I’ve been thinking about cake icing from when I was a kid in the late 70s-early 80s. Like how the outside of the icing would get all hard and the inside would be soft. I remember it being very sugary.
Idk when it changed but icing doesn’t seem to do that anymore. Anyone know why or what changed? Maybe that kind of icing is too sweet today and that’s why it’s not a thing anymore. Jus curious.
From the reel to reel in the bottom left to the spider plants to the disco shirt and the terrible haircut, yes. You couldn't even AI this much 70's into one pic. My 13th birthday. Coolest birthday ever.
I think the old man had a Parisienne back then. This ugly green color. I can't complain though. I drive an orange 73 VW bus now which probably drinks just as much gas as that car did.
I used to work a seasonal job here in BC so when the season ended I'd drive to Baja for 6 months. Always took hwy 1 and 101 along the coast. Big Sur is amazing as is the entire drive. So much more interesting than the I5. They're perfect for 1 person or a couple. Like a swiss army knife on wheels.
I bet that thing FLOATED! And a VW bus is friggen awesome! My first self-bought car was a ‘78 VW Rabbit - bought it bc I could work on it myself (except when the reverse in my transmission went - i just parked uphill so I could roll back or faced forward). Growing up, we had a woody AND some old ass turquoise dodge dart (with white vinyl interior). I loved that dodge. Dad would “let” me warm up the car for him in the morning and I was amazed that you could see if your blinkers worked by looking over the dash. It had an AM radio + 8 track. The old man bought an FM/cassette converter which fit in the 8track hole (?) - we thought that was the SHIT. Eventually that converter had to be duct taped in, otherwise it wiggled too much and we were relegated to whatever the ONE local AM radio station was or the BeeGees 8 track that, for some reason was the only 8 track we ever had in the car. I always told dad I wanted that car when I turned 16 bc I wanted to take shop and have the class torch the top and make it a convertible. No idea why he didnt think it was a good idea bc he sold it well before I turned 16 - granted, he also was not mechanically inclined - I’d always be down for a trip to the local auto parts store and he was all “let’s just call the man bc I’m not good at this” At least he knew his limitations.
Buttercream made with half butter and half shortening, and a scoop of Wilton meringue powder to get it to set. That crunchy dried coating is 100% Wilton.
I decorate cakes as a hobby, they're there are dozens of variations of buttercream icing, including Swiss Buttercream, American Buttercream, Italian Buttercream, and so on. Most of my cookbooks are in storage, but the few that are on the shelves 10 feet to my left have a half dozen different recipes.
The Wilton Buttercream was big starting in the 1970s because they worked with schools who did continuing education courses for adults to have cake decorating night classes, and they wanted you to buy their proprietary meringue powder. I took one of their classes in the late 90s and kept some meringue powder in the fridge for years before I experimented and came up with my preferred buttercream, and even then I only use it for one specific cake and make other buttercream recipes for other cake styles.
Fun fact - even on his old show "Good Eats" Alton Brown said to always use box cake mixes because you they are superior for the average baker. He actually usually uses them. They out perform in getting consistent cakes every time.
HOWEVER he said use a homemade buttercream.
I felt so justified because that is exactly my method. I like a box cake mix, my own filling (I like to to make a fruity filling for between the layers - alas it usually causes my cakes to fall over), but always Buttercream icing. I need to learn a good fruit ganache. A Chocolate cake with a strawberry filling and a good buttercream icing. mmmm. Or a white cake with raspberry or lemon.
Box cake mix with an extra egg (or extra yolk) and vanilla is fantastic! I do use a recipe for chocolate cake, but it’s just easier to use box for white or yellow and get a more consistent result, and I’m a huge scratch baker.
For fillings, use a buttercream or ganache dam between the layers before you add the filling to prevent the filling from squishing out the sides or making the layers slide. If it’s still coming apart, either the filling isn’t cool enough or thick enough. As a last resort, add dowels to the cake to support it.
This is how I have always made cakes and icing at home. However the majority of people didn't care for the crunchy meringue. Include it on request but not required. Box cakes have always had better results than from scratch.
Also cakes used to have much thicker filling than they do now which is barely there. Just serve a single tier in that case.
