Frosting and preservatives

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rainbowdrops31

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Hi I'm making bubbling cupcakes and frosting them with Royal icing mixed with slsa, do I need to add a preservative to it as there is water added to the icing. I've noticed that on some of my cupcakes when I take the frosting off there are little brown dots on the cupcake base, not sure if it's from the fragrance or if it's mould, there are no brown spots anywhere else. Whats preservative would be best to use and at what rate. would I just use it in the iceing, there is no water added to the cupcake base.

In all the recipes for the frosting none suggest preservatives, so I'm a bit confused:?

Many thanks Debbie
 
Is there any water bases in your formula at all? What is the liquid you are using? Are you using meringue? There must be some liquid somewhere....what it is and what the rest of your recipe looks like would determine whether you need a preservative. Also how long do you want them to last? 1 year? 6 months? longer?
 
Hi, there is no water in the base just the usual bath bomb mix , Bicarb, Citric Acid, slsa, oils n cocoa butter. But in the frosting there is meringue powder, water, cream of Tartar, Iceing Sugar, slsa. I probably would want them to keep for minimum of 6 months.

Thanks Debbie
 
I had asked the same question and still haven't gotten a real answer. Soapqueen uses meringue powder on her bath bomb cupcakes and I did the same recipe and a month later and I had mold. The recipe called for water. I can tell you my bath bombs did have something grow in the icing. I hope someone will be able to give us a an answer. The meringue powder mixture is common practice and I can't imagine a person who would sell these would take the chance of mold or harmful bacteria growing in their products. I can't find the answer anywhere.

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=47205
 
Yes there are so many using this kind of recipe, but non say to use preservative. I don't sell just make for myself n friends, but wouldn't want to give anything that gets mould.

Really hope to get some help.
 
http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com.au/2010/10/preservatives.html

Short answer, according to Susan, if it contains water, then yes it needs a preservative. ("Water" doesn't just mean added water, but if you are adding other liquids that contain water... eg. aloe vera gel etc.)

Her post on choosing a preservative:
http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com.au/2010/11/preservatives-choosing-preservative.html

HOWEVER... royal icing itself seems to last 'forever' when used to make biscuit decorations etc... The water does seem to 'dry out' of it... And meringue powder contains pasteurised egg whites... so... I don't know.
I guess all you can do is keep it for 6 months to see for yourself? Or when you gift it tell them to use it straight away haha.

If you use a vanilla fragrance the brown dots could be from that. Or the "grease" from the base seeping into the frosting...
http://sweetopia.net/2011/01/how-do-you-store-royal-icing-and-how-long-can-you-keep-it/
If you scroll down to "how long do royal icing decorations last" she has a few pics there of buttercream seeping into royal icing - does it look anything like your brown dots?
 
If I were selling them I would add a smidge of preservative. My bath bomb cupcakes use a whipped soap top so I have never made the sugar top.
 
Hmm, yes Dorymae, I think to be on the safe side maybe add the preservative if making like this. I have been thinking about making the whipped soap frosting seems better to me. May I ask how you get on with it, does it go hard'ish, I've seen a few recipes is it just melt and pour and foaming body butter.

Thank you all for your help :)
 
If you want it soft - and to stay relatively soft then go with the melt and pour. If you want it so solid that in 2-3 days you could ship it in shrink wrap then go CP.
 

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