My wonderful mother-in-law, Harla, gave me a gift certificate for a cake decorating class for my birthday. I took the class and am now forever hooked on decorating cakes. Here is the recipe I got from class for Buttercream Icing.
There are 3 different consistencies; Stiff, Medium & Thin.
Yields 3 cups
1 cup solid white vegetable shortening
1 tsp Wilton Flavor (Vanilla, Almond or Butter)
2 Tb milk or water
1 lb pure cane powdered sugar (approx. 4 cups)
1 Tb Wilton Meringue Powder
Cream shortening, flavoring & milk.
Add dry ingrediants & mix on medium speed until mix well.
Blend an additional minute or so, until creamy.
(Mix a minute to a minute & a half)
For Chocolate Buttercream add the following:
3/4 cup chocolate baking powder or three 1 oz unsweetened chocolate squares, melted.
Add an additional 1 or 2 Tablespoons water to recipe.
Mix until well blended.
Medium Consistency
Medium icing creates stars, figure piping, borders & flowers with petals that lie flat.
~ Add 1 tsp milk or water to each cup of stiff consistency.
~ If using full recipe add 1 Tb milk or water.
Thin consistency
For writing, making vines, leaves and icing a cake.
~ Add 2 tsp of milk or water to each cup of stiff consistency.
~ If using full recipe add 2 Tb of milk or water.
~ For writing, stems & leaves also add 1/2 tsp Wilton Piping Gel per cup of icing.
