[?] Subscribe To This Site

XML RSS
Add to Google
Add to My Yahoo!
Add to My MSN
Subscribe with Bloglines

Home
WELCOME About
Contact
What's New
BRIDES Bridal Blog
Testimonials
Cake Design Ideas
Fondant Cakes
Cake Flavors
Cake Prices
YOUR Cake Stories
Cake Gallery
YOUR QUESTIONS Wedding Cake Questions
Decorating Questions
Baking Questions
CONTESTS Enter Cake Contest
Results Contest One
Results Contest Two
DIY BRIDE Cheap Cake Ideas
Wedding Cake
Homemade Favors
More Favor Ideas
Alice Cooks
CAKE DECORATORS Share YOUR Cakes
Cake Decorating Ideas
Make A Wedding Cake
Classes
Cake Business
FONDANT Fondant Recipes
Fondant Cakes
Fondant Flowers
GROOMS Grooms Cake
SHOPPING Cake Toppers
Bridal Bargains
Cake Accessories
Wilton Books
BRIDESMAIDS Shower Ideas
CAKE RECIPES Cake Recipes
Carrot Cake
Chocolate Cakes
Chocolate Mousse
Red Velvet Cake
Lemon Cake
CHEESECAKES Cheesecake Recipes
Juniors Cheesecake
Chocolate
New York
ICING RECIPES Icing Recipes
INTERVIEWS Interviews With...
Le Big Kiss
Toppers with Glitz
Pink Cake Box
Julia M. Usher
Sweet Grace
 cakelava
Piece O' Cake
LINKS & RESOURCES Find A Cake Pro
Share This Site
Articles & Reviews
Links & Resources
Sitemap
Privacy Policy
My Secret

Making A Wedding Cake With Butter Cream For The First Time

by Marla

My Wine Themed Wedding Cake

My Wine Themed Wedding Cake

Making a wedding cake with butter cream for the first time was a challenge but after many late hours and lots of tears my wedding cake with fondant grapes was a huge success! I made your white cake and wedding cake frosting recipes and the cake tasted like a giant sugar cookie! Of course you know that! It was incredibly delicious! Thank you for sharing.

Butter cream Frosting Questions



I had no problems with the cake recipe but several with the Italian meringue buttercream frosting. So..I would like to ask you a few questions so that I may do better next time.

Your suggestion to whip the heck out of the butter to increase whiteness was wonderful!

When making the sugar/water mixture I cooked to exactly 245. When I let it cool down it started to harden so I could not use it. This time I poured it into the egg whites while it was still quite hot before it could harden and then whipped it until cooled. Seemed ok.

Then I added the butter slowly and the finished product was light, quite white and delicious. I did a crumb coat on the cakes and put them in the fridge for a bit. During this time the remaining frosting seemed to be getting so soft I was afraid it would just melt off the cake. So I put it all in the fridge for a while to firm up a bit. When I took it out to put on the final coat it seemed to be turning back into butter so I beat it again. All this liquid came out of it. Finally it seemed usable again but no longer was the beautiful, light and fluffy frosting it once was.

I was able to get the final coat on the cakes, but it pretty much looked like butter to me. Somewhere here I really messed up and went wrong. How do you use this frosting for piping and making flowers, etc with it being so soft. How do you get it to hold up in warmer weather? Should it not be refrigerated.

Fondant Grapes Question



And the grapes....they started out looking great. I got the bride's color right and the little grapes I was rolling were fine. A week before I had done a cake with multi color layered flat fondant flowers that (as per instructions) glued together with a bit of water brushed on. Worked great! So I did the same with my grapes. Let them sit over night and in the morning they just fell apart. I made a quick batch of purple royal that I tried to glue them together with. That did not work well either and the clusters fell apart again. So I gathered everything and went off to the wedding where I assembled the cake and re-glued it as best I could (praying no one would touch anything).

In The End - Huge Success!!!



The main thing is that the bride and groom and all the guests loved it.
How do you attach decorations to your frosting with it being so buttery?
Sorry I am such a dummy. I think I had better go take some classes! Wish you lived here!

Thank you so much for your help!

Marla


Comments for
Making A Wedding Cake With Butter Cream For The First Time

Average Rating starstarstarstarstar

Click here to add your own comments

Rating
starstarstarstarstar
Italian Meringue Buttercream
by: Lorelie

Hi Marla,

First of all your cake is so very beautiful! No one would know that you had any problems with it.

You were correct to pour it into the beaten egg whites while still hot (that was a mistake on my part.)

If you do refrigerate it make sure that you bring it to room temperature before beating it again.


I used to make a heck of a lot of cakes when I worked at the banquet hall and made this frosting in large batches each week. It is not necessarily the best for piping because it tends to be on the softer side, but I still prefer it because it is soooo delicious. I sometimes use butter cream made with powdered sugar for the flowers roses and leaves.

I found this video which is pretty good from Warren Brown of Cake Love. He does it pretty much the way I do, with the exception of brushing down the sugar crystals, and I noticed he puts a little sugar in the whites which makes sense too.




As far as the grapes go. I would use royal icing to stick the bunches together. But it would be tough to get them to stick to the buttercream. If you were using fondant it would have been easier to stick them on.

You did a fabulous amazing cake. Congratulations! I'm sorry you had a few tears with it. Believe me I have had many of those in my 25 years of caking.


Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How?
Simply click here to return to Your Wedding Cake Stories!


footer for wedding cakes page