Next, we moved on to the famous Wilton icing. Mrs. Cristal told the class that it's better to double the recipe. It only makes 2 1/2 cups. I'll give you the recipe doubled.
Class Buttercream Icing:
(Stiff Consistency)
2 cups solid white vegetable shortening (Crisco is best)
2 teaspoons of Wilton flavor
15-16 (or 4 1/2 tablespoons) tablespoons of milk or water ( water is better, milk is fancier for special occasions such as weddings)
2lbs pure cane confectioner's sugar (Domino's is the best)
2 tablespoons Wilton Meringue powder (makes the icing have a nice light crust- may be eliminated if someone has an egg allergy)
pinch of salt (optional)
Cream shortening, flavoring and water. Add dry ingredients and mix on medium speed until all ingredients have been thoroughly mixed together. Blend an additional minute or so, until creamy.
Makes 5 cups.
So...what happens when you put powdered sugar in a mixer? There's normally a cloud of powdered sugar that explodes even if you start it on low. Mrs. Cristol found the answer to this problem by simply draping two paper towels over the stand mixer, then removing when thoroughly mixed.
Stiff Consistency is for decorations, such as flowers with upright petals, like roses
to test that you made it right, place your icing in a bowl and insert a straight spatula all the way in the center of the icing and jiggle the cup a little, the spatula should not move very much if even at all.
Medium Consistency is made by adding 1 teaspoon of water for each cup of stiff consistency icing. It's used to create stars, dimensional decorating, borders and flowers with petals that lay flat.
Use the same test as the stiff consistency, the spatula should move slightly and start to lean to one side.
Thin Consistency is made by adding 2 teaspoons of water for each cup of stiff consistency icing. It's used for writing, printing, leaves and icing the cake. Use the same test for stiff consistency icing, it should move easily around the cup.
Mrs. Cristol put it easily if you want to go from Stiff, Medium, to Thin. Her formula is:
2 teaspoons from stiff to medium, 2 teaspoons from medium to thin. (This may vary and need to be adjusted)
I wrote some notes in class about this recipe. I think some are helpful, so I'll share them with you.
>< Mrs.Cristol explained why shortening works better than butter.
Butter melts in your hand, crisco doesn't, if butter melts in your hand it's going to melt in your piping bag which equals messy decorating! For goodness sake use crisco, even though it's a nightmare to wash.
><When trying to decide whether to use water or milk just think of it like this...milk goes bad after a few days, so it's perfect for weddings since so many people will be there to eat it, but water is better if it's just for you and your family, water doesn't go bad near as quickly as milk does.
>< When recipes say something like" 2-5 teaspoons" ALWAYS start at the minimum and work your way up tot the maximum if needed.
My favorite trick from Mrs. Cristal teaching us how to ice a cake was:
"You only need to touch the cake once, the first time you put icing on the side is the only time you'll be touching the cake with your spatula. You don't want to cross that line, just keep adding on and moving your icing around the cake."
My second favorite was "After the cake has crusted lightly, place a paper towel on top and smooth it over with your hand. Same on the sides, just in smaller portions. If you like it to look smooth, use parchment paper."
Me and my classmate decorated the simple butter cookies we brought by doing stars:
(squeeze, turn, squeeze, turn, squeeze...etc. to make sure the stars line up. You don't want any spaces)
Our homework this week is to bake a two layer cake using all the techniques we learned in class, ice the cake and bring medium consistency buttercream in four colors to do a fish cake.
Thanks for stopping by!
-Cake Crumb Girl
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