Safeway icing: does it have crack in it? (Just kidding!)

[maracuya61]

I have a kryptonite issue with Safeway cake icing- I make an utter fool of myself whenever one of the basic white sheet cakes with the tidy bowl blue dyed icing flowers piled high in one corner appears at parties- I go for the corner piece with a mountain of that lardy, teeth itching goodness... and I want to lick the serving knife and run my finger across the cardboard support to gather up all the left-behind icing.. I don't of course but it's sheer will power that gets me to hold back. Anybody else know what the bloody composition of this addictive oh-so-bad-for-you icing is that turns this snobby foodie into a slobbering oink?

[canadagoose38]

I just found this.. and I swear you put your words just how I feel!!! I live in England, but everytime I get home.. I HAVE to buy a safeway cake.. and your right, nab the corners first.. scrape the icing off the board. Sometimes, I have to just pick the flowrers off, so no one else can have them!!!
I have not been home for nearly 2 years, which is good, cause I have probably lost the weight I put on since eating a well, a big cake! I need the recipie..!!! I really need it!!!!

[boyzoma]

I am also a sucker for Safeway's frosting. Along with that, you can melt me with their vanilla pudding with sliced banana filling. Between the two, I'm sunk.

[bakersdelight]

count me in on supermarket frosting. tastes like childhood--but the trauma-free, endless possibilies, utterly safe and trusting of everyone type of childhood very few people seem to have. something in supermarket promises all that, plus a pony.

[goodhealthgourmet]

all sorts of nasty emulsifiers and chemicals...and apparently you're not the only one who's addicted:
http://www.thefoodsection.com/foodsection/2006/05/in_search_of_fl.html

according to the reviews of this recipe, you may be able to whip up a relatively close substitute at home:
http://safeway.allrecipes.com/Recipe/...

[celeryroot]

I think they use Hi-ratio shortening , Sweetex. Similar to Crisco but easier to work with. Many commercial bakeries use. It is creamier.It is an emulsified shortening not to be confused with a sugar substitude. If you know a baker ask them to sell you some, they usually buy in 50 to 100 pound amounts .

[rworange]

The shortening is probably what does it. I prefer butter cream, except for birthday cakes when white cake with white frosting does it for me. That being said, I don't like Safeway's version and seek out bakeries that use real ingrediants rather than a chemical mix.

One of the posters in the first link had a recipe that would probablby work

1 cup shortening
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar (sifted)
4 tablespoons milk