Can I use butter or margarine for frosting instead of whipping cream in cakes?
I tried frosting cake with butter and icing sugar but I did not like the outcome.
Is there something else that'd come out similar to whipped cream without using cream?
Frosting similar to whipped cream but without cream
frostingsubstitutions
Related Solutions
Abstract: Ganache is delicious, but not everyone eats dairy. We examined whether coconut milk can be used for the creation of a non-dairy ganache. We ran a series of experiments. The answer is that, with some creative techniques, you can use it, but it does not come anywhere near to the real thing.
Introduction. Someone wrote a question on Seasoned advice about coconut based ganache and we got curious.
Background. We love ganache even more than pure chocolate, and make it often ourselves, so we think we have all the prerequisites needed to create and judge a coconut based ganache recipe. Our favorite ganache recipe 1 (which we used as a starting point) is: 100 g chocolate, 72% cocoa (only made from cocoa, sugar, and cocoa butter, no vegetable fat or emulsifiers); 100 g cream, at least 30% (non-UHT), 25 g butter.
Method. We prepared the base mix as follows: 25 g coconut milk were heated until boiling. They were removed from the heat. 25 g chocolate (72%) and 6g cocoa butter were added. Everything was left to dissolve. After 5 minutes, the mixture was whipped with a handheld mixer at the second-to-highest setting. This was Version 0. It was divided in two batches. Different versions were made from each batch by gradually adding guar (a knife-point-ful), egg yolk (1, in lieu of lecithine) and sugar (8g per batch). Each version was whipped for at least 3 minutes. The final versions (1c and 2b) where put for 30 min in the refrigerator, then taken out and whipped again. As there were no observable changes after the cold whipping, we do not treat them as a different version. We also made a small portion of dairy ganache for comparison purposes.
Results. These are listed in Table 1. The numbers in the ingredients columns of the table represent the order of adding the ingredients to the mixtures.
Table 1. Experiment results.
The final consistency of version 1c is documented in Figure 1. Note that the peaks do not drip and you can rotate the bowl at 180° without anything falling out. The piece of chocolate was added for color comparison.
Figure 2 shows a zoom of the blue bordered area in Figure 1.
Discussion. It is possible to make a profiterole filling with coconut milk based ganache, but it isn't quite like the real deal. Also, it resembles non-whipped ganache more closely than whipped ganache.
The basic ganache recipe can be done with coconut milk instead of cream and cocoa butter instead of butter. However, it tastes fattier than real ganache, and it is runnier. Unlike dairy ganache, whipping does not result in aeration.
We think that eliminating the cocoa butter altogether will somewhat alleviate the fatiness problem, but we did not test this proposal yet.
A thickening and or emulsifying agent can improve the ganache texture. Even though egg yolk improves aeration, is not a good choice, as it results in a slimy feel. Guar is a better solution.
The addition of sugar ruins the chocolateness of the taste. If bitterness is not desired, a sweeter chocolate (50%) should be used. Only dedicated sugar lovers or Americans should resort to adding sugar. In that case, it should be added before the guar (we would suggest dissolving it in the coconut milk before boiling it) as not to interfere with the texture of the final product.
Threats to validity. First, there was a single tester (the quasi-royal we). Second, this tester is already biased in favor of dairy products in general and specifically for dairy based ganache. Third, many interesting combinations (including xanthan gum and corn starch) could not be tested due to lack of resources.
Conclusion and outlook. We found the experiment very inspirating. It was also yummy. But we'd like to issue an warning: This experiment is dangerous. In the preparation phase, we discovered a penchant for guared coconut water deep fried in coconut fat we'd rather not have known about. Nevertheless, we are looking forward to offering the results for peer preview to a chocolate-loving lactose intolerant co worker.
References: 1 My own recipe book
There are several options for frostings that are light and fluffy, and not based on just powdered (confectioner's) sugar and shortening, that aren't just whipped cream. Other answers have already mentioned the last two, but I wanted to add whipped ganache.
whipped ganache--my personal favorite. Of course, this is always and only chocolate (I don't call white chocolate chocolate...)
French buttercream; the link is for a vanilla recipe but many variants are possible.
Seven minute frosting is tall and fluffy and has no fat at all. This is also known as merengue frosting.
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Best Answer
If what you're looking for is a close substitute for whipped cream frosting, that narrows the possibilities down.
Boiled frosting is made with a sugar syrup (with cream of tartar and other flavorings) which is boiled and added to whipped egg whites which set with the residual heat. It is a light and fluffy frosting which contains no fats.
Meringue style frosting is made with whipped egg whites and sugar (and other flavorings) which is then heated over a double boiler to set the egg whites. This frosting is thick and fluffy, though it will deflate over time unless baked. French style meringue frosting is supposedly left uncooked, which may change the flavors.
You might also want to look at Royal icing, made with meringue powder or egg white and powdered sugar, which does not require cooking, and will have a similar flavor profile to boiled or meringue style frosting. However, the texture is not fluffy but smooth, and it tends to be dried hard, and used for structure or decoration.
For textural purposes, you won't find a better match for whipped cream style frosting than whipped egg white based frosting.
If you're looking for flavor profile rather than texture, you might try a simple powdered sugar icing that's thinned with milk instead of water (possibly with a small amount of butter for flavor). Something like this might work well, with both butter and milk in the mix, though you can certainly tweak your proportions to your taste. Or something like this recipe which includes flour and egg white along with butter, milk and sugar for a complex frosting recipe that might be less sweet.
And, finally, you might look at marshmallow creme frosting, which includes butter, marshmallow fluff, sugar and milk, and which should be light, fluffy, and sweet. There are also variations which include actual marshmallows instead of fluff, melting them into something like a boiled icing recipe, or into a cream and sugar mix.
Other frosting recipes might not be a good match for your preferences - the recipe you didn't like, of margarine and powdered sugar, seems very similar to a buttercream frosting recipe, which is thicker, sweeter and richer than whipped cream frosting. Likewise, cream cheese frosting (similar to buttercream with butter, sugar and milk in addition to the actual cream cheese) is less sweet, but tends towards creamy, dense and smooth rather than light and fluffy. And ganache frosting, made with chocolate and cream, is flavored, denser, and requires the missing ingredient (cream) itself.
You might check out the European style buttercream frostings, though, as they are lighter, fluffier, and less sweet than the American version - both the swiss and italian are close to a mix of meringue and boiled style frosting (respectively) and buttercream. The french version, on the other hand, uses egg yolks with the sugar syrup and butter for a richer flavor.