cupcake bakery style frosting
Does anyone know what type of frosting a cupcake bakery uses? I can never seem to get the same taste out of a buttercream? I came close last time by really beating my butter and adding about a quarter shortening to it (this also helped stabilize), but still not quite the same. I have wondered if it is a meringue buttercream? I also watched a video from Magnolia bakery that used a cooked flour/milk paste added to butter and granulated sugar.
any one have the inside scoop.....er, swirl?
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Your answer here depends upon the quality of the bakeries you have in mind. A trulyl excellent bakery wouldn't likely use powdered sugar "buttercream". Real buttercream is heavenly and contains no powdered sugar.
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re: sandylc
AnnieWilliams
Nov 18, 2012 10:55 AM
I have to respectfully disagree. Buttercream is a very broad term and while I do think it's a stretch to call an all shortening icing a buttercream, there is certainly nothing wrong with calling it buttercream if it's made with butter and has powdered sugar (or icing sugar as it's called in the UK). I've been doing cakes for people now for over 15 years and I have used all sorts of buttercream recipes. In my experience, most people prefer the ones made with powdered sugar over the meringue recipes, especially for children's cakes (which I do a lot of those).
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re: Jay F
AnnieWilliams
Nov 18, 2012 12:57 PM
I agree, but I know some people who live in hotter climates who really have to use the shortening (for those occasions when the party is outside and there is no refrigeration, and the client doesn't want fondant). My icing definitely isn't chalky. My main gripe about using the powdered sugar is the slight grittiness or crunchiness. We regularly have 90+ degree summers here where I live, and every freaking person has to have a party outside. That little bit of shortening helps stabilize it. I do use all butter more often than not, especially in the cooler months. But yes, there are people who use 100% shortening and add "butter flavor" and call it buttercream.
I am a member of a cake decorating forum and believe me what constitutes buttercream is a thread which regularly gets locked by the mods. That, and scratch vs. mix baking, haha.
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re: Jay F
AnnieWilliams
Nov 18, 2012 02:34 PM
Thanks, Jay! He has quite a personality. We also have another Boston terrier, Bridget, who is his half-sister. She is much smaller than Geoffrey, but she gives him a hard time. They are quite funny together.
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re: Jay F
I NEVER use shortening in anything, and can tell it is used in baking a mile away. However I wanted to try it in addition to butter for a pastry crust as many people swear by its flakiness. A year later and I have yet to try that. However when fooling around with frosting on my cupcakes especially stability and texture, I really found the addition of a little shortening helped. I really feel you cannot tell, I would not use 50/50, I find more like 75/25 works for me. My guests love it, and comment on the icing. I have also never found my frostings gritty or chalky, not sure how that would happen with powdered sugar (bad sugar quality?).
What is the other opinion on what a buttercream is? Are you referring to a meringue buttercream?
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re: cleopatra999
AnnieWilliams
Nov 18, 2012 04:31 PM
With gritty I just mean that I can feel that little "bite" of powdered sugar between my teeth. Maybe that's what sandylc meant by chalky. I always use the Domino 10x but it's still slightly gritty. I guess it's because the sugar doesn't break down and dissolve the way it does in a meringue buttercream.
To me, a buttercream is icing made with either all butter or some combo of shortening and butter. Not all shortening, not "butter flavoring" (that stuff is heinous). In other words, there needs to be butter in buttercream, haha.
The only time I use the shortening is if I need the buttercream to hold up to higher temperatures, and of course if I'm working with fondant then it's also useful (knead some into fondant to soften the fondant for use in an extruder). I think 50/50 is way too much shortening. Mine is 75/25 in hot weather (when it will be sitting out in the heat for several hours), all butter in colder weather.
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re: cleopatra999
Jay F
Nov 18, 2012 05:23 PM
>>What is the other opinion on what a buttercream is? Are you referring to a meringue buttercream?<<
I don't make buttercream often, but when I do, it's usually cocoa, confectioner's, butter, and cream.
I've also made one with egg whites -- meringue, I suppose -- and I've heard that referred to as either Italian or Swiss buttercream.
Usually when I make a plain yellow cake, I festoon it in fruit, lemon curd, and whipped cream, in any combination. If I want chocolate on yellow cake, I either make chocolate whipped cream (cocoa and sugar sit in the mixing bowl in cream for an hour before whipping), ganache, or the chocolate buttercream I mentioned above.
I have a friend who owned a cupcake bakery. He used confectioner's and butter 95% of the time.
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re: Jay F
AnnieWilliams
Nov 18, 2012 05:36 PM
"I don't make buttercream often, but when I do, it's usually cocoa, confectioner's, butter, and cream. "
LOL sorry your quote just reminds me of the Dos Equis commercials.
Stay thirsty my friends.
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re: Jay F
The chalkiness is from the cornstarch in the powdered sugar.
The buttercream I am speaking of is plain ol' classic French buttercream. Example below:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/mem...
Not trying to start a fight here.....peace.
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AnnieWilliams
Nov 18, 2012 05:54 AM
Cupcake bakeries use a million different types of icings. Most bakeries use a shortening based recipe because it's cheaper than butter. They actually use high ratio shortening which is specifically designed for icing. It absorbs more moisture and has a creamier mouth feel.
Magnolia uses a basic butter and confectioner's sugar with a little milk and vanilla then they whip the crap out of it to get it fluffy. Those types of icings are more cost and labor effective, especially if you cut it with some of the high ratio shortening. Meringue buttercreams are more labor intensive and makes smaller batches. For me anyway, it's more difficult to do a larger batch of Italian meringue buttercream.
If you want to do butter and shortening, here is my recipe:
1 lb butter
1 cup shortening (I use Crisco-this depends on the weather though. You can use all butter if you want).
2 good teaspoons of popcorn salt (it's finer so it dissolves more quickly)Cream the fat and salt for 15 minutes. Yes, 15 minutes. It will look like sour cream. Then add in:
2-3 tablespoons of vanilla, 2 teaspoons of lemon juice (you won't taste it-it just cuts the sweetness) plus whatever other extract or liqueur you want to add in.
Beat that some more until combined. Then add in:
2 lbs sifted confectioner's sugar. There is no science to this. I try to get as much in as possible right from the start because I'm lazy. Use a towel to cover your mixer. Scrape after each addition and then add in hot whipping cream to thin. Hot because it kind of dissolves the sugar but at the same time allows you to temporarily thin the buttercream to work with. I just use a couple of tablespoons to start until I get the consistency I need.
I really don't beat it long after I add the cream. Maybe 3 minutes. The more you beat it, the more air gets whipped in which makes it difficult to pipe and ice a cake smoothly. I will say that people absolutely love this buttercream.
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Caitlin McGrath
Nov 17, 2012 09:22 PM
The cooked-flour-milk style is very popular among Chowhounds (I like it); here's one of the threads on it: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/760095
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Both of these claim to be bakery style frostings...
http://www.thecupcakeprincess.com/2011/01/how-to-make-perfect-cupcake-frosting-like-a-bakery-cream-cheese/›1 Reply
