Buttercream Recipe

[Ashley Rhoden]

Hi guys, i'm new so not sure where to ask, or if there's a place with recipes listed, but I need a not super sweet, tried and true, simple buttercream recipe. I've used the search bar and nothing came up except for people asking for like specialty buttercream help/recipes. The one's I've found on Pinterest were disgustingly sweet. I tried about 3 (and threw away, which was a lot of ingredients and money) and before I attempt it again I figured I'd better just ask. Anyone have a simple, buttercream recipe they'd share with me?

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Hi guys, i'm new so not sure where to ask, or if there's a place with recipes listed, but I need a not super sweet, tried and true, simple buttercream recipe. I've used the search bar and nothing came up except for people asking for like specialty buttercream help/recipes. The one's I've found on Pinterest were disgustingly sweet. I tried about 3 (and threw away, which was a lot of ingredients and money) and before I attempt it again I figured I'd better just ask. Anyone have a simple, buttercream recipe they'd share with me?

I don't know what types of recipes you have tried but my guess would be it's American "buttercream." There's no fixing the retched stuff called American "buttercream." When Crisco shortening and powdered sugar is used as the base, there's no getting around the sickening sweet and disgustingly greasy concoction. It is the nature of the beast to be sweet and greasy. It's so disgusting no one will eat it. So it's a total waste of both money and time. And frankly, I don't know how anyone could make and serve it in good conscience. No one would stick a spoon into a can of Crisco shortening, scoop up a heap, then eat it or give it to their child. So I don't understand why someone would mix a can of Crisco shortening with powdered sugar, then fed it to their child.

Icing made with butter and granulated sugar are less sweet, and have a light fluffy texture. Swiss meringue buttercream and Italian meringue buttercream are both made with a meringue base. So both require more work than simply beating powdered sugar into Crisco shortening. So if you want a buttercream that is less sweet, with a distinctly lighter texture, there will be some work involved.

While Swiss meringue buttercream and Italian meringue buttercream are both made with a meringue, there are differences. Italian meringue buttercream is made with a sugar syrup heated to 240° then added to the meringue. The hot syrup pasteurizes the eggs and provide more stability to the icing.

With Swiss meringue buttercream the egg whites and sugar is mixed and heated over simmering water to 160° and been beaten into meringue.

If you let me know whether you are comfortable with either of these techniques, I'll provide a recipe and guidelines on adjusting the sugar.

 

[Ashley Rhoden]

The cooking part would worry me but I'll give it a try. Can you use Wiltons Meringue Powder instead of egg whites so you don't have to cook it? Will either the Italian or Swiss buttercreams crust? I do A LOT of rose cookies. They're a good basic filler dessert for Easter, baby showers, wedding showers, etc. But I'd like to start practicing and learned how to decorate cakes and I don't think you use crusting on cakes. I've always made other desserts and haven't dabbled in cakes or cookie decorating but I'd like to start!!

And YES YOU UNDERSTAND ME!!! hahaha I made a batch like you said crisco and sugar and threw it away. My husband who grew up eating like shit, they fry everything and crisco is bought in cases of the big half gallon size cans, was distraught. I made up my own recipe with powdered sugar, real butter, flour and meringue powder but you can taste the flour just a tad if it's not right on target and since i did it playing in the kitchen one weekend on a whim, my stupid self didn't measure to make sure I make it the same and right each time. It tasted perfect. Crusted perfectly and wasn't disgustingly sweet and I didn't feel guilty for serving it. But flour in icing is unusual and unconventional I assume haha so I wasn't sure there was another sub out there or a different way of going about making buttercream all together that I'm just missing.

 

[ChesterV]

https://www.baking-forums.com/threads/icing-and-cookie-help.4407/#post-32957

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Ashley Rhodon,

Lol. We've all been there. As we ventured into the world of cake, we all made an American "buttercream" at some point. The vast majority of us took one bite, gagged, and scream, "In 200,000 years of humankind, someone, somewhere must have come up with a better icing than this crap!" And so the journey into real buttercream begins.

American "buttercream" is the only crusting icing. Crusting "buttercream" requires shortening and LOTS of powdered sugar. That's why it's so sweet. The massive amount of powdered sugar gives it the "crusting" effect.

While you can do some modifications to a meringue based buttercream it will never be a crusting buttercream. I'll talk more about modifications to create a more stable buttercream below.

