Buttercream haunts my dreams

When I first started making cakes I saw fondant as a challenge. I figured anyone can make a cake out of buttercream, it was the easier option. So every cake I made was with fondant. After about 20 cakes I felt like I had conquered it and was almost professional...almost. I slowly figured out that most people didn't actually like the taste of fondant, unless you're my mother in law who can't get enough.

There are certain occasions where fondant does not work and it needs to be buttercream. A really good friend of mine approached me about making two smash cakes for her little girl's 1st birthday. They were going to do a cake smash photo shoot and then wanted a small cake for her party. Both needed to be buttercream for the adorable icing covered baby look they were hoping to achieve. Again I thought no problem, anyone can make and use buttercream! Wrong!!! I suck at it!! I have no idea why, or what I am doing wrong but it is consistently horrible! I use the same recipe as all the professionals but for whatever reason it never works out. It's either lumpy or runny and never holds its shape. More on this later.

For their first cake request they asked for a large cupcake with pink and white icing and little flowers on top. I didn't have a pan to make the super large cupcake and was planing on renting one from the bulk barn. Until one day when I randomly decided to browse the house section at the Superstore and found the large cupcake pan for only $10!! I was pretty giddy.

It was surprisingly easy to make, I just googled the directions online since the pan didn't come with any. You can find the link here.

The cake came out perfectly! Now time to decorate.
Back to my inability to make a decent buttercream. I followed the directions and started to ice the cake. As I was working on it I was finding the consistency of it was really runny and wasn't holding it's shape. That is a big problem when you are trying to pipe vertical lines to make a cupcake liner. Many times I actually had to scrape it all off and try again! I was getting so stressed out, to the point of texting my friend and apologizing before she even saw it!

I kept at it knowing I had to finish it. It came out ok. It looked decent enough but I definitely wasn't bragging. . They kept telling me not to worry cause she was only going smash it! I felt the flowers were the best part cause they were made with fondant...my specialty
It looked ok in the pictures as long as you focused on the adorable birthday girl instead!

For the party smash cake they wanted a 6'' cake with buttercream roses in a pink ombre. I've seen the pictures and these are some of my favorite looks. But again my dilemma with buttercream had me so nervous and stressed out. When I first attempted the flowers they slid off cause the buttercream was too runny. I was running out of time to experiment and was almost in tears so I made a quick run to Bulk Barn! The beauty of living in the city, it was only 5 minutes away. I purchased their delicious pre-made buttercream and tried again. This time the flowers came out perfectly! I was pretty excited. I later had a chat with a culinary friend who told me what I did wrong and how to fix it. So next week come back and we will attempt it together. I will offer you tips on how to perfect your buttercream based on my previous mistakes!

Thanks for Reading!

#buttercreamcakes #smashcakes #largecupcake #pinkombrecake