Learning to do proper buttercream...

I learn to do proper buttercream thanks to my good friend Rachel, she is awesome at cakes .. in fact, she should be the one blogging. Not me!   If anyone ever wants a cake or some cupcakes,  let me know and I'll pass you her details.

As for Rachel teaching me to buttercream, she does lessons at £10 an hour.    It was brilliant.  She made the cakes advance of arrive as she knew that was my aim of the hour was to learn how to make stiff enough buttercream to be able to pipe it / style it.

SO yeah,  Rachel stood over me and told me how to make buttercream - despite already having basic knowledge. Rachel introduced me to an ingredient called  TREX, which is also known as vegetable fat or vegetable shortening.

"What is vegetable shortening? 

A cooking fat, which is basically flavorless, that is produced from vegetable oils. Through a manufacturing procedure known as hydrogenation, shortening is produced from oil and chemically transformed into a solid.

Vegetable shortening is primarily used in baking, as a substitute for butter or lard. Although it adds no color or flavor to food, it does contribute flakiness to crusts and can improve the texture of cakes and cookies."

 

SO, we made the buttercream.   Another issue I had was filling the piping bags without getting messy because the re useable one I had that came with my nozzles kept getting gunked up and was difficult to clean as it would turn greasy. 

Again, another wonderful tip was to buy disposable piping bags, and also another cheating method is to use a measuring cup to folder the piping bag over and then load it up with buttercream. 

And basically get piping....  The nozzles Rachel has are different to the ones I have but generally they have the same kind of shapes.  One we experimented with was a Rose. 

Rachel's:

Rose nozzle on the bottom

Spiral nozzle on the top

When it comes to nozzles; I struggle how to explain what to do, because really I havent a clue what I'm doing....!!! 

Every nozzle has a different outcome and I'm still baffled as to which one is which. 

                                Top one is spiral, bottom is rose and middle will do either, but not very well.

I tend to get inspiration from pictures and then research into how I do it ...orrrrrr I just ask Rachel :D

My cakes from my lesson with Rachel:

 

 

                                                                  Glittery rose.

                                                  Two tone swirl with butterflies

                                      Edible glitter has got to be the best thing ever

                                 even if i did go a little bit overboard!

 

      and this is my favourite.... 

 

So yeah, real buttercream ... I can pipe it ... Check me out!  *airfistpunch*

 

Toodles.