Meringue buttercreams work well under fondant. My preference is for an Italian buttercream under fondant as it's a bit more stable.

Ive never personally used all meringue powder in a buttercream. It is routinely used in small potions as a stabilizer in royal icing and American "buttercream". I know it is used at times as a replacer for liquid eggs. I just don't have any experience with that and I don't know anyone who has.

A couple of things to keep in mind when making a meringue based buttercream.

Emulsion: buttercream is emulsion. An emulsion is just two or more things beaten together until they are suspended into each other. They are things that normally do not blend well together. In this case, fat and egg whites. So you just really need to have faith as you mix a buttercream because it will absolutely, without question, at some point during the mixing look like a soupy mess. So it's very important that you not panic, do not turn your mixer off, do not try to add anything to try to thicken it. I always tell bakers making a buttercream for the first time to set a timer for eight minutes, then turn and walk away. Do not even look in that bowl again until the timer sounds.

Butter: a high butterfat butter works best as it has less water. This goes back to the emulsion. You're mixing fat in liquid which do not normally mix well together. So the less water in the butter, the better your emulsion. I prefer Plugra brand which is about 82% butterfat in it. A standard grocery store brand of butter is about 80%

In my own experience I found you can actually have too much butterfat. I used Vermont Creamery cultured butter a couple of times. The butterfat is 86%. The buttercream was too soft to pipe.

Eggs: an average large egg white is 30 grams. I find this to be pretty consistent among brands with the exception of Trader Joe's--or at least my Trader Joe's. Their large eggs are a tad smaller overall, so their whites are about 28g on average.

Sugar: I only use cane sugar. I've used both ultra fine baker's sugar and regular granulated sugar for these buttercreams. My preferred brand for granulated, Baker's, brown, and powdered sugars is C&H. I will use Domino cane sugar since it is part of the same company as C&H.

Cream of Tartar: Cream of tartar not only stabilizes the egg whites, but you get a much smoother and fluffier meringue. And I have never once over beaten egg whites using cream of tartar. This is one step I will not miss. I've noticed no difference between brands. The last time I purchased it the national brand name was out of stock, so I bought the Safeway store brand. No differences in performance.

Ratios: by knowing the ratio of sugar and fat to the egg whites in any given buttercream recipe, you can adjust to your tastes. As a general rule, adjustments up/down up to 15% can be made to most recipes without knocking everything out of kilter.

Equipment: it's important the mixing bowl and whisk beater is dry and free of any oils as oils will keep egg whites from beating to stiff peaks. I generally run mine through the dishwasher or wash with soap and vinegar.


SWISS MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM

Yield: icing for 4 layer 8" cake

Ratios:
Egg whites: 1.00 (100%)
Sugar: 1.11
Butter: 2.52
Cream Tartar: scant 1/8 tsp per 30g (1 large egg white)

The classic buttercream ratios (meaning what they teach in culinary classes) is 1 part egg whites, 2 parts sugar, 3 parts butter. As you can see from the recipe I use, I prefer my buttercream with a lot less sugar than the classic buttercream. So there is a lot of wiggle room where you can adjust to your taste.


Temperature:

Butter should be between 70° - 72°. I've used butter up to 75°, but that's pushing it.

Egg whites should be heated to 140° minimum. I heat to 160°

You can use commercially pasteurized egg whites, but you get less volume. They also take a lot longer to whip. If using commercially pasteurized egg whites, bring to 72° minimum before beating.

Equipment

• Stand mixer
• Whisk attachment
• Paddle attachment
• Hand whisk
• Pot large enough to set mixer over

Ingredients

180g/6.25 oz/6 egg whites ( NOT Trader Joe's, see note above)
200g/7 oz/1 cup cane sugar (divided, doesn't need to be exact) (C&H cane sugar)
454g/1 lb butter, preferably 82% butterfat, cut into 2" cubes (Plugra)
3/4 tsp cream of tartar (brand doesn't matter)
1/8 tsp salt (Diamond Crystal)

Method

Fill large pot large enough to hole mixer bowl without the bowl touching the bottom. Fill with a few inches of water. Water should not touch the bottom of mixer bowl. Bring to boil, then reduce to simmer.

Place egg whites, HALF the sugar, salt in mixer bowl. Hand whisk to combine.

