I'm looking at purchasing flavor enhancers such as LorAnn Oils & CK Icing Fruits. However, they both claim to do the same which makes me wonder which one all you you prefer to use & why.

thanks for your responses!
Mary

I purchased a bunch of Lorann oils (over 25 flavors) off a woman on ebay, you've seen the bottles right, how small they are? After using a couple different flavors (by the drops, I might add) and not being able to really taste them, I decided to use a third whole bottle in a recipe for coconut cream cc's. It costs about $3 for 1 bottle. Well, I was tired of throwing my $$$ away with these, so I started purchasing the Torani and other coffee liquers that webstaurantstore has for almost nothing. In fact, a bottle, which is a liter, is only about $6, and I use a 1/4 cup to my recipes. Best thing I could have done. Great flavors too, most of which are clear. Sams Club carries some flavors, don't know the cost.

Just FYI.

Sonya

Thanks for all the information. I was wondering how many recipes I would get out of LorAnn's dram size. That was the size I was looking at to try them.

My local Walmart caries a few flavors of Lorann oils. They come in a dram size twin pack for $2.17. Most recipes require the entire dram. That's only 1 teaspoon but it's the equilivant of 2-4 teaspoons of a cheaper extract. I priced it out (at my local prices) and the oils are cheaper than raspberry extract, for example, but marginally more expensive than vanilla.

I haven't used the Lorann oils yet, although I have some I got at Ross on sale. However, I recently used up the last of my one jar of CK Raspberry Icing Fruits and fully intend to order some more.

The CK Icing Fruit is a thickened (reduced?) mixture of the actual fruit. Since it has all the flavor and color of the fruit, but none of the liquid, it is a fabulous addition to buttercream, cake batter, and white chocolate ganache. I am amazed at how far that little bottle stretched. (I also used it over a year's time and it was as great one year later as it was when first opened. I stored in the fridge.)

I would definitely recommend that everybody try at least one jar of Icing Fruit to see how they like it.

Thanks everyone! I ended up ordering some icing fruit. I figured it would be a better value since it has many more "servings" in it. can't wait until it gets here now!

Hi, would this be the same thing as ck icing fruit(is that powder) ,This was on a thread some months ago. Lots of decorators on this site use this.


http://www.justtomatoes.com/jtstore/pc/Organic-Just-Strawberry-Powder-9p153.htm

Apti- That cake looks delish! Thanks for posting. I'll add to the post when I give them a try. Mary

Yep, I use icing fruits. They are semi liquid - sort of like a preserves. There are preservatives in the product and it doesn't have to be refrigerated. Its a great way to offer a ton of cake flavors using just a white cake as the base.

Yup, vgcea, that's the same thing. It looked fine, it smelled fine, it tasted fine, it performed fine, so I figured it was fine.
(and it was)

If I SOLD cakes, I wouldn't use anything past the expiration date, but in my own home, it looks ok, smells ok, etc., then I give it a try.

I was so excited to try those icing fruits but was so discouraged when I found out the limited shelf life on them. I felt a glimmer of hope when you said "bottle," I was hoping they'd created something along the lines of preserves. Oh well.