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| Sugar free, fat free, gluten free dog treat icing |
The information posted here is intended to provide answers to common questions and clarify terms related to Fido's Frosting and Fido's Royal Icing for dogs.
Fido's Frosting products are the only genuine USA made yogurt frosting products on the market that are sugar free, fat free, and gluten free. These products are extremely difficult to formulate and manufacture. Other dog treat frosting products on the market use sugar, fat and/or gluten because these ingredients are cheap and very easy to work with. We have chosen to take the most difficult path so that we can offer the highest quality product to our customers. But, by removing sugar, fat and gluten, our products work differently from their unhealthy counterparts.
Icing cracking Cracking is rare but can occur. It happens typically due to the following reasons:
- The dog treat frosting or icing was applied to a treat that was not fully dry inside. What happens is that the frosting dries hard, and then over the next few days, as the treat finishes drying inside, it shrinks and causes natural stress cracks. The remedy is to make sure the dog treats are completely dry before applying the topping. Some bakers dehydrate their treats to accomplish this. To test for dryness all the way through, simply break the treat. If it does not "snap" crisply, it is not dry inside.
- Gluten free dog treats often develop cracks in the frosting. Our research has shown that in every case, the frosting has dried on the treat, but the actual treat has cracked because it contains no gluten to hold it together. Gluten forms the chemical bonds that holds baking mixes together and acts like a "glue". Remove the gluten and the "glue" is gone. This is why you will see gluten free cookies crumbling in their packages. The icing will crack along the same lines as the cookie itself. Turn the cookie over and you will easily see the crack that is causing the crack in the topping.
- Gluten free treats are very dense and are typically the ones affected. Because Fido's Frosting products have no fat or sugar, they dry from the outside in. This differs from the properties of the yogurt candy chips which contain fat and sugar. These chips do not actually "dry". What you are seeing is the fat solidifying at room temperature. Apply heat and the chips will liquefy due to the properties of the fat.
- Fido's Frosting products actually dry and once dried, will not turn back into a liquid. Since they dry from the outside in, they form a "skin" on the sides with access to air and slowly dry hard as the air reaches the frosting. With dense treats, air can only get to the top of the frosting, and no air passes through the treat like it does in one containing gluten. The frosting or icing forms a skin. Because it can only dry outside in, the "skin" on top dries before the innermost portion. Thus, the "skin" prunes much like your fingers do when immersed in water for a length of time. Some people mistake pruning for cracking, but it is not the same.
Icing falling off In very rare cases, bakers have reported that the icing has fallen off their treats. There are two reasons that this may occur:
- If the icing is applied in a thin line or in thin drops, it has a good chance of falling off. This is because there is not enough topping applied to a large enough surface area of the dog treat to allow proper bonding. To prevent this from happening, apply a full base coat of icing or frosting to the treat and THEN apply a thin line or drops on top of the base coat while it is still sticky. This provides plenty of bonding area and the topping will not fall off.
- If the treat is very smooth, the topping may "fall off." The topping needs textured grooves or pores to have something to stick to. The more porous the treat, the better the bond. To prevent this from happening to a smooth treat, simply poke holes or score the surface with a fork or knife before baking the treats.
"Milk bone test" If you are having difficulty with the frosting on your own treats, we recommend trying it out on a commercial product like Milk Bones. If it works properly on the commercial dog treat, then it is safe to say that it is not the frosting that is the issue. Anyone still experiencing problems after performing this test is encouraged to contact us through the K9Cakery.com website.
The best place to learn about how to use Fido's Frosting products is to join us in the Facebook group "Homemade Dog Treats". Simply request to join. You will see some amazing dog treat artistry and make new friends who share your passion for baking for dogs!
