Buttercream and cholesterol

jos28

I bake quite a bit but have only recently got onto the cupcake bandwagon. I made a few batches over the weekend which was great fun and the family demolished them in no time. I would love to experiment more, but with the amount of butter in the icing I would have to hand out Lipitor with each batch !
Would buttercream icing be disgusting made with marg or low fat butter ?

leahyl

jos28 wrote: »

I bake quite a bit but have only recently got onto the cupcake bandwagon. I made a few batches over the weekend which was great fun and the family demolished them in no time. I would love to experiment more, but with the amount of butter in the icing I would have to hand out Lipitor with each batch !
Would buttercream icing be disgusting made with marg or low fat butter ?

My mum always makes buttercream icing with margarine and it tastes lovely imo so try it!

huskerdu

In general, I think the answer is yes, but everyones taste is different.

Low fat spread is kinda watered downed butter or a mix of marg and watered down butter, so your chances of getting the right texture is less, but you could experiment. Some margarine is completely foul tasting, some not so much.

I love butter and I love buttercream, but the trend for cupcakes at the moment being totally covered in
inches of buttercream is too much. Moderation is the key. My advice is to use quality ingredients and use less.

jos28

Thanks for the advice. I think I will experiment with some low fat options and see what happens. Moderation is not easy to instill in this house so I might continue to bake but give my efforts to friends and neighbours. I never really got the cupcake thing until a friend bought me an online course and now I'm hooked. You could spend a small fortune on stuff to decorate them. I might also try some of the fondant/sugarpaste varieties (less butter)

Faith

I find the fancy swirls look so amazing on cupcakes that I always have a good inch of buttercream on mine. But it's excessive and not actually that enjoyable! I think you'd have much better results using the normal recipe, and just covering the top.

Bear in mind that low-fat spreads are made with a high proportion of oil, so they will never set and become stiff like proper buttercream should. In a warm room, there'd be a high risk of it just sliding back off the cupcake.

Fondant/sugarpaste is fairly tasteless; I definitely wouldn't advise topping cupcakes with them if it's flavour you're after and not just appearance.

Mince Pie

You could also try cream cheese frosting. Yummers.

jos28

I tried the low fat butter option and as Faith pointed out it does not hold it's shape the same way as the real high cholesterol stuff ! I am not mad about tons of buttercream either but I am having great fun developing my piping skills. I reduced the amount on top of each cake and they still look great. I have a large tub of philadelphia in the fridge so tomorrow's efforts will be made with cream cheese frosting as Mince Pie suggests. Thanks everyone !

Merkin

Mince Pie wrote: »

You could also try cream cheese frosting. Yummers.

How do you make this?

Mince Pie

125g Cream cheese (Philly full fat is best in my experience
300g Icing sugar
50g butter.

Sometimes if its quite warm or the cheese has some of the liquid on top, you may need to add a bit more icing sugar to get a good consistency for piping.
Its brilliant for when you want to add colour as well as its whiter than buttercream.