cake icing

[brokenscale]

My friends mom is a baker who does wedding cakes in Seattle. She was recently in town for her grand daughters first birthday and the icing on the cake was delicious. When I asked her what was in it and how it was made she told me it was just whipped heavy cream with flavorings and gelatin added to stiffen it. I tried the recipe with the ratios she has given me and it is too firm. I tried backing off the gelatin and then tried whipping to soft peaks instead of stiff peaks. I cant seem to get it to come out right, any ideas?

[ambra]

Have you tried leaving out the gelatin? My favorite cake topping is Chocolate whipped cream, but I don't use any gelatin as suggested by the folks here.

Although, I assume you aren't looking for chocolate whipped cream or you would have said that!

[JeanneCake]

white chocolate would work to stiffen it without gelatin; I always like to add some of the cream to the melted chocolate (as if you were tempering it) so you don't get bits of hardened chocolate in the cream. You can also add some of the cream to the chocolate and then melt it and add the whipped cream to it.....

[Tri2Cook]

...or just melt the chocolate and cream together, chill, then whip it.