decorating cakes with faux buttercream

I can make a mean cake, but my cake decorating has always been fairly minimalist. Yesterday I took my first of four cake decorating classes in the Wilton 1 series. My mom went through the whole Wilton series in the early ‘70s and some of my fondest memories from childhood are of the amazingly decorated cakes she made for my birthdays. My mom died when I was 12, and taking these classes is making me feel a little more connected to her.

Class 1 was not very hands on, but the next three classes will be. Yesterday I watched the teacher fill, frost, and lavishly decorate a cake. She completed the whole process so quickly and efficiently, I was amazed. She created three frosting roses while talking and gesturing—it was quite an act of multitasking.

The one bit of bad news is that the Wilton Buttercream that we are required to make and use for the class is absolutely disgusting. It’s called buttercream, but--horrors!!—it contains no butter. It is basically egg white powder, Crisco, and sugar. I’ll use it for the class but I am certainly not going to eat it. For my own cakes, I will use a buttercream recipe from Rose Levy Beranbaum, my ultimate cake hero.

One other thing about the Wilton Buttercream recipe that’s kind of funny. The recipe online has a bizarre note at the bottom: “YIELD: 7 cups icing. Recipe may be doubled or cut in half; however, if cut in half, yield is only 3-1/2 cups.” Tragically, when you make only half a recipe, you get only half a recipe.

tags: dessert  me  

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