A Store-Bought Frosting That's Actually Worth Trying

I've heard from many of you that making a cake from scratch can be intimidating, and the end result doesn't always turn out to be nearly as good as you had hoped (hopefully that's not the case with any of my recipes - wink). And it often seems like the main culprit turns out to be the frosting. Achieving the right consistency and flavor is crucial to a delicious and beautiful cake, so if you feel like making it from scratch just isn't working, I have a new alternative that I think you'll love.

The makers of Chef Shamy's Gourmet Butters (you've probably seen their stuff at Costco, Sam's Club and your local grocery stores) have come out with chocolate and vanilla buttercream frostings.

I was recently invited to their headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah to see their kitchen and test their products first hand. To be honest, I was kind of skeptical going in. No way could a store-bought frosting be as good as a homemade frosting. I'd never experienced it. However, when I looked at their ingredients and tasted the product, I'll admit, I was impressed.

First off, the ingredients in these two buttercream frostings are nearly the same as what you and I put in a homemade buttercream frostings: powdered sugar, butter, water, vanilla extract, and cocoa powder (for chocolate). With one bite of the frosting, you can tell that these frostings are made with quality ingredients and don't contain anything artificial.

I was able to take both the chocolate and vanilla frostings back to my kitchen to give them a test run. The frostings were both still frozen when I got home, so I let them sit on the counter until they reached room temperature (about three to four hours). The box instructions say you can microwave the frostings in five second intervals, but I don't trust the microwave with frosting. I just didn't want to take the chance of the frosting getting too soft (often a reason you might have trouble frosting your cakes.)

When the frostings were close to room temperature, I poured the vanilla frosting into my stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat it for about 30 seconds. I then took a wooden spoon and continued to mix the frosting by hand to push out the air bubbles and get as smooth of a consistency as possible (I do this with any frosting).

I then used the vanilla buttercream to pipe swirls on a naked funfetti cake. The frosting held up well while I piped, and could certainly be thrown in the refrigerator to stiffen even more, if you felt like it necessary.

I also used the chocolate buttercream on my chocolate pretzel cake. Chef Shamy's chocolate buttercream is more of a milk chocolate buttercream, which makes it a bit sweeter than my chocolate buttercream that calls for semi or dark chocolate. Though I lean toward the more bitter tasting chocolates, I thought this milk chocolate frosting paired great with my dark chocolate cake, as well as the salty pretzels in the crust of this cake.

I was also pleased with how this frosting worked with my scraper and offset palette knives - smooth, silky and easily spreadible. If you feel like the frosting is a little hard to spread, add a tablespoon of heavy whipping cream to the stand mixer when you beat the frosting after you've removed it from the container. This will add a little lightness and creaminess to it.

So, if you're feeling nervous about making a completely homemade cake, take off some of the pressure and go grab some of Chef Shamy's Buttercream Frostings. You're guests will have no idea you didn't make it.

For more information about Chef Shamy's Buttercream Frostings or to find out where you can buy them, head over to their WEBSITE.