Why does my buttercream or royal icing melt while I am piping? - CakeFlix (2024)

FAQs

Why does my buttercream or royal icing melt while I am piping? - CakeFlix? ›

Buttercream melts from the warmth of your hands as you're piping along. Trick is to keep your hands as cool as possible or have two bags so they can be swapped over as one begins to soften. Keep the bags cool. Royal icing doesn't melt in the same way as buttericing because it's just sugar and egg whites.

Chill your cake first, apply the crumb coat, chill again and then frost it. If you are then piping design work, chill it again before adding the details. Keep the icing in the refrigerator when not using it, and only add cold icing to your piping bag.

Cakes covered with buttercream in cool conditions, can be kept for several days at room temperature but warm humid weather will create a melted mess. Simple #buttercream will form a crust because of its high sugar content, but it will remain lovely and soft on the inside.

If you stick your spatula into the buttercream, your frosting should maintain a stiff peak. If your buttercream is too thick and can't flow through a piping tip, add more milk – about 1 teaspoon at a time – to slightly thin it out.

Moisture will make it very slack so it's possible you are piping in a humid environment or it may not have been to the correct piping consistency. Another reason may be that the mixing bowl could have had a little grease residue or even a tiny speck of egg shell.

So, whether your buttercream is a veritable soup or just a touch runny, the answer is to cool it down. If the buttercream is thin enough to run off a spoon, refrigerate the whole bowl for 20 minutes, just until the frosting begins to harden around the edges.

Overmixed icing usually looks porous when dry, and sometimes will not even fully dry and be soft/brittle.

Piping consistency royal icing is stiff icing that has been thinned down with a couple spritzes of water from the spray bottle. The icing still forms peaks, but the peaks are softer and fall after forming. When piping with this consistency, the icing should flow nice and smooth out of the tip.

Corn syrup helps give shine and also a soft-bite to your icing. Without corn syrup, your royal icing can be as hard as a rock, and no one wants to chip a tooth on a cookie. I use 1 Tablespoon of Karo Light Corn Syrup in my icing recipe. I've seen some cookiers use more but this ratio works well for me.

Buttercream sugar cookies are typically faster than royal icing to decorating, as there isn't any drying time to account for between layers of frosting. Everything can be piped right away. If you want to paint buttercream or add stencil work, you only need to wait about 10-30 minutes.

What kind of buttercream is best for piping? ›

TRADITIONAL AMERICAN BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

It's softer and more spreadable than most frostings, but can also be stiffened to pipe flowers and roses. Hints & Tips: Great recipe if you're planning to tint your buttercream, as it holds color very well (especially blacks and reds)

Place the buttercream frosting in a container that's airtight. Making sure your buttercream frosting is nicely sealed before putting it in the fridge will ensure its longevity. A simple plastic container will do the job as long as the lid stays on firmly. Put your buttercream frosting in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Should I refrigerate the buttercream frosting before piping with it? No. To pipe buttercream frosting, it needs to be close to room temperature, or it will be too firm to pipe.

This problem typically occurs after adding the butter to the meringue or when rewhipping the buttercream after cold storage in the fridge. Swiss meringue buttercream is either soupy or curdled due to the temperature of the butter; it is either too warm or too cold.

You'll know your buttercream is too thick if it's ripping the cake layers while you're trying to frost with it or the details look frayed when you pipe with it (like in the picture below). To fix it, simply add room temperature milk, 1 tsp at a time, until the consistency is just right.