high humidity frosting

As you guys know, I am doing my first wedding cake this week. It’s for my older sister, which is good because she’s keeping it (the cake) simple. A circular three tiered beach themed cake. With white and milk chocolate swirled seashells, fondant pearls and sea turtles. She said, “There has to be sea turtles. That’s our thing.”

Whenever somebody tells you something is their thing, you have to take note.

My concern, however is it’s on the beach, under a tent. In south Florida.

Cakes can be a lot like hair in humidity. Naughty.

Glad there are recipes for high humidity buttercream.

I took one from Wilton, and morphed it. The Wilton one called for butter, which I am sure makes it tasty as heck, but….butter misbehaves sometimes.

So, I opted for shortening, and some tasty extracts to make it come alive. I used meringue powder as a stabilizer in addition to some dehydrated whipped topping mix, that was also included in the original recipe.

The verdict?

I think it’s going to be fine. I need to leave some cupcakes out from 5-7pm to be sure. Then, I can tell you guys. It’s my thing to tell the truth.

Now, I used my $1 pan for this “test batch”

I got it from the store that you don’t want to wear khaki pants and a red shirt to. I did that once, and kept getting asked questions by strangers. And, I’m one of those people that will try to help anyway…and well…let’s just say I helped a little old couple find the laundry stain remover, and learned how they met, how long they were married how many kids and grandkids they had and (of course!) what kind of stain they wanted to remove. People are so much fun. Really. They’re fun. I love the tales everyone has to tell…for instance the driver that took me to the airport when I went to Texas..he was in love with a girl he dated twenty years earlier, they were reunited and he is in love. He was just radiating it. It was nice.

so my $1 pan baked up nice, and they popped out nice, too.

I just piped a nice big ice cream like swirl, kept it simple…cause I know I have some complicated work ahead. Dowels. Transporting a cake. eeeeeek.

I ate one, too. Mmm-hmmm. Tasty. Good thing I had to clean the house today. I’m pretty sure that took care of it. If not, I will just scrub some dogs…

they’re stinky, anyway.

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Recipe: high humidity frosting

Ingredients

1 c white shortening 1tsp clear vanilla 1 tsp almond extract 1 tsp clear butter flavor 3 tbs meringue powder 4 c powdered sugar 5 teaspoons dry whipped topping mix 3-6 tbs water

Instructions

sift powdered sugar, topping mix and meringue powder Using a mixer, combine the shortening, extracts and water beat at med. until fluffy. Add the dry mixture and beat until fluffy, adding more water if needed. Tint as desired.