Help me decide: butter or whipped cream icing?

[janinegirly]

Ording from a snazzy bakery for a birthday party..I always thought buttercream was the best way to go, but the bakery advises whipped...any bakers out there (or cake lovers

) care to chime in?

 

[Loves Vintage]

I guess it depends. What kind of cake is it? What type of buttercream would it be? Flavored or plain?

If they are advising whipped cream, I would probably take their suggestion. I assume their suggestion is related to the type of cake orderd?

Some bakeries can make a very heavy buttercream, that is not universally appealing. Some even make it with shortening, not butter.

Other bakeries make a lighter (is it french style?) buttercream, which I much prefer.

Maybe go with whipped cream with buttercream flowers? Best of both worlds.

 

[janinegirly]

great idea loves vintage! They seemed to say buttercream would be too heavy. But I just always thought buttercream was the best tasting...didn''t realize there were different versions of bc...

 

[janinegirly]

type of cake: Vanilla cake with white icing--mid layer is chocolate mousse with strawberries. Deciding between round and rectangular (round looks nicer but rectangular feeds more). This is for a baby party, but baby will have her own mini cake

 

[Loves Vintage]

I would go with their recommendation then. I do prefer buttercream too, but I also understand that it could be too heavy for others!! Hope you have a great party!!!

 

[Dancing Fire]

whipped cream !!

butter cream is too sweet.

 

[Elmorton]

Depends on the bakery:

If I go to the grocery store or a more commercial bakery, I''d go whipped - buttercream is often really sugary.

If I go to an upscale bakery, I''d go buttercream - because it''s probably going to be the buttercream that actually tastes buttery and not overwhelmingly sugary.

 

[TooPatient]

An alternative that would be super yummy and light is a seven minute frosting. This uses egg whites. Looks kind of like meringe (spelling??). I made one recently with a bit of almond flavoring. B made the comment that it looked really "plain" like just a whipped cream or something. But then he ate it. The compliments kept coming for a week.
Very light. Not overwhelmingly sweet. Light hint of almonds. (I can post recipe if interested)

Otherwise I''d go with butter cream. They can make a lighter buttercream that is less sweet and less heavy. It can be done. (and I do it at home) Make sure they use all butter and NO shortning. That should help some.

Whipped frosting is okay. I am not too fond of it because it can be bitter tasting sometimes. The last one we had at home, I thought had a bitter taste and B. thought it was too sweet.

 

[rhbgirl24]

My opinion is that buttercream is too sweet and too heavy. I would go with whipped! My experience is that most people leave the icing behind if its butter cream

 

[HollyS]

A baker ADVISES whipped frosting . . . instead of buttercream??????????

Change bakeries.

 

[neatfreak]

We talking American buttercream? Swiss? Italian? Makes a big difference in my suggestion...

 

[Mara]

lol i agree with holly.

make sure it''s real whipped cream. whipped icing could be anything.

one of the bakeries i know has a fabulous banana cake but their outside is whipped pastry pride, a fakey ''whipped icing'' and it''s soooo not the same.

 

[Luckyeshe]

Date: 9/22/2009 9:57:51 AM
Author: Dancing Fire
whipped cream !!

butter cream is too sweet.

Ditto! I love me some whipped cream icing!! Yummy! Can I have a piece of that cake?

 

[iheartscience]

I LOVE real buttercream so I voted for that. But I would probably be inclined to go with their recommendation. Can you taste test their whipped cream icing?

 

[Camille]

Voted real whipping cream.
Piped buttercream looks gorgeous but @ 3-5 C sugar per batch vs 1/2C in whipping cream....big difference

 

[ksinger]

Buttercream. There IS no other. Period. Italian meringue buttercream. Lightly sweet, grainless, glossy, and can be flavored with any liqueur, or extract. Regular buttercream like most of us are used to isn''t even in the same universe.

Hmmm....time to drag out the cake bakin'' stuff. Any excuse to make that frosting!

