Someone on another food chat site is looking for what she calls “steam cream” or “steam buttercream” - it’s reported to be poured over a cake and sets up looking very much like fondant due to the smoothness of it. So now I’m intrigued! I’ve never heard of this so I’m wondering if anyone here (perhaps in Indonesia or the Phillipines?) has used it in tropical cliimates and can provide a recipe and method of use.
I did a google search, there’s a woman in Indonesia who has a cake with the caption “Steam Buttercream” but it doesn’t look anything like poured fondant. Poured fondant is traditionally used for petit fours and tends to show the layers beneath (it’s a sort of transparent opaque, hard to describe) and has a shine to it; this didn’t. Plus, it would crack as the cake flexes and this picture was of a tiered cake.
I think it’s a technique in making the buttercream, but I wanted to find out what people in humid tropical climates use for buttercream filling and frosting. I know that Swiss Meringue buttercream is made by mixing the sugar and egg whites over a bain marie (which could be considered steam) but it is less stable than Italian Meringue so I don’t think that’s what it is but I could be wrong.
it sounds like a kind of boiled frosting, but instead of whipping the frosting to give it some volume, you just pour it while its still warm. the problem is as already mentioned. it will be solid/crusty due to the powdered sugar. try the “venetian cream” recipe you can find on google.
i would think that in a humid climate that type of finish would still be tacky.
I read around about it. It sounds like steam is misleading—it is simply gently melted buttercream (but probably the crisco/ powdered sugar type) poured over a cake. It would be like making ganache and cooling it just to where it is still fluid (mid to upper 90s) and pouring it over a cake. It does look attractive, but I imagine the flavor wouldn’t be as good as the ones we are used to—wonder if you could do this with butter, or would it separate?
It’s a Malaysian site. Too bad it’s not in English. Elicia is Malaysian and may be able to translate it for you. Send her a PM and see if she is willing to do it.
Re Matthew’s idea of melted buttercream - the hard sauce for Christmas pudding is made with butter and powdered sugar. It is applied over the hot pudding and it melts and forms a crust . But looks nothing like the cake in the website. Maybe you have to do several coats??????????
I think they must be melting whatever kind of frosting they use there and just like ganache or a glaze, pour it over the assembled cake. It’s fascinating to think of all the different ways we cover a cake! At first I thought it was something like “marshmallow fondant” which I’ve heard of but never used or seen, or rolled buttercream (again, something I’ve never seen or used, but Roland Winbeckler uses for almost all his stuff) but wasn’t sure.
I’ll see if I can get it translated and let you all know what it says!
Yes, I saw that when I was reading earlier. I put it in a translator then—it is basically just an advert for her class. It doesn’t describe what the technique actually is.
I’m going to totally go out on a limb here, and maybe this has nothing to do with the technique used on the Malaysian website, but when gumpaste/sugarpaste is turned into decorative flowers and leaves, they are allowed to dry and are then briefly steamed (so as not to melt the sugarpaste), which transforms them from a matte finish to a shiney one. Gumpaste dries very hard and wouldn’t be suitable for covering a cake, but would this process work on a fondant covered cake? (after the fondant has “dried”).
A possible alternate would be to cover the cake with fondant and then dust with “luster dust” for a shiney finish.
Jeanne, this thread from egullet might be helpful: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=115075 But perhaps that’s the discussion that got you curious in the first place? Sorry if I’m “bringing coals to Newcastle.“
Hi everyone.New here n Im from Malaysia and I’ve attended one of Loveliana’s classes.She posted the technique of doing it in one of the website that is http://www.myresipi.com but all are in our language.Haven’t tried doing it but I’ll try to help u to translate the method.Here it is :-
Ingredient :
Buttercream Icing (any Buttercream recipes which should not contain egg and freshcream)
Method :-
Cover your cake with Buttercream icing and put it in the fridge and let it become cold.
Heat the balance Buttercream on a very slow fire for just 3 minutes only. Careful not to let it become to…melted(hope I got the
right word)
Pour the melted Buttercream on the whole cold cake when it is still hot.
Let it rest for 5 minutes and the Buttercream will harden.
Hope this help.
