Vegetarian Butter Cream Quest - Starch That Does not Weep in a Custard when Frozen

[Bijay@Sugar Daddy Bakes]

I am a Baker and Cake Decorator in India. India has a huge Vegetarian Population that does not even eat eggs/gelatin. So I am constantly looking at finding vegetarian options.

 

Issue at Hand:

Regular Butter Cream - American Butter Cream ( Icing Sugar 10X + Butter + Milk/Lemon Juice / Cream) is an option ..and a lot of decorators use this as it sets hard, and they also add shortening into it ..and I am like , Nope I can't eat that , much less serve it. Its too Sweet /Gritty and Crusts and just tasteless. It has also made sure that people in my country to completely throw out any butter cream cake . You say Butter Cream and they say - too Sweet/gritty.

I have been successful in the last two years to break that impression by making European Meringue based butter cream - I love Swiss Meringue Butter Cream . It is smooth, just sweet enough , takes colour well, pipes well , and is mostly temperature stable. But I can't serve it to people who don't eat eggs.

I have so far been making a substitute - Ermine/Rue/Cooked Butter Cream - a Flour + Milk+ Sugar custard (AKA Pastry Cream minus the eggs) and whipping butter into it. It tastes good - people like it ..nut its a misery to work with - will not hold shape , will not colour well , and most of all weeps and weeps some more when we chill the cakes.

 

So I am looking for suggestions on finding a starch that will not weep  when frozen in a custard? And my second approach is to move to Aqua Faba to build the meringue and make SMBC. The starch custard option is easy and economical and does not leave me with mountains of Chickpeas .

 

would  love to hear thoughts . 

 

Thanks  

[Amy D.]

hi not really answering your question but I was wondering with the normal buttercream if you were really using 10 times the amount of sugar to butter? Whilst I love a SMBC my usual butter icing is equal part butter to icing sugar, though probably not so stable in hot weather.

 

[pastrygirl]

9 hours ago, Amy D. said:

hi not really answering your question but I was wondering with the normal buttercream if you were really using 10 times the amount of sugar to butter? Whilst I love a SMBC my usual butter icing is equal part butter to icing sugar, though probably not so stable in hot weather.

 

 

Amy, that may not have been a proportion but shorthand - powdered sugar, icing sugar, confectioner's sugar, 10x sugar are all the same thing.

 

Bijay, so milk products are OK, just not eggs?  I thought "pure veg" was no milk either.  Anyway, are you freezing and thawing cakes, or do they weep just sitting in the chiller?

 

I have no experience with cooked flour frostings, but I've heard of them so hopefully someone has a better recipe they can share. 

 

Can you get American-style cream cheese or decent white chocolate?  Cream cheese takes color very well.  I make a cream cheese icing that is approximately equal parts by weight cream cheese, unsalted butter, and melted white chocolate, plus a little lemon or lime juice.  This is less sweet than the usual cream cheese plus a ton of powdered sugar version.

[Amy D.]

ah thanks pastrygirl that makes more sense.

[Patrick S]

I don't have an exact answer or recipe to suggest, but as a general suggestion I would recommend experimenting with the addition of one or more hydrocolloids to the recipe to reduce the weeping (syneresis) effect. There are a whole zoo of them on the market, from agar to xanthan. I think that iota carrageenan and xanthan are frequently used to reduce syneresis.