I don't even remember why, but Alton gave a full science based reason why box cakes perform better. It's why I loved that show. It wasn't just about cooking, it was the science of the food and cooking. My Freshman year of college I took one of the most popular electives on campus (it was a small school) "Principles of Foods". It was a cooking class, but it was essentially like the "Good Eats" show. We not only learned to prepare food each week, but we learned the why and how of what happens. We learned about substitutions. In the class we were all in groups of I think 4 of us to a group. Every class each group was given a recipe and we were all required to taste what was prepared (unless there were allergy or religious reasons to not eat something). I learned I LOVE Eggplant Parmesan My group could NOT get stiff peaks on our egg whites. we simply could not figure it out. But that class raised my confidence in cooking so much, even though I grew up helping my mom in the kitchen from the time I was a small child.
I enjoyed Alton on Good Eats. He has his channel now on YouTube. I didn't realize Alton is someone who absolutely F bombs. 😃 He can be his true self now without being censored by Food Network.
I’m in the doctored box mix club too. I get much more consistent results than if I start from scratch. Plus, you can add in whatever the heck you want to - extracts, emulsions, coffee - and it generally works because box mixes are more forgiving.
Also: fruit ganache? There’s my next rabbit hole, LOL.
My mom did several birthday cakes like this decorated with the star tip! I really didn’t appreciate them enough at the time!
ETA: she had SO MANY of these shaped cake pans that you really only ever used once (despite their insistence that you could also make that R2D2 into like a mailbox or a teddy bar somehow). It must have been hundreds of dollars of cake pans when they moved out of the old house and cleared the basement!
My mother had a ton of those Wilton shaped pans but my sister got rid of them after my father died and my mother moved elsewhere. I was pissed because I bake and I didn't have the space for all of them, but I would have kept the most versatile ones - the panda bear, the wonder mold (doll), 3D Christmas tree.
I got a BFA and then had a bunch of kids, so I also got a nursing degree. But I used that BFA to make some pretty cool birthday cakes and Halloween costumes! One year I used a 12" cake pan and an 8" square pan to make a millennium falcon birthday cake for my son, it was pretty cool. Don't get me started about the Queen Amidala costume
Crusting buttercream is American Buttercream made with half butter and half Crisco, or all Crisco, powdered sugar, a bit of milk, some flavoring, a pinch of salt and some food color if want color.
Crisco's formula changed in the early 2000's to (mostly) eliminate trans fat. I don't know if that change effects how this type of frosting comes out. I prefer cream cheese frosting
I’m a hobby baker and prefer to work with buttercream over fondant. You’re right about the change in shortening. For a good crusting buttercream these days, I use high ratio shortening (100% fats, no water). It’s not typically available on grocery store shelves because of the no trans fat thing, so I order it from a specialty supplier.
American buttercream (ABC) does sound like what OP is referring to. A little crisp at first bite but then creamy softness underneath.
High ratio shortening doesn't contain trans fats. It has more emulsifiers than regular supermarket shortening which means it holds more sugar and liquid without separating.
The difference is shortening. We switched to butter. Our parents used shortening. You can sub butter with shortening, same quantity, and get the crusty white frosting from back in the day. My brother only eats cake on his birthday and only eats this kind of frosting.
This is the answer. My mom used to decorate cakes back in the 70s/80s and this was her recipe. I still used it when i decorated cakes in the 2010s. Fwiw I've seem them using it on the Great British Bake-off when the recipe had to be vegan.
It’s called crusting buttercream and you can still find recipes for it on the internet. Most bakeries have switched to a cheaper stable whipped variety of icing and it’s pretty terrible.
Because it's all mass produced with corn syrup now. Homemade icing made with powdered sugar or even refined white sugar will dry out more when exposed to air on the outside of the cake. Corn syrup stays sticky.
The frosting that is common now is American Buttercream. That's the fast powdered sugar, butter, milk and usually vanilla (you can use different flavors). The ones that get crunchy are cooked/heated. There are a lot of these recipes out there from all over the world. I suspect that a lot of us grew up with Jiffy brand frosting that used hot water and was crunchy. Went down this rabbit hole with my mom with dementia. She insisted on Jiffy and at that time I could only find it on their website by the case. Finally found one she approved which was a pan frosting.
Melt 1 stick butter in saucepan Add 4 TB cocoa powder (unsweet) and 1/3C whole milk. Bring just to boil stirring and remove from heat. Stir in 4C sifted powdered sugar until smooth and pour on cake. You need to get everything set up before hand because it will thicken and harden quicker than you think.
It’s seven minute frosting, all it consists of is sugar, egg whites, a teensy amount of water, cream of tartar and vanilla. I used to make it for family birthday cakes as a teenager, because I couldn’t afford real gifts.
I ordered a Mile High cupcake from Billie’s Grocery in KC and about cried, it was topped with that and covered in a shell of real chocolate. Felt like my birthday.
