# how to replace icing sugar



## hime (Jan 14, 2007)

to make buttercream or icing need icing sugar but unfortunately i don't have it right now so can i change it with something else help!!!!!! and thanks


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

You can put regular white sugar in the blender and blend, but it never comes out the same, there is always a little grit. 
I would suggest you make a different kind of buttercream. You can make them based on pastry cream, on egg yolks beaten with sugar syrup or with eggwhites beaten with hot sugar syrup, after which you beat in the softened butter. You might find one in a cookbook or on line (i like the eggwhite one, it would be an italian meringue buttercream) but if you can;t i can get you a recipe.


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## hime (Jan 14, 2007)

thx for the suggestion , i will try it later and for the Italian meringue do you have the recipe??? thx again :smiles::smiles::smiles:


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

Italian meringue buttercream
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
3 egg whites.
about 8 oz (240 gm) room temp butter

Italian meringue 
put sugar and water in a small saucepan to boil. Swirl the pan till the sugar is dissolved. Cover and lower heat. (You don;t want to put a spoon in it because if a crystal sticks to the spoon and then you re-put the spoon in when it;s dissolved it might induce the solution to become grainy (something about the molecules in the crystal are aligned in a certain way but are looser in the solution - if you put one crystal in you sort of align them all like the crystal)
Anyway, when dissolved, you cover it so the steam drips down and dissolves the crystals on the sides of the pot. Or you can brush them down with water on a pastry brush. 

meanwhile beat the egg whites till stiff. Stop beating

Uncover pot and raise heat. 
Let it boil till the bubbles start to thicken. Get a big glass of cold water and put a drop in. It should just form a mass at the bottom that if you pick it up, it;s soft. (Soft ball stage)

Slowly dribble the hot syrup into the egg whites as you continue beating (stand mixer makes this easier) and continue till all is beaten in and keep beating till ti gets cooler. If you can put the bowl in a larger bowl of ice water it will be quicker. 

Meringue buttercream

beat the room temp butter into the cooled (room temp is fine) meringue. Add a little vanilla

For chocolate, melt some chocolate and mix into the meringue before adding the butter.


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## hime (Jan 14, 2007)

txs so much for the recipe , just one question what you do with the butter, before mix it with the merigue???? melt it or beat it first????


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

you neither melt it (NO!!!) nor beat it but just let it get soft to room temp. If you don;t have time you *could* beat it till it's soft enough to incorporate into the meringue. But if you melt it you will not have buttercream. 
I sometimes soften butter by cutting it up, then putting at the lowest wattage of my microwave (90 watt) and then turning it on for one minute, checking, then doing a few seconds at a time. But if your microwave can't be adjusted like that, DON'T microwave it or it might melt, and it wouldn't work


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## hime (Jan 14, 2007)

oh ok thx for your advice i will try it this weekend :chef:


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