Buttercream Icing: Chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemum Flower

Materials

Tips: #5 and #81 (Master Tip Set, Measuring Cups and Tool Set)
Icing: Buttercream – Medium Consistency
Icing color: Your choice
Prepared Flower Nail (attach wax paper square)

Instructions:

Click HERE for full step-by-step instructions

 

Valentine’s Cookie Bouquets

Need more valentine ideas? Here are a couple of pictures I took at a cake club meeting.  Note that I did not baked or created these cookie bouquets – Kelle did.  The cookies shown below are iced with buttercream!!  I was impressed, since we try not to use buttercream on cookies due to its soft consistency.  However, these turned out just great.  I want to bring to your attention, that buttercream won’t have that shiny finish as color flow (see color flow recipes here). The buttercream recipe is Colette Peter’s. 

Double click to enlarge pictures-

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kelle’s mom’s cookie recipe: 

• 1c butter
• 1 1/4 c granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon of milk
• 2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 c flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt

Tip: you can add about 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg for 1 batch 

I had posted instructions for creating cookies on a stick HERE.  It should apply to this recipe. Bake at 400 degrees Farenheits for 8 – 10 mins

Colette Peter’s Buttercream recipe:

• 2 cups butter (unsalted – room temperature)
• 1 cup milk (room temperature)
• 4 pounds of powdered sugar (confectioner’s sugar)
• 3 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Add all ingredients to bowl and mix them until all are incorporated and the icing is smooth.

Place the buttercrem on piping bag and pipe buttercream icing onto cookies (for outline).  Pipe more icing to fill the outline.

I had posted color flow / royal icing recipes and “How to Decorate your Cookies” previously HERE.  These might be helpful.

Heart Cookie Cutters recommended

 

Buttercream Icing: Basket-Weave Technique

Basket-Weave Cake PIC: Click Here

 Materials 

• Tip: #47
• Icing: Buttercream
• Icing Consistency: Medium

Instructions

For Full post and step-by-step instrucions for basket-weave technique CLICK HERE

How to make the flowers shown above: Click here for step-by-step instructions

 

B-day Cake

I made this cake for my friend’s B-day party this last weekend.  She enjoyed it very much!!!!

About this cake:

Cake: Marble cake with dulce de leche filling. 

Frosting: Buttercream.

Decoration and color: Colored cake icing with ‘violet’ gel. Used white rosettes to top the cake.  White shell border on bottom border.  Sprinkled edible confetti.

 Check Out “Icing Recipes” and tips for decorating with rosettes as shown on picture above.

 

Black Buttercream Icing

I often hear people complain that their black icing did not come quiet black.  Here is some good advice:  a true shade of black cannot be obtained from white icing.  The black coloring will reduce to a gray or a very dimmed black color.  Before you start coloring, start with a chocolate icing, i.e.,  add cocoa powder to your icing before the black coloring.

Try working with gel colors, which to my opinion, pick up the color better than liquids and won’t change the consistency of your icing. This become very handy when working with royal icing and fondant which can change the consistency or make it hard to work with.

 

 

Cake Decorating: Buttercream Roses

Marble cake iced with buttercream and filled with dark chocolate mousse.  Topped with 7 buttercream roses, dots  and drop flowers on the bottom shell border.

 This cake can be made using the following decorating tips: Delux Tip Set- 28 pcs or Master Tip Set-55pcs

 

Icing Consistency (buttercream)

See Category: Icing Recipes for buttercream recipe.  

STIFF consistency is used for making roses and flowers with stiff petals. If the icing is not stiff enough the flower petals will fall. If the Icing is too stiff the petals can crack.

This an example of a drooping rose (the consistency wasn’t stiff enough):

Note that the petals are falling and the rose doesn’t look natural.

Test the consistency of your icing to know when you have achieved STIFF consistency.

Take a small amount of icing between your fingers. If you can roll a little ball with no residue left in your fingers, you know the icing is TOO stif and your petals may break. Add a little more water and mix.

If you can roll a ball between your fingers and leave a small residue, the consistency is good to go.

A stiff consistency will allow you to make STIF peaks of icing as depicted in the picture below:

MEDIUM consistency is used for star tip decoration, borders, fiigure piping (3-dimensional shapes), flowers without stiff petals and bows.

The picture below are flowers made with medium consistency icing:

THIN consistency is used for icing the cake, lettering, outlines, dots, leaves and vines decoration.

 

Chocolate Buttercream Icing

Add to the Buttercream Icing 3/4 cup of cocoa or 1 oz. of unsweetened melted chocolate and 1-2 tablespoons of water or milk to the recipe.  Mix until all ingredients have been mixed thoroughly.

HINT: to achieve a darker color you can use brown or black coloringon the recipe until you achieve the color desired.

 

Buttercream Icing (Yield: 3 cups)

The recipe shown here contains shortening.  You can substitute the shortening with butter (see amount below). However, this recipe with shortening is one of the best for making flowers and roses, since the shortening helps create a good icing texture and consistency for decorating.

Ingredients:

1 cup white vegetable shortening (Crisco)

2 tablespoons of water or milk (this amount of water will yield a stiff consistency)

1 teaspoon of clear vanilla flavoring (to keep the white color of the icing)*

1lb. confectioners’ sugar (pure cane works best)

1 tablespoon Meringue Powder 

A pinch of salt (optional-to cut down on the sweetness of the icing)

TIP: Sift your confectioners’ sugar to avoid sugar lumps that can clog your decorating tip. 

Directions:

In one large bowl, cream the shortening, flavoring, water.  Add the sugar and meringue powder in intervals while mixing on slow speed until the ingredients have mixed.  Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a Rubber Spatula.  Continue mixing at medium speed until all indredients have mixed thoroughly. 

Consistency:

Stiff consistency– See recipe above

Medium consistency– Add a teaspoon of water or milk per cup of icing above

Thin consistency– Add two teaspoons of water or milk per each cup of stiff consistency.  One teaspoon of water or milk per each cup of medium consistency icing.

Read more about Icing consistency here

* Substitute any flavoring to suit your taste (vanilla, almond, butter)

** Substitute shortening with 8 tablespoons (1 stick) of butter at room temperature