I have been practicing SMBC for an upcoming wedding order. The bride wants a white and black color scheme yet the SMBC has such a yellow tone (obviously, because of the butter). Switching to a clear vanilla extract did little to help. Any suggestions for a whiter effect would be appreciated!

Does it have to be SMBC? Can't you just use fondant?

Actually, the bride requested no fondant. American buttercream is an option but she preferred the SMBC.

I have read that if you beat it longer, the lighter the yellow gets.

Thank you, Loucinda. I'll try that. Any other suggestions? I've never used a white gel color -- might that help?

I don't know, I had just started using this type of icing, and the ones who used it exclusively aren't here now. One of the recipes I was given has you replace part of the butter with some hi-ratio shortning (2 ounces) and that will make it lighter and help with using it during the warm months (helps to stabilie it)

Is it possible to find white butter at a health food store? I know you can get white margarine but I've never looked for butter.

or, you could try making white butter:

http://www.ehow.com/how_5130459_make-white-butter.html

I love SMBC, and my family & friends don't mind the yellow tone. But I've also had a request for white. So, I'm making a couple of batches this afternoon and I was going to try beating the butter separately while the whites are beating up then add it. Want to see if that helps. Some recipes tell you to do that, but I've never bothered.

This is an interesting question and one I've struggled with too! I'm wondering if you could airbrush the cake with white airbrush and pearl luster dust mixed together, or just straight white if you want a more matte look? Has anyone tried this? I did recently airbrush an IMBC frosted cake with pearl dust airbrush but without the white color mixed in, it was lovely but still had the Ivory tone come thru so later I thought that I should have added some white airbrush to the mix.

add one small drop of violet food coloring near the end of your beating, and it makes it less yellow

or use organic white butter.

if it were me, i would substitute 1/4 of the butter with organic shortening, (Smart Balance, if you can get it) i would not used regular crisco because it is way too greasy. also, i've heard organic butter is whiter then non-organic. i think this would get you SMBC that is pretty close to being white...

OK - not sure if this is going to help because the lighting in the picture may not show true. For starters, I use Nick Maglieri's recipe for SMBC. 5 whites + 1 1/2C sugar + pinch salt + 1 lb butter. Proceed with usual SMBC technique.

But....while the whites were beating in the stand mixer, I beat the butter in a separate bowl till it was fluffy and it did look less yellow.

When it was time, I added the butter in scoops and beat until the frosting was the correct consistency. I didn't add any flavors 'cause I'm freezing these batches and Nick M. says don't flavor till you're going to use it.

Well.....it looks a little bit better - I thought it was pretty good till I used a piece of white paper to compare. I think when I go to use it, I'll try lorimom's suggestion - I'd heard once before about adding a color, but couldn't remember what it was.

The top half of the picture attached shows the frosting in containrs on my (white with small speckley pattern) counters - the bottom half has a piece of white paper to compare.

HTH a little!