 

[ksinger]

Date: 9/22/2009 11:25:28 AM
Author: TooPatient
An alternative that would be super yummy and light is a seven minute frosting. This uses egg whites. Looks kind of like meringe (spelling??). I made one recently with a bit of almond flavoring. B made the comment that it looked really ''plain'' like just a whipped cream or something. But then he ate it. The compliments kept coming for a week.
Very light. Not overwhelmingly sweet. Light hint of almonds. (I can post recipe if interested)

Otherwise I''d go with butter cream. They can make a lighter buttercream that is less sweet and less heavy. It can be done. (and I do it at home) Make sure they use all butter and NO shortning. That should help some.

Whipped frosting is okay. I am not too fond of it because it can be bitter tasting sometimes. The last one we had at home, I thought had a bitter taste and B. thought it was too sweet.

Just FYI for those who don''t know...seven minute frosting is what they call a boiled meringue, and boiled meringue is the base for Italian Meringue Buttercream. Basically it is butter added to the stabilized meringue. The whole thing collapses when you add the butter, it curdles and looks ghastly. You think the end is nigh. But at the very instant you are about to throw in the towel and admit that you are just a lousy baker and will NEVER get the hang of this, it turns into this gorgeous, glossy, fluffy mass of buttery goodness. It is just more fun that kittens when that happens!

 

[gemgirl]

Given a choice of only two, I''d choose whipped cream. Buttercream is too heavy, too sweet and too oily/greasy.

My real choice is "other". When I order a cake, it usually has either cream cheese icing (which my husband LOVES on chocolate cake) or cannoli cream icing (my personal fave). If you can choose cannoli cream, have them ice the cake with plain cannoli cream and have them put mini chocolate chips in the cannoli cream between the layers

.

 

[janinegirly]

Anyone watch Cake Boss (TLC)? This is the bakery we''re using...anyway, will be going with...drum beat...Whipped Cream and Buttercream flowers!! It''s all fresh cream. Still not that happy though b/c they are refusing any decorations since too backed up..what can''t put a flower for a baby girl? So having some 2nd thoughts on bakery selection...

 

[Loves Vintage]

Wow! Sounds like they must be innundated with orders because of the show!

So, they are putting flowers, but no additional decorations on the cake itself? And, you just want them to draw a flower and they won''t?

I think you should stick with this cake, and then you can let us know how it is!!

It looks like a huge bakery there!

 

[LAJennifer]

BUTTERCREAM!!!! Whenever I have cake with whipped cream icing, I always feel cheated.

 

[janinegirly]

Just an update--we went with a vanilla cake (chocolate mousse and fresh strawberry layer) and fresh whipped cream icing and buttercream flowers from the "cake boss". It was a hit, and tasted a-m-a-z-i-n-g. So I guess they live up to the hype even though they''re a bit rude and wouldn''t add any decorations (since backed up)--in the end it didn''t matter b/c cake looked great and tasted fantastic!

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 9/28/2009 10:00:17 AM
Author: janinegirly
Just an update--we went with a vanilla cake (chocolate mousse and fresh strawberry layer) and fresh whipped cream icing and buttercream flowers from the ''cake boss''. It was a hit, and tasted a-m-a-z-i-n-g. So I guess they live up to the hype even though they''re a bit rude and wouldn''t add any decorations (since backed up)--in the end it didn''t matter b/c cake looked great and tasted fantastic!

Glad to hear it was so good! I am confused about the no decorations. If it had buttercream flowers those are decorations, no? Unless I am misunderstanding something?

 

[janinegirly]

Sorry..they did basic generic decorations like wording and flowers around the cake. They weren''t able to add specific requests like butterflies, balloons, fondant decorations, etc. This bakery is well known for ''speciality cakes'' but were backed up for Sept., so were pretty strict on what they would do custom beyond the wording (rose flowers were considered standard).

In the end it looked great anyway!