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Message: [QUOTE="Cahoot, post: 44084, member: 3784"] [USER=2340]@Norcalbaker59[/USER] I have a question about cooling buttercreams to the right consistency for piping, especially for looser frostings such as cream cheese frostings or crème mousseline (pastry cream + butter). For example with creme mousseline (e.g. for making Paris-Brests), you need the pastry cream and butter around 70F otherwise it'll be grainy, so the finished temperature will be 70-72F. However at this temperature it's way too lose to holds its shape well when piped, so it needs to be cooled. But if I toss the buttercream in the fridge until it's firm (around 55-60F), it becomes grainy when I whisk or re-mix it to smooth it out. If I understand correctly this is true for all buttercreams in general; I've seen people say to let frozen/refrigerated buttercreams warm to 70F before you re-mix them. So what's the correct procedure for when you need to cool a buttercream before piping it? Should you just put it into the pastry bag after it's cooled sufficiently, without whisking or mixing it? I've also tried putting it into the pastry bag while it's still warm and then refrigerating it in the pastry bag. However the problem is that it doesn't necessarily pipe well when cooled, because it stiffens up inside the bag. Essentially from what I understand, the problem is that you need to smooth out a buttercream if you chill it a bit, but mixing a chilled buttercream causes it to go grainy. [/QUOTE]