Hi there,

I am a cake maker in the UK. I have an American customer who frequently orders cakes from me but she doesn't like the sugarpaste icing we use in the UK, saying it is too hard. I can only assume that she is more used to buttercream used in the States. My first question is: is the most commonly used buttercream for highly decorated, celebration cakes the one that is made using egg white and hot sugar syrup? secondly: how do I convert this for a vegan? (she is vegan). She has also often asked for the filling to be the same as that used in an eclair. In the UK, eclairs are filled with fresh, dairy cream, also not suitable for a vegan. Is there a different filling in the US?

Many thanks for any advice and Happy Christmas to everyone. Steph xx

AIn Australia, depending where you buy your eclairs, they can be filled with fresh cream, creme patissiere or mock cream. Of the three mock cream would be your best bet to decorate a cake in the " buttercream" style.

first off.. yes americans use buttercream frosting, sometimes it's a little more firm than others though depending on the cake... as for american eclairs.. usually the top is frosted with chocolate, and it's NOT hard, it's more like the consistancy of melted chocolate.. and filled not with cream but with something called bavarian cream, or like a thick form of uk type custard ... that may be what she's refering to?? i also find uk icing too hard and make my own cakes for that reason, i also find uk cakes to be too dry, american cakes are sweeter and more moist.. so yes there is a huge difference between uk and american cakes :)
 

oh, and the only buttercream icing i know of consists of powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, and milk .. adding the milk very little at a time so that the icing doesn't get too thin

You could make an american buttercream with a vegan butter spread and powdered sugar, flavor to taste.

Eclair filling in the states is a loose custard, like pastry cream.  The consistency is exactly like a cooked pudding.  Somewhere between just spoonable and not quite able to hold it's shape.

AWhen I worked at a bakery, they used a mock cream to fill the pastry shells, like and Ermine icing, or what wilton calls French buttercream (it's not!) what it is, is cooked flour, milk and sugar, whipped with butter and vanilla, but can be made vegan using a white vegetable shortening or vegan spread for butter, and a soy, almond or rice milk for the milk.

I made it with a vanilla soy and shortening before and thought it was terrible, and the dairy-allergic gal I made it for was over the top, gushing about how good it was.... You just get used to that sort of thing, I suppose.

It's nice of you to try to accommodate her tastes. But don't feel too bad if you can't. It's very different and you don't have the same sort of ingredients she's used to.