Has anybody found a good substitute for partially hydrogenated oil in...

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This is like saying that a McDonald's 'shake' is a real milkshake and one make from real milk and ice cream is not. It's not a claim. It's what's real. By definition, buttercream is made with butter. Period. Grocery store frosting may be called buttercream in their promos, but it is not real buttercream. It's bakery frosting, made with shortening, not butter.

There are variations on real buttercream, with different sugars, egg yolks, egg whites, whole eggs. But they ALL are based on butter. If you are looking for a cheap commercial substitution, you are in the wrong place. Try one of the national food product distributors like Sysco or Gordon. Most of us make real buttercream and are not looking for a substitute for partialy hydrogenated shortening.

You may want to try the real thing before you bemoan the loss of artificial products.

That's not what I'm not buying. What I'm not buying is that it's somehow rare, or even exclusive to supermarkets. Independent bakery owners have publicly complained about the ban, talking about how their customers expect a certain taste from their products, etc. I have eaten plenty of cakes with "buttercream" frosting from independent bakeries and restaurants, and I am starting to doubt any of them are what you would consider "real" buttercream frosting...based on the fact that I still enjoyed them while I hate the taste of butter.
 
That's not what I'm not buying. What I'm not buying is that it's somehow rare, or even exclusive to supermarkets. Independent bakery owners have publicly complained about the ban, talking about how their customers expect a certain taste from their products, etc. I have eaten plenty of cakes with "buttercream" frosting from independent bakeries and restaurants, and I am starting to doubt any of them are what you would consider "real" buttercream frosting...based on the fact that I still enjoyed them while I hate the taste of butter.

What kind of butter do you hate and how many have you tried? We never buy salted butter and certain types/brands of unsalted.
 
Now you're getting to my generation. When disco ruined the music, that's my divider. The good old days were pre-disco.

I never listened to disco at all. There were some great country rock bands as well as rock bands. Since the late '60's through the '70's, there have never been so many great bands at one period in time. I almost forgot about the rap music back then, Big Bad John, Ringo, Convoy and Wolf Creek Pass to mention a few.
 
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I never listened to disco at all. There were some great country rock bands as well as rock bands. Since the late '60's through the '70's, there have never been so many great bands at one period in time. I almost forgot about the rap music back then, Big Bad John, Ringo, Convoy and Wolf Creek Pass to mention a few.
+1

https://youtu.be/oh66kDox4R0
 
Crisco still has some partially hydrogenated oil in it, just not as much as before so that they can get below 1/2 gram per serving of transfat, and call it "zero trans fat". Crisco now has a higher ratio of FULLY hydrogenated fat which isn't as harmful. The trouble with this is if you use a high proportion of crisco in a frosting, it'll leave a greasy coating in your mouth, where the old stuff full of trans fat wouldn't, it would just give a very light mouthfeel.

You can use a combination of butter and crisco and get a similar result, but you'll definitely not want to go over 50% crisco, I'd use even less.

My favorite way of making American style buttercream is to use all butter, usually 1 cup of butter to 4 cups powdered sugar with a bit of vanilla and thinned with milk if needed. After consistency is achieved, I leave it on my Kitchenaid with the paddle, and leave it to beat for 7-10 minutes. The extra beating time gives the sugar the chance to completely dissolve creating a super creamy, light mouthfeel.
 
This is like saying that a McDonald's 'shake' is a real milkshake and one make from real milk and ice cream is not. It's not a claim. It's what's real. By definition, buttercream is made with butter. Period. Grocery store frosting may be called buttercream in their promos, but it is not real buttercream. It's bakery frosting, made with shortening, not butter.

There are variations on real buttercream, with different sugars, egg yolks, egg whites, whole eggs. But they ALL are based on butter. If you are looking for a cheap commercial substitution, you are in the wrong place. Try one of the national food product distributors like Sysco or Gordon. Most of us make real buttercream and are not looking for a substitute for partialy hydrogenated shortening.

You may want to try the real thing before you bemoan the loss of artificial products.

I work with grocery store buttercream every day, it comes in a big bucket and it does indeed have butter in it. Most of them don't, I've worked with a lot of them and even different frostings from the same company and this is the first with real butter. Most don't label their buckets as buttercream, it's usually the grocery stores themselves that make the claim. I've even worked with one that called itself But-R-Creme, it reeked of artificial butter flavoring.:blink:

I will say that the old shortenings with hydrogenated oils had their place, they were very stable and created frostings that would hold up in warmer climates and give a very fluffy, light mouthfeel. Wedding cake decorators relied on them for years because they just make the frostings so much easier to work with.
 
That's not what I'm not buying. What I'm not buying is that it's somehow rare, or even exclusive to supermarkets. Independent bakery owners have publicly complained about the ban, talking about how their customers expect a certain taste from their products, etc. I have eaten plenty of cakes with "buttercream" frosting from independent bakeries and restaurants, and I am starting to doubt any of them are what you would consider "real" buttercream frosting...based on the fact that I still enjoyed them while I hate the taste of butter.

Yes, bakeries, even independents have used high ratio hydrogenated shortening for years in their frostings, fillings and cakes. Frostings and fillings came out very fluffy and stable with this product, that's mainly why it was used, it has properties that real butter cannot match. Even old school independant bakeries used it heavily.
 
Has anybody tried frosting made with interesterified oil? They just switched over to that at one of the supermarket chains over here...the frosting looks completely different, though. The piping at the border, whatever that's called, looks not as tight/firm.
 
Did cake piping design change because of the partially hydrogenated oil ban?

All the supermarket cakes in my area have a different design for the piping in comparison to before the ban: Before the ban, it was done in connected, oval/teardrop-type shapes (I guess the professionals refer to them as "shells"). Since the ban, it has been done in a sort of wave pattern.

Is this in any way related to the ban itself? I can't think of a reason it would be, but I miss the old design.
 
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You're kinda' stuck in a partially hydrogenated oil ban rut. You must really love that stuff -- or work for the partially hydrogenated oil lobby. :ermm: :D

CD
 
All the supermarket cakes in my area have a different design for the piping in comparison to before the ban: Before the ban, it was done in connected, oval/teardrop-type shapes (I guess the professionals refer to them as "shells"). Since the ban, it has been done in a sort of wave pattern.

Is this in any way related to the ban itself? I can't think of a reason it would be, but I miss the old design.


It seems to me at least, that your question might best be answered by your local supermarkets.
I'm not positive, but most the of DC community are not professional bakers... I may be wrong … is anyone out there in DC land a Professional Baker? I do know that Roch owns a deli …
 
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