2/3 cup water
12 cups confectioners sugar (powder sugar)
1-1/4 cups shortening
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring
1/2 teaspoon clear vanilla flavoring
1/4 teaspoon butter flavoring
Mix 4 cups of sugar with water, one
cup at a time, beating after each addition at low speed. Alternately add
shortening and remainder of sugar. Add salt and flavorings; beat at low speed
until smooth. It is best to use a heavy duty mixer. To avoid powder sugar
from going all over cover your bowl with a towel while mixing.
Distribute buttercream into 4 bowls
as follows: (Tinting 101)
1 cup - for yellow
1 cup - for royal blue
3 cups - for white
3 cups - for red
Add the color indicated above to the bowl with
the proper measurement. Using your small spatula, mix up the colors until all
the white disappears and looks smooth and even. Cover and let sit overnight for
color development on red and blue.
Note:
If you are using a bottle without a dropper, use a toothpick for getting your
color. Open a small hole in the foil using your toothpick. Once you have put the
toothpick in your icing DO NOT put it back into the color. This will ruin the
color and cause it to become moldy.
Use a pastry bag or make your
parchment cone and cut a hole large enough so 1/4 of your tip comes out
through the top but doesn't fall through. Using parchment bags for colored
buttercream is recommended, so you can throw them away after use. Otherwise your
good bags could be stained from the food coloring.
Using the small icing spatula, spoon about 1 cup
of colored buttercream into your pastry bag or parchment cone. You don't want to
put in too much because there is more of a chance that the heat from your hands
will warm the icing and ruin it.
Fold in the corners and roll bag so icing moves
toward the tip like toothpaste.
Now you're ready to pipe the icing on the
American Flag Cake
Recipe. (Before you start, review
Piping 101) When you are not using your pastry bag or parchment cone,
place them under a wet paper towel, so the tip doesn't dry out.
from pastrywiz.com
