Requests

[brienze]

I've lost my book with the old Wilton buttercreme icing recipe. The one I'm looking for is, I believe, not in the current coursebooks of anyone who's taken one of their decorating classes in the last 10 yrs or so. My version of it was in a staple-bound softcover the size and shape of a yearly calendar, if that helps any

Comments

[beki]

I can't help you with the icing, but the cabbage is fine to pre shred. Just make sure that you have a paper towel folded in with the cabbage to keep it fresher longer.

[brienze]

Great, thanks! I was fairly sure it would be okay since you can buy pre-shredded coleslaw mix in the produce aisle, but I didn't want to ruin my cabbage with "fairly sure". =)

[vayacondia]

Yup I think it's this one. It's in "Decorating Cakes: A Reference and Idea Book." I recently started using it and much prefer it to the other buttercream recipe they're pushing.

2/3 cup water
4 TB meringue powder
12 cups powdered sugar
1 1/4 shortening
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. almond flavoring
1/2 tsp. vanilla flavoring
1/4 tsp. butter flavoring

Beat water and meringue powder till peaks form. Add 4 cups sugar one cup at a time beating at low speed. Alternately add shortening and remainder of sugar. Add salt and flavorings. Beat at low speed until smooth.

[brienze]

Ah, yes, this is the one! I blocked out the almond flavoring requirement, because I had a bad childhood experience with almond-iced cookies and have had an aversion to that flavoring ever since.

Thank you so much. I'm printing 3 copies of this to leave in my different piles of recipe magazines, so as not to lose it again.

[vayacondia]

Yeah, I don't use the almond either. I just double the vanilla. There's a bakery up north from me that everyone goes on and on about. I finally had some cake at a reception and was like, "Uhh, this is cake with almond flavor. Wow. Impressive." It just doesn't interest me at all. LOL

[nearlymay]

Dude, that was awesome. Way to come through.

[brienze]

I made the icing tonight (pics to follow tomorrow, because after decorating the last thing I want is to actually eat a slice of cake slathered with the stuff). Some things I remembered:

It takes forever to get medium peaks from the meringue powder and water. Seriously - 5 mins or more on power 6 on a KitchenAid stand mixer.

Sift the powdered sugar before measuring. It keeps the icing from being too sickeningly sweet, because measuring freshly-sifted powdered sugar by volume gives noticeably less sugar than unsifted. Spoon in and level off, as with any baking.

Also, I used a knitting stitch counter to keep track of the 12 cups of powdered sugar - around 9 or 10 I always started to doubt my mental tally.