trex - for icing and cake

[Minx179]

Hi

I'm making DS a giant cup cake for his Bday.

Lady in cake shop suggested using Trex for the butter icing, as it's white so the colour comes out 'true'. On the packet it also says Trex can be used for cake mix, but reduce amount of 'butter' by 20%.

I've only ever used butter or marg before, so not sure what difference if any it makes. (Thought Trex was just for pastry!)

Has anybody else used Trex, does it make a difference.

Sorry no experience of using Trex but there was a recent thread about this on here or the other baking one. Sorry can't link as on phone. I made DD a giant cupcake the other week and used the Lindy's choc fudge cake recipe which is now my favourite recipe. Hope it goes well and don't forget to post a picture.

What colour are you planning on doing?

Ive never had an issue colouring buttercream made with lurpak.

Trex is ok if you really need to use it but it doesn't taste as nice imo.

Ok Thanks. I must admit I wasn't too sure as I always thought Trex was like lard. Will use butter instead.

Cake has got to be plain; I usually use a Madeira recipe, but I'm going to try an all in one cake mix and hope it turns out.

2ofsteds did you use both sides of the cake tin at the same time or did you do them separately? Recipe I found suggests cooking mix together, but cake shop advised to cook each half separately.

Mike - He wants multi coloured; using sky blue, magenta, bitter lemon/lime and egyptian orange.

If you beat the icing for ages first (preferably in a mixer) and all the colours should be fine.

I always do both sides of a giant cupcake together, usually take the top out 10 mins before. Depends on how its cooking.

Thanks Mike. BTW, your cakes look lovely.

minx, there was a thread on here ( in baking ) asking exactly the same thing about trex, most were totally against it if i remember rightly, myself i've never used it, well i do in one way but only to grease my hands when i colour fondant icing, i really really dont like the sound of it in buttercream, and like Mike said if you beat the sugar and butter( i use willow, mike prefers lurpak) for at least 10 mins, yes 10mins it will be the lightest fluffiest buttercream ever, you can buy a whitner which i use reguarly, you can get that from a cake dec shop, believe it or not i've bought it in the Range, you could always have a trial run with both and see which one is the nicest.

Trex is lard isn't it? No no no, sounds vile. If you have a stand mixer just beat the hell out of standard butter icing.

i agree i cant imagine using trex for buttercream either, it doesnt sit right with me.

Thanks for all your input.

I found the other link and will stick to using butter; I usually use Lurpak. I think part of my problem in the past has been that I don't beat the butter/sugar for long enough. The same with the cake mix.

I have dug my proper blender out and have beaten the cake mix for about five minutes, so it better rise properly. I'll also use it to do the icing.

If it turns out naff, DH can have it for his BD, and I'll make DS's cake tomorrow .

Professionals often use trex for cake decorating as it means the butter cream is white instead of, well, buttery colour. The butter cream just tastes like sugar, though, not creamy enough for me.
Instead, I beat the butter for ages until it is as white as possible and I don't think mine looks too bad.