Using Pastry Pride (and other non-dairy frosting alternatives)

If you’re not too sure about making your own frosting from scratch, you are welcome to use store-bought frosting. You can also use a ready-to-whip frosting product such as Pastry Pride, Frostin' Pride, and Rich’s Bettercreme, which comes as a frozen liquid and can be whipped quickly and easily at home!

Here we’ll try to cover all the basics on how to use these products. The information below refers specifically to Pastry Pride but can be applied to Rich’s Bettercreme as well.

A Quick Intro

Pastry Pride, Frostin’ Pride, and Rich’s Bettercreme all create a frosting with a whipped consistency that is similar to fresh whipped cream. However, unlike fresh whipped cream, which must be refrigerated at all times, Pastry Pride and Rich’s Bettercreme are shelf-stable after they’ve been whipped.

The whipped consistency is very light and fluffy and similar to frostings you can find on cakes from Asian bakeries and sometimes on supermarket/Costco cakes. You can use it for both filling and frosting.

These frostings come already lightly sweetened, but you can add your own flavorings and additional sugar if you’d like. However, do not add flavoring to Frostin’ Pride. Frostin’ Pride and Rich’s Bettercreme come in chocolate flavor as well.

Buying Ready-to-Whip Frostings

Pastry Pride, Frostin' Pride, and Rich’s Bettercreme are sold in 1 quart or 1 gallon (4 quarts) cartons and are found in the frozen foods section. The easiest place to find these products are at Smart & Final stores. Unfortunately, Pastry Pride is not distributed in Maryland/Virginia, but Rich’s Bettercreme should be available. In some areas, it is available for delivery through Costco Business Delivery.

Using Ready-to-Whip Frostings

Preparing the frosting for use

Pastry Pride comes frozen and should be thawed in the refrigerator overnight when you are ready to use it. Do not thaw it on the counter!
**Quick thaw: If you need to defrost it quickly, you can thaw it for 1 minute in the microwave, shake, microwave for 1 more minute, shake again, and microwave again for another 30 seconds to 1 minute. It should still have some ice crystals. Another method of speedy thawing which takes 1-2 hours is to immerse the carton in large bowl of warm water
Do not let it reach room temperature! If it does, it is usually ruined
Once thawed, un-whipped Pastry Pride can keep for 2-3 weeks in the refrigerator. After it is whipped, it will last 1-2 weeks in the refrigerator. Sometimes, if you have under-whipped it, as it sits, liquid will gather in the bottom. You can still use the Pastry Pride but you just need to re-whip it. Always use the whip attachment (not the paddle) on your mixer
Quantity guide:
- One quart of Pastry Pride is enough to ice and decorate one 8-inch round cake
- One quart of Pastry Pride is enough to ice and decorate a 1/4 sheet (8x12" or 9x13") cake
- One quart of Pastry Pride is enough to ice and border a 1/2 sheet cake
- One quart of Pastry Pride is barely enough to ice a full-sheet cake

Whipping the frosting

Chill your work bowl and beaters before starting
After whipping and when working with Pastry Pride or Frostin' Pride, you want to keep it cold. If you are spending a lot of time on the decoration, put the whipped frosting back in the refrigerator while you're working to keep it cold. It will break down and get mushy if left out at room temperature for too long

Pastry Pride already contains sugar. If you want a lightly sweet frosting, you don’t need to add sugar, but you can add flavoring such as vanilla extract, vanilla paste, Creme Bouquet, or almond. Do NOT flavoring to Frostin' Pride. If you prefer a sweeter frosting, you can add up to ¼ cup of granulated sugar for a quart of Pastry Pride
Using the whip attachment, start the mixer on low so the liquid doesn’t splash and work your way up to high. A stand mixer is handy to use if you have one! Whip like you would whipping cream but don’t overbeat (it will be smooth but hold its shape -- it shouldn’t look dried out). Pastry Pride takes 5-15 minutes to whip, per quart. This will vary depending on the type of mixer you have and how cold the Pastry Pride is. The colder it is, the longer it will take to whip. However, if it is too warm, it will never whip. If you whip it too long, it will be very hard and difficult to spread. If you end up whipping it too long, you can add a little water to soften it up
**It’s pretty hard to over-whip, but keep an eye on it anyway!
Make sure you leave enough space in your mixer -- Pastry Pride will expand by up to 3x the volume as it’s whipped
You can color Pastry Pride, but only light to medium colors -- Americolor colors work best, and in general, gel or powdered colorings are ideal. If you try to make very dark colors, it will bleed onto your cake and stain the teeth of the people eating the cake! Some bakers suggest that after frosting with brightly-colored frosting, let it sit for several hours before decorating, and the frosting doesn’t seem to bleed as much.

Frosting and decorating

When frosting the cake, put it on thick and then smooth with a long, smooth spatula, starting with the sides and then moving onto the top. To get a truly smooth surface, put the spatula under hot water, shake it off, and use it to smooth the frosting. Once the sides are done, do the top
Pastry Pride doesn’t crumb coat well, as it is pretty soft and doesn’t harden much even in the freezer, but it’s still a good idea to put a thin layer on
Pastry Pride and Frostin' Pride will form a "skin" after sitting out for a while and will be very difficult to smooth if you make a mistake while decorating. It’s best not to try, although some bakers have had success smoothing it by using water to soften it
If you are putting an edible image on your cake, you want to do it after the "skin" forms
You can decorate and make roses with Pastry Pride, but you must work quickly - within 15 minutes. Some bakers with experience recommend whipping Pastry Pride a little extra long so that it is stiffer for making decorations (or you can use Frostin’ Pride, which creates a stiffer consistency)
Note that fondant does not stick well to Pastry Pride
You can leave a cake iced with Pastry Pride out of the refrigerator for at least 24 hours but just remember, the longer it stays out the drier it becomes. Sometimes tiny cracks will also develop on the skin. It doesn’t like temperatures over 85 degrees, so keep it in a cool place and do not place it outside in the sun.

Sources:

What is Pastry Pride?
Pastry Pride Frosting by Vegetarian Gastronomy, as taken from DoItWithIcing, a now-closed baking supply store in San Diego
Cake4Kids Volunteers Judi K and Ruby P

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