Anyone else notice this or know why?

[2sdae]

I was looking at some butter cream icing I had made the other day for the kids to use to spread on cookies. It was an all high ratio butter cream no milk or butter. So I left the bowl covered with seal-n-press and then the air tight lid on it sitting on my counter. Well this is the second time I have noticed pools of color pooling in the bottom. Not a lot mind you but there never the less. It was made 3 days ago so it's not old. But I thought high ratio shortening wasn't supposed to separate. I am not sure why this happened. The butter cream is fine, smells fine and tastes fine. With a few swipes of a spatula it mixes right back just as smooth so I am not sure why this is happening. Any thoughts?

[laurafromtx]

What kind of color is it - gel? Or something water-based? If so, I'm thinking that the emulsion you created by mixing in the coloring and the hi ratio gave up after a certain amount of time, like mixing oil and water or oil and vinegar separates, albeit they separate more quickly.

[2sdae]

ck powdered food coloring and my wilton gels did they same in another batch.....

[Amanda]

Did it get a little hot? Maybe some of the icing melted just a tiny bit. My counter top gets kind of hot right above the dishwasher when it's running...plus the steam that it vents out. Hmmm, that's the only thing that I can think of.

[2sdae]

maybe it got sorta warm....but it was in front of a window that is thin and it was cold on the other side of that window.... I just dunno!

[beachcakes]

This has happened to me with every batch of icing I've made since the Fall. Actually, it's been ever since I started using Sharon's coffee creamer trick in the icing. Mind you, I use regular Crisco and not hi-ratio, so all this time I thought it was the new Crisco, but maybe it's the coffee creamer? I'd like to know what it is, b/c I've thrown out at least half a dozen batches of leftover icing thinking it went bad after a few days.

[Amanda]

Hmmm, I use coffee creamer and that has never happened to me. I probably just jinxed myself! Maybe it's humidity?

[beachcakes]

I'm just thinking out loud - I really don't know what the problem is. I just assumed it was the new Crisco, but since 2sdae uses hi-ratio... well, who knows? It could be humidity, but it's not too bad yet this time of year.

[2sdae]

well, since it's been happening to me it's been fall and winter, so maybe it's the change of temps due to having to turn on the heat in the house...maybe it's causing the high ratio to separate due to changing of temps. The colors I kept in fridge didn't separate.