, yet fluffy, creamy texture of meringue buttercream...it truly is an awesome flavor!

edited to add the m back to creamy...I was using it as I was thinking about the description of that icing...mmmmmmmmmm

You are making it sound rather yummy, all4cake!!!

Give it a try...if you don't like it, I'll eat it!

I might try that..no promises of falling in love with it...
Edna

http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-623859-brown.html+sugar

It comes out to be a bit darker than what is shown in the pictures I shared... but it worked beautifully...I did have to add a smidge more butter to it(normally, I use the 1-2-3 method...I had to add almost 4 more tblsps to it)

hello everyone! thank you so much for all the replies..

i guess each of us likes different icing and i find my buttercream recipe easy to work with.
honestly, i've been following the American buttercream icing & Cream Cheese Frosting of artofdessert from flickr & the buttercream icing of tonedna (i'm a big fan of your videos on youtube!).. tonedna's buttercream tasted good because it has part butter in it.. i sometimes used more butter than required because kids loved it here! =)

DO NOT GET JAMIE STARTED,I REPEAT DO NOT GET JAMIE STARTED ON FREAKY FOODS.lol

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Yeah....that is dangerous ground!