So I have finally found a frosting recipe that I love. I’m planning to use it with a piping bag and decorating tips (and Wilton gel colors) to decorate a birthday cake. The recipe calls for an equal mixture of Crisco/butter, and vanilla extract and powdered sugar. It also calls for a little bit of milk and buttermilk. At first I thought this sounded weird, and I wasn’t exactly in love with the smell of it when I first added in the buttermilk, but the result is delicious.
The recipe instructs me to add the milk and buttermilk, and then whip the frosting for five minutes until it’s light and fluffy. The only thing I worry about is the lighnesst and fluffiness of this frosting. It seems like maybe it needs to be a little bit less airy for decorating.
Would I accomplish this by just adding a little bit less milk and buttermilk, and whipping it less?
It sounds like you’re looking for a frosting suitable for making flowers, which is stiffer and less fluffy, and the one you have is intended for general frosting. You’re right, it might be too fluffy, but you might give it a try anyway if you’re already using it for frosting the cake. But, yes, doing what you described, adding less liquid and whipping it less should give you more what you want for making flowers, decorator frosting.
Tip: Does your frosting use salted butter or unsalted butter? If you’re using unsalted butter, you’ll find that the frosting will taste better if you add a little salt to it. It helps cut the sweetness a little and rounds out the flavor.
Yes, I’m going to be doing general frosting but using piping for detail/decoration. Maybe not as stiff as roses, but something that will hold up. I was worried that the addition of milk, period, might have contributed to the looseness. I’ll go with less milk and less whipping, then!
I use salted butter for everything. I’ve tried endless times to follow recipes using unsalted but the flavor is always lacking in my estimation. (I know that the concept is to layer with seasoning by way of adding salt only if it needs it, but I find it alllllways ends up needing it!)