Swiss Meringue Butter Cream
There are many ways that you can decorate a cake. You can use royal icing, butter cream icing, sugar paste, chocolate ganache and so on. For a beginner, it’s best to start with butter cream icing. This is the simplest and you can make all sorts of shapes by using the wide range of piping tips available.
Here’s the recipe that I normally used :
1 egg white
400 gm unsalted butter
100 gm shortening
1000 gm icing sugar, sieved
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Cream the butter and shortening until it is well mix on slow/ medium speed. Add the vanilla essence, icing sugar bit by bit. Then add the egg white. Continue mixing until smooth. It’s done !
You can divide the icing into smaller portions and colour them with liquid food coloring. But be sure to add very little colouring, preferably on a teaspoon first, not directly on the icing itself. If you want an intense colour, add more food colouring. The icing can be used on top as well as in between the layers of the cake.
YASMIN SANUSI. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Cake decorator and author. BSc (Hons) Urban Land Economics, Sheffield, UK. Certificate in Bread & Flour Confectionery, M'sian Inst. of Baking. International Cert in Cake Decorating, Taylor’s College. Professional Diploma in Sugarcraft, Knightsbridge PME. Wilton method cake decorating, ICCA. Contact no: 019-3805344, Email : minbakingproject@gmail.com.
