I need help with my green frosting

[Clarissa]

I'm making a frog cake, which is new for me. The first fluffy white frosting I found is sort of a meringuey one, with raw eggwhites cooked to 160 degrees. Ordinarily I'd be comfortable with that, but one of my guests has a compromised immune system and I want to be super-careful about egg whites. So I guess I'm looking for a buttercream that will work well with a shape cake with lots of curves, and will take the green and blue food coloring well.

Can anybody offer a good recipe? Can I just do the powdered sugar-butter-vanilla thing and have it be really nice?

[withalonge]

I do agree butter-cream would probably work best for your project... but want to add, that the meringuey frosting should be 'safe" after you cook it... I make that frosting for my immune system deprived husband all the time. (of course this is for the same guy who routinely eats cookie dough despite having raw eggs in it... though today's eggs are much safer than they used to be, esp. the fresh, org/free-range available).

[Clarissa]

Good to know. But you still think the buttercream would work best with the green food coloring, right?

I also made some cupcakes and now I'm considering doing the fluffy white stuff for that, if I can get it up to the right temp. Thanks.

[withalonge]

yeah, I think the buttercream would work better for the froggie...

but on the temp... I never use a thermometer on this kind of frosting, I just beat it in the pan (in double boiler) until it is thick (holds stiff peak). I don't check its temp, the recipe is supposed to take 7 mins, but it usually takes me 10... egg whites are fairly delicate things, if you cook it that long over heat, they'll be thoroughly cooked.

[melgee]

I've also found you will get a better green color is you use a green gel color as opposed to the liquid drops.

[foiegras]

I have had good luck with professional paste coloring on St Patrick's Day ...

[AlaskaChick]

If you're coloring and decorating a cake, I'd recommend standard decorators frosting - the powdered sugar, butter, vanilla thing. 1c butter, 4c p sugar, 1tsp vanilla, milk to thin to consistency. Color as desired. Two thoughts - butter is softer than crisco so if warmth is a problem or you need to do very precise decorating - use 1/2 and 1/2. Butter is yellow so watch your coloring - add a little at a time til its just right.

[Clarissa]

Perfect! Thank you so much for making this so easy for me.