FOOD COLORING SEPARATING FROM YOUR BUTTERCREAM ICING?

Debbie Fann Young use the jel.. it is the best! or so I think… lol…

Serena Adkins Ellison That is what I am thinking when wrong, cause my friend Rosetta Sperring makes the most beautiful decorations on her cakes and pastries and she said she only uses the jel to color with..

this was the icing recipe I used for my buttercream……….

Buttercream Icing

Serena Adkins Ellison I only used water for the glaze

El Mundo de Tara Ok I was wrong. Now if I think it’s because of the dye in gel

Sorry!!

Serena Adkins Ellison El Mundo de Tara No your fine.. I think your right about the glaze too though cause I didn’t like the transparency of the glaze either..

This was the FIRST time I made this recipe.. and although it tasted great, it definitely needs tweaking if I ever make it again. ‘

El Mundo de Tara I would like to try it, if! And as Valentine about, I think so. The prepare. Now I go to sleep, is 00:27 here in Spain. Good night!

Judith Parady Rice When I decorate, I use less liquid.(I use half and half,and make it more stiff),less butter, and gel food coloring.

Serena Adkins Ellison Good Night Tara..

Sue Radford Shrewsbury For the decorations don’t use butter. Use Crisco or any all vegetable shortening. And dont use as much as the recipe calls for. And as the others said, use only gel colors. If you want to make sure your designs don’t get messed up, use royal icing. It dries hard.

Melissa Hensley I always used the wilton pastes and gels, they are the best and won’t run like that. Also make sure your icing is “thicker” and not real runny.

Serena Adkins Ellison I did use the crisco + a stick of butter for my icing.. cause that is what the recipe called for.. can you share your icing recipe for decorating?

Melissa Hensley I can tell you what I use, But I never measure it when I’m doing it lol

Serena Adkins Ellison tell me please

Melissa Hensley Confectioners sugar, crisco, milk and almond flavoring

Serena Adkins Ellison I did a buttercream the other day from Wilton Recipe and it came out nice .. let me see if I can find it..

Serena Adkins Ellison http://cookingwithserena.com/?p=270775

Melissa Hensley oh my I cant get this typing down hahaha…. I use almond cause I like the taste better. Just start off with 2 bags of the sugar and about 1 cup of crisco slowly add a little milk at a time. You can taste it after that and if it’s not creamy you can add more crisco, or vise versa if it’s too greasy felling just add more sugar the crisco will make it creamier and fluffier. One you get it to the consistancy that you want just add your flavoring. If you want that buttery taste just use a stick of butter and the rest crisco. Just ALWAYS REMEMBER start off with only a small amout of milk at a time

Serena Adkins Ellison I hear that a stiff icing is easiest to decorate with is that truth to that or not? do you like yours on the thick side?

Nancy Wills Sturgill Serena I don’t add the crisco in my buttercream icing. I can’t tell you how much of anything I use but I use butter, vanilla, milk and a shake or two of salt. It takes a bit of the sweet out of the icing. In decorating the petit fours I think the icing would be better a little thinner to stick and not seperate from the cake. You also have to push the tip down in a little to get the icing to stick. I haven’t made the glaze like yours, I only used the chocolate you melt or the colored chocolate and it works great. I’m about easy anymore. LOL

Rosetta Sperring When you buy a can of Wilton Meringue Powder, inside the lid will be a piece of paper that tells you exactly how to make Royal Icing…the stiff kind that you outline your cookies with. You also use the stiff kind of icing for flowers and so forth. Then there is a recipe for the softer icing that you use to flood cookies with. So you will outline your cookies, let them dry (does not take long at all), then use the thinner icing to fill in between the lines. That is the type of icing that’s good for cookies. For your leaves and flowers and so forth, the Royal icing is stiff and will dry hard, like decorations you see in cake sections at Michaels, Hobby Lobby, WalMart and so forth. Here is the recipe for Wilton Royal Icing: Royal Icing Recipe
This smooth, hard-drying icing is perfect for making decorations that last. It is also useful as a “cement” to fasten decorations together. Royal icing is edible, but not recommended for icing cakes
3 Tablespoons Meringue Powder
4 cups (about 1 pound) confectioners’ sugar
6 Tablespoon Warm water
Beat all ingredients until icing forms peaks (7-10 minutes at low speed with a heavy-duty mixer, 10-12 minutes at high speed with a hand-held mixer).
Keep all utensils completely grease-free for proper icing consistency.
* For stiffer icing, use 1 tablespoon less water. 
**When using large countertop mixer or for stiffer icing, use 1 tablespoon less water. 
Thinned Royal Icing: To thin for pouring, add 1 teaspoon water per cup of royal icing. Use grease-free spoon or spatula to stir slowly. Add 1/2 teaspoon water at a time until you reach proper consistency.

Rosetta Sperring I have several Royal Icing recipes, but this is the Wilton Royal Icing.

Nancy Wills Sturgill This is the recipe I used to use for roses and certain other flowers and different things also Rosetta Sperring. That is the one recipe I have followed and a couple other Royal Icing recipes. I have lost them since it had been so long since I had done that type of decorating. I just couldn’t get past the raw egg and didn’t use this much.

