[Sca-cooks] OOP-Buttercream Frosting

[Laura C. Minnick]

At 07:57 AM 5/10/2006, you wrote:
>Greetings once again!
>A question for those with experience...  I'm working on a wedding cake for 
>a dear friend and we were discussing frosting options, so I gave the 
>traditional, meringue-based buttercream a couple of tries.
>Alton Brown's recipe, wich has dark corn syrup and whole eggs in it, came 
>out kind of caramel-colored and very, very soft.  It melted even in a 
>60-degree or so kitchen.  Not a good thing for an outdoor wedding in July!

Oh the memories that brings back!

When I got married in '83, I made my own cake. The day before the wedding, 
I assembled it at our reception site, which was at a friend's house- a 
lakefront property about 30 miles east of Tacoma WA. It was a beautiful 
day, sunny, and unseasonably warm (about 80F); the sun was streaming 
through the windows of the kitchen, which faced the lake.

As I was frosting the cake, the butter began to melt. Seriously melt- it 
sagged and fell off the sides, and the middle layer began sliding off of 
the bottom layer. I freaked out, and called my mother in hysterics. She 
came over with a carton of eggs and some cream of tartar and told me to GO 
HOME. I still don't know exactly what she did, but the next day the 
frosting was firmly on the cake, albeit with a few crumbs visible in it.

Next time 'round, I am going to hire a cake made and let someone else be 
responsible for it!

'Lainie
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Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something 
else is more important than fear.   --Ambrose Redmoon