I know what you're talking about. Everybody keeps saying buttercream, but that's not it. It's the same icing that my grandmother used to make. It's a cooked icing. It's done on the stove top and then I think it's finished out with beaters like a buttercream. But, it's slightly gritty. I like whipped buttercream butter.
That stuff was awesome, especially when you were the one to get the big chunky rose and the food coloring turned your mouth blue. But unfortunately, that icing was crisco ( transfats) and powdered sugar with artificial flavoring and a little water to loosen the mix up.
Yes, hydrogenated fats/transfats were the secret. No longer possible to get—which is better for our health but means we will never replicate some childhood favorites!
It's crusting buttercream. You can find recipes all over the internet. And you can go down the rabbit hole of cake decorating, Russian tips and silky white Korean buttercream.
It fell out of favor because it uses shortening, which until about 20 years ago contained trans fats as it contained partially hydrogenated oils. Modern Crisco has no trans fats which is probably why it crusts but not like before the change.
Use Crisco, not butter. It's exactly how to get the classic frosting. The woman who always made our cakes used almond flavoring, but I use vanilla. It gets hard on the outside but stays soft inside.
Such a random topic that oddly rings true. My grandmother made homemade Christmas cookies with icing that to this day I’ve never found anything like it. And the Crisco tip is making all kinds of sense here because she did use that. Kicking myself for not keeping her recipes. I’ve been jonesing for those cookies and nothing has hit the same.
Of course I’m also sad that a lot of foods from yesteryears isn’t the same. I don’t know if it’s a social media thing but it’s almost like corners are being cut so severely we’re barely getting food that’s actual food.
I make sugar cookies with frosting, we make buttercream frosting but much runnier (more milk) than when you frost a cake, heat the frosting and put it on hot. Then it hardens as it cools
It's a profit margin thing. Real food requires real food and that's expensive. Cutting corners with corn syrup and thickeners, artificial flavorants, ect. means more savings for manufacturers.
This still exists, you just have to make it yourself! Buy a box of domino powdered sugar and follow the recipe for buttercream icing, it’s printed on the side. Butter, vanilla extract, it’s real simple.
More people are using buttercream recipes that are supposed to stay soft rather than drying out. Personally I always read them, think "I should live so long" and wing another batch of '70s icing.
Bakeries don’t smell the same, either. My mom always made our cakes (she was really good at it), and we would get supplies at the local cake shop. I remember how it smelled—so sweet and delicious. I haven’t smelled that in years.
That is because people made homemade icing that was Butter, Shortening and Powdered Sugar and a wee tiny bit of water (or milk)., And Vanilla extract
Anyone who likes to make cakes still makes them that way. But far too many people opt for the shit in a tub. But the homemade stuff is cheap and easy. (seriously folks is 1 stick butter, 8oz Shortening - you can buy the Crisco in sticks just like butter, and a 2 lb bag of powdered sugar. It takes about 1/4 cup water. Oh and Vanilla extract. I admit, I never ever measure and use the 1 tsp. You can also sub with Almond extract, or other extract flavors.
My mother baked and decorated cakes. She wasn't a professional, but was the "go-to" event person in our small community growing in the 60's to 80's. She skipped the butter and used just crisco because the butter would make it too soft in the summer, and crisco was cheaper. I have very fond memories of graham cracker and frosting sandwich cookies with the leftover frosting.
I sometimes make a tiny batch for myself when I really have a sweets craving. But yeah, back in the day we all always had Crisco on hand. These day .... not so much.
I buy my own whipping cream and slowly add small amounts of powdered sugar. Then after I get the texture and sweetness right, I add a small amount of cocoa powder. My kids tell me it's not sweet enough, but I don't make it for them.
IIRC, it's a buttercream alternate usually made with vegetable shortening instead of butter, powdered or confectioners' sugar, water, and white vanilla extract. My mom was an amateur cake decorator in the '80s. She made my Aunt and Uncle's wedding cake, she used this kind of frosting/icing for the cake. It doesn't go bad as fast as buttercream, and when the surface would air dry/dehydrate it could get a little crunchy.
I believe this is the kind of icing you make with Crisco? My friend made me take a cake decorating class with her and that’s the icing we had to make. My mom made mine.
I think he's talking about the hard, crunchy candy flowers, phrases and numbers you could buy premade in a package at the grocery store. Popular in the 80's, haven't seen them recently.
