Buttercream Buttercream Buttercream is a type of icing or filling used either inside cakes, as a coating, or as decoration. Simple buttercream is made by creaming together fats (butter, margarine, or vegetable oil shortening) and powdered sugar to the desired consistency and lightness. Typically twice as much sugar as butter by weight is used. Flavorings, in the form of extracts and oils, may also be added. Some recipes call for cream, non-fat milk solids, flour, or meringue powder. There are two types of meringue-based buttercream: Italian and Swiss. The meringues must be cooled to room temperature in order not to melt
Fondant icing is similar to rolled fondant but with a stiffer consistency, which makes it a good sculpting material. "Sugar paste" or "gum paste" is similar to rolled fondant, but hardens completely—and therefore is used for bigger cake decorations, such as bride and groom figures, bigger flowers, etc. Sugar paste is made mainly of egg whites and powdered sugar. Poured fondant is formed by supersaturating water with sucrose. More than twice as much sugar dissolves in water at the boiling point as at room temperature. After the sucrose dissolves, if the solution is left to cool undisturbed, the sugar remains dissolved in