Icing Sugar

Also known as pure icing sugar, this is a pure form of sugar which has simply been ground to a powder dust so that it dissolves instantly. It is used to make icings for cakes, fondants for pastries and decorating, or on its own as a dusted decoration. Its use in making pastry is varied and in most cases it can be replaced by ordinary or caster (superfine) sugars in recipes. It is used in some shortbread and biscuit (cookie) doughs so that sugar spots do not show, and in sponge mixtures such as savoy sponges for the same reason. As pure icing sugar contains no additives, it needs to be kept airtight when stored. It should be sifted frequently because it absorbs moisture easily, causing the formation of hard, unusable lumps.

Non lumping sugar (soft icing mixture) is a form of icing sugar which contains a starch or drying substance - cornflour (cornstarch), phosphate or silicate - to prevent the sugar absorbing moisture and forming lumps. Due to these drying agents, this form of icing sugar should not be used in all recipes, but in biscuit (cookie) mixtures it increases the shortness of the product. The icing sugar should be sieved in order to remove the lumps.

Buttercream

is produced by creaming butter and incorporating as much air possible. When the butter has changed from yellow to a creamy white color, sweeteners and other ingredients are added for flavor and bulk. There are many varieties of buttercream used in the pastry kitchen, and these differ according to personal, regional and national tastes, and availability of certain products. Most buttercream contain sugar, icing sugar or fondant and either egg yolks, egg whites or the entire egg, and can be flavored as desired. Buttercream range from the very ligh and airy to those which are rich and heavy in flavor and texture. It is best to use butter cream as soon as it is made, when it is light, airy and fresh. Never make more buttercream than is required just to save time on the next cake. It is quicker to make it fresh than to reconstitute chilled buttercream and better result are obtained for the finished product. If buttercream has to be stored, it should be kept in an airlight container in the refrigerator. Never store buttercream for more than two weeks in the refrigerator. Remove from the refrigerator when required and stand at room temperature for one hour to soften.
Beat in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy The following are the main ingredients contained in the buttercream produced by different countries :

• French Buttercream : Butter, fondant and eggs;
• German Buttercream : Butter, custard and flavouring;
• Italian Buttercream : Butter, italian meringue and flavouring
• Russian Buttercream : Butter, icing sugar and flavouring
• Danish Buttercream : Butter, icing sugar and cream

Breadcrumbs

Fresh, dried and powdered breadcrumbs are an important ingredient for the pastry chef. Not only can breadcrumbs be used to cover foods for frying or as a simple topping for some of the pastry dishes, but bread crumbs can also be used to replace more expensive ingredients such as ground nuts or dessicated (shredded) coconut.

There are three main ways to produce breadcrumbs, each method giving a different type of breadcrumb :

• Fresh bread can help the crust removed and grated and the fresh breadcrumbs can be used as a topping for dessert, or saute or fried in alittle butter to give color and then mixed with some sugar, for example, to make a crunchy crumble topping.
• Stale bread may be sieved or minced finely to produce a fine white crumb which is firm and can be used for the outside crust of dumplings,for example.
• Golden-colored breadcrumbs can produced by baking bread scraps till golden brown and then crushing the crust in a mortar and pestle or in a blender. These crumbs will last from months as long as they are stored in airtight container or jar.

--Patisserie, Aaron Maree, 1993 (p. 35)