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
Lost-foam casting can be high for low volume applications and the patterns are easily damaged or distorted due to their low strength. If a die is used to create the patterns there is a large initial cost. Lost-foam casting was invented in the early fifties by Canadian sculptor Armand Vaillancourt. Public recognition of the benefits of LFC was made by General Motors in the mid 1980s when it announced its new car line, Saturn, would utilize LFC for production of all engine blocks, cylinder heads, crankshafts, differential carriers, and transmission cases. Lost-foam casting Lost-foam casting (LFC) is a type of evaporative-pattern casting