Buttercream Disasters Help Please!!
Decorating By danielle1986 Updated 21 Aug 2014 , 7:12pm by danielle1986
AI've not been baking long and every time I try and do buttercream it's either too soft or too hard :-( I know it's getting the right butter and confectioners sugar right but it I rarely get it right. I recently did a cake covered it in buttercream and it didn't look smooth. The buttercream looked holey and rough. I've attached a picture. Can anyone advise where I'm going wrong. Thanks.
AAre you following a recipe? It looks like the buttercream could be too thick in consistency and also it might have too much air whipped into it. Thin it out with more liquid and beat it more gently next time. If it develops air bubbles then you can take a spatula and smash the buttercream against the sides of the bowl to work out the bubbles.
Mine is the consistency of stiff whipped cream. It shouldn't have any resistance when you spread it around on the cake.
AI prefer soft whipped cream consistency, or on a scale of peaks, soft peak, where it would fall over if you tried to make a peak with it.
Ok that just sounds stupid, what am I trying to say, I can't remember how to describe it. Soft peaks...what is that even in reference to, cause I am having a major brain fa$# at the moment. Sheeeeesh!
AThanks. Normally I use the 1:2 ratio of butter to confectioners sugar. But this time I did 1:1:2 of vegetable shortening butter confectioners sugar. To be honest I don't think I concentrated that much on if it was getting air in it. I will do next time. Also it was a bit stiff at first as it had been in the fridge but I'd left it out to try soften it before I used it. Then it became quite soft as I was working with it, I panic then that I've done it too soft for underneath fondant.
AOk thanks. I'll try all of your advice next time thanks.
Quote:
Thanks. Normally I use the 1:2 ratio of butter to confectioners sugar. But this time I did 1:1:2 of vegetable shortening butter confectioners sugar. To be honest I don't think I concentrated that much on if it was getting air in it. I will do next time.
Also it was a bit stiff at first as it had been in the fridge but I'd left it out to try soften it before I used it. Then it became quite soft as I was working with it, I panic then that I've done it too soft for underneath fondant.
Danielle1986 your change in your ratio is what caused the problem.
1:2 butter to sugar your normal recipe which works well for you - should be..............
1/2 + 1/2 : 2 shortening + butter to sugar.
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