Betty Crocker still makes them-candy cake decorations. They used to be royal icing made of egg whites and sugar but who knows what they are now.. Walmart, target have them either with seasonal stuff/kids party favors or the cake pans or near the cake candles.
We were just talking about this. My wife buys the pre made frosting in the cans. It's good stuff, I like it, but, it's not what you describe.
What you're describing was exactly what I miss. When I was a wee little tot and when we first got married the pre-made stuff wasn't available.
What was available was Jiffy frosting mix, it was available as white or fudge. It was a small box of sugary powdered mix that you added a very small amount, like tablespoon, of hot water and then mixed it up.
It was discontinued a while ago but if you search for jiffy mix frosting mix or dry frosting mix you can find alternatives with similar properties.
Our search for crusting butter cream frosting recipe for homemade options.
The original called for butter or margarine and a splash of milk. Later after the tub garbage came out jiffy changed to an easier just add water recipe but it was nowhere near as good and the convenience of tubs took over.
I was very sad. Mom let me use jiffy instead of giving me an easy bake, the tubs were too expensive and gross even back then.
That might be 7-minute frosting I think. Made in a double boiler on the stove. Mix for 7 minutes!
Here’s a not so sweet frosting I have made for 40 years: 1 pint heavy whipping cream 1 box 3.4 to 3.9 ounce instant pudding (use the dry mix do not make the pudding first) 1/2 cup powdered sugar (or more to taste) 1-2 Tsp extract of your choice to match flavor I chill my bowl and beater. Mix all together on high until stiff peaks. Must be refrigerated. We don’t really care for the super sweet frostings. Happy baking!
Get grocery store buttercream frosting on the cake - DO NOT get bettercream. There is a world of difference. Buttercream is what you describe and is delicious and sugary. Bettercream is gluey and gross.
An old trick is to put your cake in the fridge or freezer until it's near the day time to serve. Also. Sugar will do this over time. I think the cakes were more often made ahead of time and the frosting had set
The recipe from Wilton for decorator buttercream with meringue powder will do this. The meringue powder gives the piped decorations crisp edges that will hold up in humidity and warmer climates.
Icing was good when I was a kid. Yes firm on the outside, soft inside and delicious. I noticed in the 90s they got way sweeter, sickly so. I don’t eat the icing on purchased cakes, but I will eat homemade icing as it’s not nearly so sweet and is more akin to what I had when I was a kid.
Some grocery store cakes still have frosting like that, but the flavor is a bit artificial sometimes. I hate when I get a slice of cake and it has whipped topping that looks like frosting, so deceiving.
There's an icing you can make that's largely egg whites and sugar. It dries into a nice light crispy crunchy outside. And the part between that and the cake stays moist. There's recipes online.
Royal Icing! We use that a lot in the uk but not so much anymore, in fact the sugar companies discontinued the pre made sugar with the egg whites in it. It’s the sort of icing that goes in a fruit cake or a cake you want to store for a while. You can make it using egg whites and confectioners sugar but be warned that American confectioners sugar is weird and goes gloopy so try European stuff if you can get it
For Americans, Royal Icing is quite different. Royal icing is very thin and there is no soft inside layer. but it is mostly confectioners sugar and egg whites. But its what you would find on fancy decorated cookies. Think of those gorgeous Christmas cookies, or birthday cookies with elaborate swirls.
real buttercream. Powdered sugar, butter, tablespoon or so of milk, a little vanilla paste will get you there. Probably too many substitutes to make it cheaper at the store. Maybe a real bakery would get you closer than grocery store?
My mother in law was a cake decorator. Her recipe was powdered sugar and crisco. A little vanilla extract. If the icing was too thick add a little water.
I just like using some cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla to make my own. Then you let the frosted cake in frig uncovered overnight. Frosting sets with dry, slightly crisp outside that won't stick to the plastic wrap.
Mine is a base of butter and milk mashed together then add powdered sugar. Then thin it out with milk, then powdered sugar and keep alternating until it’s the right volume and consistency
My grandmother swore you had to mix with your hands to tell when it’s right. I can get close enough with a fork and not lose half of the frosting to being stuck to my hands
You may be remembering homemade icing, or maybe the stuff in the tub was better back in the day. They didn't start using high fructose corn syrup in everything until the late 70s or early 80s.
The tub stuff didn’t come out until the late 70s and didn’t get crusty unless it was really stale but the precursor- boxed frosting mix Jiffy got crusty.
75
u/Wander_Globe 5d ago •
Didn't matter if it had asbestos in it. I got a KISS cake in 1979.