Rosetta Sperring Here is a recipe for Buttercream Icing: 

THE BEST BUTTERCREAM

2 cups shortening
8 cups confectioner’s sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon clear imitation vanilla extract
6 fluid ounces heavy cream

In a large bowl, cream shortening with mixer until fluffy. Add confectioners sugar (2 cups at a time) until well blended. If the frosting gets to thick at any time you can add some of your heavy cream.

Add salt, vanilla, and heavy cream and blend until combined, then blend on high until frosting is light and fluffy. If you need to add additional cream you can. (Up to 2 tablespoons)

Nancy Wills Sturgill Does work perfectly with the petals of the roses and whatever else you are making though. Smooth

Rosetta Sperring When you use the clear vanilla, your icing will be snow white…when you use regular vanilla, your icing will be a few shades darker, not pure white.

Nancy Wills Sturgill Thank you for this one, the heavy cream would make it delicious, mine only used milk when I made this recipe. Do you have a recipe for royal icing that doesn’t have the eggs Rosetta Sperring. I need it as I have lost that too and I know there was another one I made without the eggs but it did have the cream of tartar

Rosetta Sperring Nancy, the Wilton Royal Icing uses a meringue powder…no raw eggs

Rosetta Sperring Nancy, here is the recipe again that I posted further up: Royal Icing Recipe
This smooth, hard-drying icing is perfect for making decorations that last. It is also useful as a “cement” to fasten decorations together. Royal icing is edible, but not recommended for icing cakes
3 Tablespoons Meringue Powder
4 cups (about 1 pound) confectioners’ sugar
6 Tablespoon Warm water
Beat all ingredients until icing forms peaks (7-10 minutes at low speed with a heavy-duty mixer, 10-12 minutes at high speed with a hand-held mixer).
Keep all utensils completely grease-free for proper icing consistency.

* For stiffer icing, use 1 tablespoon less water. 

**When using large countertop mixer or for stiffer icing, use 1 tablespoon less water. 
Thinned Royal Icing: To thin for pouring, add 1 teaspoon water per cup of royal icing. Use grease-free spoon or spatula to stir slowly. Add 1/2 teaspoon water at a time until you reach proper consistency.

Rosetta Sperring Meringue Powder is egg whites…not raw egg whites. You can use the powder in place of egg whites. When you buy a can, the instructions are inside the can. Once opened, you store the can in the fridge…not room temp. They keep well once refrigerated.

Rosetta Sperring The Wilton Gels are what I always use for coloring icings, cakes and so forth. A tiny bit goes a long way, but if you want vivid bright colors, add more, or even more. The gel type food coloring leaves no after taste like the old fashioned liquid kind do. You know what I mean, we’ve all had that icing that tastes like food coloring! uhhhh

Nancy Wills Sturgill I like the gels also, much better than any other I have used. When I decorated all those years ago I don’t think they make a gel. More of a paste and I didn’t care for it. The paste coloring had a very bitter taste if you needed a dark color. Thank goodness they came up with the gel. Thank you for reposting the recipe with the meringue powder. That is the one I needed. Have had a few people wanting cakes since my recent endeavor or Sponge Bob. Not sure I can use the royal icing with arthritis now in my fingers and all other joints in wrists, elbows and shoulders but I am certainly going to give it a try since I have the recipe again. Appreciate the help.

Rosetta Sperring I know what you mean about the pastry bag and royal icing…it is hard on the aging hands.

Serena Adkins Ellison thank you all Soooooooooooo much!!!!!!!!!

Serena Adkins Ellison the last wilton icing recipe I used a couple days ago on my blonde brownie bites was yummy tasting and it came out great but I wasn’t using any food coloring so that got me to thinking about these petite fours I made .. thanks guy’s

Nancy Wills Sturgill Welcome Serena and thank you for this group. Good info when we need it.

Rosetta Sperring When I make the Wilton Butterccream Icing on a cake, the cake smells just like a bakery…but better! There are soooo many buttercream icings it’s hard to decide which one to use sometimes!

Nancy Wills Sturgill I know I may be crazy but what ever the icing is that is really fluffy and not too sweet and almost tastes like it has some coolwhip in it is my favorite. Nuts I know but it isn’t too sweet and is so light you don’t feel like you are cheating. Now a recipe for that would be great. ANYONE?

Rosetta Sperring I have two of them Nancy…they are my go to icing recipes when I want a not too sweet icing. Here is the first one. Coolwhip n’ Cream Cheese Icing: Icing:


1 large container Cool Whip (thawed)
1- 8 ounce package cream cheese (softened)
1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar

Mix all icing ingredients together and spread between each layer of cooled cake Here is the next icing recipe that is not too sweet…but sweet enough. Marshmallow Frosting

Ingredients:

4 large egg whites
1 Cup ordinary sugar (white or brown)
1 pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla (or you can use clear vanilla)

Directions:
Place all ingredients (except the vanilla) into a bowl which you can place over a pot of simmering water., or a double boiler).
Whisk the egg white mixture constantly over simmering water until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is hot to the touch. (It takes around 5 – 7 minutes).
Pour the mixture into a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer for 5 to 7 minutes. (Add the vanilla while beating).
At first you will think it will not thicken up, but it will, it just takes a while. As its cooling, the mixture will fluff up. The end result will be worth it!

Rosetta Sperring This recipe with the egg whites are cooked, so they will not be raw.

Nancy Wills Sturgill I will have to try both of these. I am not much on a real sweet icing. Thank you so much. I will try both.