Need Help With My Buttercream! I'm Desperate!
Decorating By ashtree250 Updated 11 May 2012 , 1:45pm by cupcandycakes
..........What do you all think of the White-White?..........
To me it has a *really* funky taste
Use just the tineiest, tinyest tip of the toothpick dot of blue or violet gel color in a batch of icing and you'll be much better off.
Remember, Wilton instructors are there to *sell* product. He/she may not even know of using 'blueing'. (Many, many, many yrs ago all housewives used blue-ing to whiten the linens etc.)
To make your BC really white without adding coloring...whip the dickens out of the butter and shortening when you're creaming it. Let it go and beat it for at least 5 minutes. See how white it gets.
I've also used Americolor's white gel paste. I layer my frosting on and chill between layers to harden. Then when it is time for the last layer is when I add any colored buttercream that I've mixed. You avoid any weird taste by having a thin layer of colored buttercream as opposed to the whole thing being filled with food color. I do that for ALL colors of BC. Not one of my cakes that have a lot of color are solid colored buttercream throughout. Saves on food coloring too! 
Oh... and you said you couldn't get sharp details on your
all- butter BC piping because of your 'hot hands'...well I have them too. I don't do a whole lot of piping, but when I do I keep two bags handy and when one starts getting too soft, I put it in the fridge for a few minutes and use the other one until I need to change it out too. Keeping some really cold water close by to put your hands in periodically can help too! Just an FYI!
To make your BC really white without adding coloring...whip the dickens out of the butter and shortening when you're creaming it. Let it go and beat it for at least 5 minutes. See how white it gets.
Whew. My arm would probably be about ready to turn blue and fall off after that, even if I were to use a whisk instead of my customary dinner fork to cream the butter. Don't try this at home if you mix your frostings by hand; probably not smart with anything less than at least a small stand-mixer (which I don't have)! 
Thanks thats a good idea about the thin layers of colored buttercream! I'll have to try that. So glad I have all you wonderful people on cakecentral to bounce ideas off of! 
Hi cupcandycakes. I have seen Wiltons White-White while shopping for cake supplies but I've never used it. I haven't read any reviews on it either. Does it make the icing taste different? It might be worth a shot (if I can order it and get in here on time) My closest large cake supply store is 2 hours from where I live (besides walmart, but I doubt walmart carries it in there cake decorating section) How much of that stuff do you have to dump into your icing to make it whiter- say... if I used half butter, half shortening, and pure vanilla extract? That raspberry buttercream sounds deeeelish! Infact, I am making a graduation cake for this Saturday and was trying to find a different flavored buttercream besides vanilla for it. It's a lemon cake, do you think raspberry icing would be good on that? And another question to whoever: I have some decorations on it that need to be black, and the only way I make black is to start with a chocolate buttercream base and start adding black gel color, will a bit of chocolate buttercream on a lemon cake totally clash together?
When I needed a little amount of black for my FBCT, rather than tearing my hairs trying to make black BC, I just used the Wilton black icing that comes in the tube. Not only it's true black, it saved me precious time trying to get as close to black.
Thanks All!
I'm with ashtree250 that I feel hesitant to add something as dark as blue/violet to my BC in fear of turning the whole thing a different color.
That's true my instructor does *work* for Wilton, LOL! I find that I HATE their BC recipe that was in my book and their ready-to-use is HORRIBLE.
I'm not sure about the raspberry clashing with the lemon. I think it would compliment it well if you only used a small amount for a subtle flavor. I find people "can't put their finger on it" when wondering what the flavor is, but everyone loves it.
I LOVE the idea of applying the color coat last and doing the others in white. That does really save on color!! I just made my first Red Velvet (not a fan) and all my coworkers really liked it, but one commented that it doesn't "taste like dye" (I used the no-taste red), so I can understand if you use a lot of color in your icing it can throw off the taste.
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