Iced Decorations?

Decorating By Gem-cakes Updated 11 Apr 2014 , 1:17pm by remnant3333

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Gem-cakes Posted 11 Apr 2014 , 12:35pm
post #1 of 2

AI'd like to pipe some flowers for topping a cake, can I just use icing sugar, water and colouring? Or do i have to add anything else to make it go hard enough to handle?

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remnant3333 Posted 11 Apr 2014 , 1:17pm
post #2 of 2

 Here is serious cake's recipe for frosting. I never add all of the 10x sugar because I do not like it as sweet. I might withhold at least 1/4 of the bag of 10x sugar from the 2 pound bag of sugar.

 

2/3 c. Shortening-Two reasons why I add shortening to my buttercream; stability and creaminess. You could use more shortening but when I tried that there was a kind of greasy feeling left in my mouth-yuck! There are recipes out there that use ONLY shortening (such as bakeries and grocery stores), and depending on the shortening used they could be very good. But….I’m biased :D

1 1/3 c. (22 tbs.) Butter-I like to use salted butter, this helps to cut down on the sweetness of the buttercream. You could use unsalted and then just add a little salt if you need to. Using butter also ensures a delicious buttercream ;D

1/4-1/2 c. Heavy Cream/light cream/half and half/milk- out of all these choices, I use half and half the most because it’s something I always keep in the house. Whichever you choose, keep in mind that the higher the fat content, the better it will bond with the butter and shortening.

2 tsp. Vanilla Extract-I like to use clear vanilla, it’s sold in craft stores or you can order it online from Wilton.com. You can use regular vanilla but you’d need to mix your buttercream longer, for some reason the longer you mix the lighter it becomes.

8 c. (2 lbs.) Powdered Sugar-I like to buy these by the 2 lb. bag. I never sift unless the bag has been opened for awhile. Also make sure it says ‘Pure Cane Sugar’ on it, sometimes the generic brand will slip in beet sugar. I also don’t like to buy bags that feel dusty. That means that one of the bags has a hole in it and is leaking sugar. For some reason the generic store brand that I buy is never dusty but Domino brand always is :P

1-4 tbs. Light Corn Syrup- I use this as a thinning agent in addition to the cream but it also adds elasticity to the buttercream. Strings can droop without breaking, there’s less of a tendancy for the frosting to crack as it dries, and I think it adds a little to the creamy texture.

Here is a link to her videos showing how to do a number of icing flowers and decorating cakes.

http://seriouscakes.com/wordpress/?page_id=16

Good luck, you can do it!!! I do cakes as a hobby for family and friends only. You may want other recipes of which you can type buttercream icing  recipes at top right hand (purple) advanced search of CC and you will get all kinds of recipes. .

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