I have been commissioned to make my daughter’s wedding cake. The last wedding cake making I participated in was my own, almost 31 years ago. It worked; we’re still married. And, I have never had any trainging in cake decorating! :roflhard:
I made a first draft today, to practice, and didn’t like the frosting recipe. Does anyone know of a delicious, workable recipe for a wedding cake frosting? One that doesn’t use shortening/partially hydrogenated fat?
Here is a pic of the 1st draft:
That is beautiful! I took some cake decorating classes a few years ago, they are really fun. I used buttercream andsnow white buttercream on my cakes. They are really good icings. Both have shortening, though. Pretty much all of the recipes I’ve seen have some sort of lard in them.
Thanks for the recipe links. I used confectioner’s sugar because I am afraid when the recipe starts talking about Baine Maries (?sp) and thermometers!
I will ponder giving Alton’s recipe a go.
I wonder why other recipes (using confectioner’s sugar) require shortening?
My guess is that shortening is a way to give a frosting some body. Maybe it’s just the one’s I’ve made, but getting a frosting that will stay where you put it with just confectioner’s sugar and milk ends up with a frosting that cracks and doesn’t look very nice once it’s dried a bit.
I have a recipe for fluffy boiled frosting. You just test it by dropping a spoonful into a cup of cold water and then rolling that bit between your fingers. If it forms a hard ball, it’s hot enough.
Of course I have a recipe for ornamental recipe that doesn’t need to be boiled at all. It’s from Good Housekeeping’s Cookbook
Ornamental Frosting
1 16 oz. package of confectioner’s sugar.
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
3 egg whites at room temp.
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.
Into large bowl, sift sugar and cream of tartar or perss through very fine sieve. With mixer at low speed, beat in egg whites and vanilla; at high speed, beat until knife drown through mixture leaves clean cut path. (On humid days you may need to beat in more sugar) Cover bowl with damp cloth. Use to make cake and cookie decorations with cake decorator or pastry tube. To tint, in small bowl, place some of frosting and stir in food colouring a drop at a time.
Omigoddess!!That just a draft? It looks so yummy and lovely. Can you make a draft for me? I’m not getting married tho. I just want some yummy cake :cheering:
Thanks for all the encouragement!
AidenM, I would be interested in the fluffy boiled recipe you talked about. I think I can drop and roll droplet. Yes, the stuff I made today ended up with a hardish, shiney finish that I didn’t like. Plus, it was SWEET–too much for my pancreas!
That’s gorgeous! Will you be doing a layered cake? I mean with more levels?
Yes, these are just my baby practice layers. We will be using the large cake pans with three tiers total.
(Where is the biting nails emoticon when ya need it!)
Fluffy Boiled Frosting
1 and 1/4cups sugar
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
pinch of salt
3 egg whites at room temp
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
In small saucepan over medium heat, heat sugar, cream of tartar, salt, and six tablespoons water to boiling; boil without stirring to 260 degrees Farenheit or until candy forms hard ball when dropped in cold water. Remove from heat. In small bowl with mixer at high speed, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Pour syrup in thin stream into egg whites, beating constantly. Add vanilla and continue beating until mixture forms stiff peaks. Fills and frosts a 2 layer cake.
No frosting recipe…but I had to say how yummy your cake looks!!!
:cheering: :cheering: :cheering: :cheering: :cheering: :cheering:
I was looking for a buttercream frosting recipe the other day, and ran across a website (can’t remember what it was now) that was obviously written by a woman who decorates cakes professionally.
According to her, the reason for using shortenings like Crisco is for the stability factor. It works up the same as using butter in the recipe, but withstands more variables (temperature, the ability to set up properly, etc.)
I know when my mom took a cake decorating class, they gave them a recipe for decorative frosting - that works well as the base frosting and for making decorative flowers, leaves, etc. - and it always used Crisco. (That also helps to keep the nice white color).
If you don’t want to use Crisco, I’d just google buttercream frosting, wedding cake frosting, or decorative frosting and see what you come up with.
Good Luck!!!
I find this thread so interesting. Here, generally, wedding cake is a fruit cake (like English Christmas Cake) with marzipan and royal icing on it (a hard set solid icing).
What kind of cake will it be?
That is a beautiful practice cake!! It’s not an outdoor wedding is it? Ours was and the only thing we could have was fondant (which I wanted anyways) but it had buttercream underneath and it was so yummy!!! Good luck! Post pictures of the final cake!!
I always use the wilton’s recipie, you can go onto there website to get it. It calls for 1/2 cup of shortning, but I just use butter and it works great. I believe if the icing doesn’t have shortning in it, it will melt a little faster.
Oh that’s right, I forgot about Wilton’s!! A friend of my mom’s made our rehearsal cake with all Wilton products, and the cake was the best cake I’ve EVER had, and DH said the same thing. That icing was so unbelieveably yummy!!! That is definitely the recipe to use! And she had it on so thick, probably 3/4 of an inch. We were so sad when we ate the last piece! Sunday is our 1 year anniversary and we both considered (without telling each other) asking her to make us another one, just for the icing!!!
I find this thread so interesting. Here, generally, wedding cake is a fruit cake (like English Christmas Cake) with marzipan and royal icing on it (a hard set solid icing).
What kind of cake will it be?
Fruitcake, hmmm? That sounds interesting. I love fruitcake. That sounds a bit easier too.
I think the bride an groom want a lemon cake. I am thinking a white cake with lemon curd for the filling and lemon flavored frosting. The base frosting will be a rich yellow with white/ivory pokadots and borders.
Another reason for the shortening in frosting is so it holds its shape when you make roses and such with it. 
MMM I love lemon cake that sounds dreamy.
Personally I’m not keen on fruitcake - I find it quite heavy; Mum used to make Christmas cake (2 of them) at Christmas and save one for Easter (she did the same with Christmas pudding too) - she would lace her own dried fruit with brandy and a few shots of poteen (Irish hooch) - it would sit fermenting in the airing cupboard laid out thinly on trays. She also used to make her own marzipan (to this day I’ve no idea how she managed to do all the things she did) the Royal Icing would be my dad’s job since it would be such a stiff icing and hard to mix it needed a good strong hand.
I also love buttercream. I always thought if I ever got married I’d not want the three tier fruitcake with royal icing palarva - I’d rather have something like a giant Pavlova or a profiterole mountain lol Its nice to read about wedding cakes that are NOT fruit cake! =D
Lovely work on that cake! I wish you lived nearby…I would gladly recommend you to make cakes for special occasions!