Buttercream icing!

obsidianwings, Nov 3, 6:32pm
I made some buttercream icing last night, following the edmunds cookbook recipe, it tastes very sugary, and texture is a little grainy, what did I do wrong! I am thinking about adding a bit more vanilla essence and doing some more beating today, but can I overbeat it! Or is there another way to fix it! Can't afford to throw it out if I don't really really have to, especially if my next batch might be the same.

Or is this how it is supposed to be and I am remembering it wrong! Its been a year or so since I made any.

On the upside I had a lot easier time making it red than I thought I would.

obsidianwings, Nov 3, 8:31pm
Any tips at all would be much appreciated, got to try get this sorted today :)

sclaredy_cat, Nov 3, 8:37pm
If it's 'red' red, that might be your problem. A lot of colouring can seriously alter icing texture. I think beating again would be a good idea, as long as you don't want perfectly smooth buttercream, it may end up with more air bubbles in it. But then that might be what you want as it will be softer. Sometimes I find adding more butter helps too.

obsidianwings, Nov 3, 8:51pm
I didn't actually have to use to much colouring surprisingly, probably less that 1t of the no taste red gel. Thanks I will try beating it again, just wasn't sure if you could beat it to much and ruin it. It looks nice and soft and fluffy but the texture when you eat some doesn't seem quite right to me.

Could I just chuck some more butter in now and start creaming again!

sclaredy_cat, Nov 3, 9:43pm
I know it doesn't sound much, but 1 tsp will probably make a difference. Most other shades of icing would use a fraction of that. Getting fluffy red buttercream is quite difficult. But yes if you want to try adding a bit of butter to it - or softened Kremelta to avoid turning it orange, then rebeat it, it's probably your best bet. Probably leaving it overnight might have helpedtoo if the graininess was undissolved sugar. Good luck eh! Let us know how you get on :)

obsidianwings, Nov 3, 9:52pm
Cheers, I have taken it out of the fridge to soften then will try rebeating it and maybe adding a little more butter.
I guess 1t didn't sound like much to me, since so many accounts I found on google people seemed to have had to use the whole pot!

Leaving it over night hasn't seemed to have made a difference so I guess I got lucky :)

If I can't fix it I might use it anyway instead of starting over, its only for kids cupcakes, and they won't noitce as long as its sweet right! Haha
Thanks for the tips, will let you know what happens.

obsidianwings, Nov 3, 10:15pm
With alot of extra beating I have got it ungrainy enough that I think it won't be paticularly noticeable over all the other toppings so i'm going to use it.

Decided not to risk ruining the colour with butter as it wouldn't really help if I had to put more colouring in haha. Got no kremelta unfortuantely.

I'm crap at baking , so if this is my worst problem and everything else goes smoothly I am happy :)

Thanks for your help