Place mixer bowl over simmering water. Whisking continuously to prevent eggs from cooking. Heat egg mixture to a minimum of 140° (I heat to 160°). The sugar will dissolve as the egg whites heat.

With whisk attachment, beat egg mixture on medium speed (kitchenaid #4) for about a minute. Egg whites will be translucent, but very bubbly. Add Cream of Tartar and continue to beat on medium speed another minute, until egg whites begin to turn from translucent to white.

Gradually pour in the remaining sugar.

Increase speed to med-high (kitchenaid #6).

Beat until a quite reach stiff peak. The egg whites will go from dull white to very smooth and glossy. I always watch the ring of egg whites up against the bowl. When that ring looks smooth and glossy, I know the egg whites are ready.

Stop mixer. Replace the whisk with the paddle attachment.

On low speed (kitchenaid #2) begin adding butter, a couple of cubes at a time. Allow the cubes to incorporate a bit before adding additional cubes of butter.

After all the butter has been added, set a timer for eight minutes. Now walk away. The buttercream will probably look like soup. In fact, the minute you begin adding a butter it will deflate. This is perfectly normal. Have faith. Set the timer walk away.

When the timer goes off, you will have a lovely bowl of fluffy white buttercream that is not too sweet.

Flavor as desired

Extracts: Mix in any flavor of extract. I normally use vanilla bean paste.

Chocolate or white chocolate: melt and cool approximately 6-8 oz of quality chocolate. Chocolate should be fluid, but cool. Mix into buttercream.

Purées: with purées, you have to take care as too much can ruin the buttercream. Add small portions at a time. The moisture in purée will vary by fruit, and batch by batch. So don't assume you can add the same amount of purée of the same fruit.

Coloring: buttercream can be resistant to color due to the butter. I would NOT recommend Wilton colors. Americolor gels mixed with a bit of their Flo-coat will create a smooth even colored buttercream. The flo-coat essentially converts the gel color to a food color that can be used in applications where moisture is an issue, like in candy.

So If you don't want to mess with mixing flo-coat and gel color, you can use color labeled for candy.

To make a stiffer more stable buttercream:

Replace a potion of the granulated sugar with powdered sugar. I use 25%, but I know some will take it as high as 40%. You can increase the total sugar by adding powder sugar. As I mentioned above I don't like a sweet butter cream so my ratio is quite low compared to the standard. So you can certainly add additional powdered sugar for stability. You add the powdered sugar after the meringue is beaten but before you add the butter.

You can also replace up to 25% of the butter with high ratio shortening. I would not recommend store shortening has there are no emulsifiers in retail shortening. High ratio shortening is specifically formulated for the baking industry so it contains emulsifiers.

Since it's for the trade, home baker's have to purchase it repackaged into small quantities. If you're interested, check with your local cake decorating shops or online.

Storing:

keeps about 5 days in the refrigerator. I know a lot of people say you can freeze buttercream, but I've never had a lot of luck freezing it so I don't.

After refrigerating it will need to be re-whipped. I leave it on the counter for about an hour and then whip with the paddle attachment on low. It will go through a phase where it looks broken. But again let it mix. It's an emulsion, It'll take a while for it to come back together.

 

[ninamari]

Ratios:
Egg whites: 1.00 (100%)
Sugar: 1.11
Butter: 2.52
Cream Tartar: scant 1/8 tsp per 30g (1 large egg white)

@Norcalbaker59 thank you for such a wealth of information! I haven't dabbled with ratios so I want to make sure I understand them. So for this case, the weight of your egg whites is what will drive the amount of the subsequent ingredients when scaling up or down. The recipe you shared has 180g of egg whites, but if I wanted to scale up the recipe to, let's say 300g of egg whites, then I'd calculate the rest of the ingredients based on the ratios above:

• Sugar: (300g) * 1.11 = 333g
• Butter: (300g) * 2.52 = 756g
• Cream of Tartar: (1/8 tsp) * 10 (since there's 300g of egg whites)

Coloring: buttercream can be resistant to color due to the butter. I would NOT recommend Wilton colors. Americolor gels mixed with a bit of their Flo-coat will create a smooth even colored buttercream. The flo-coat essentially converts the gel color to a food color that can be used in applications where moisture is an issue, like in candy.

So If you don't want to mess with mixing flo-coat and gel color, you can use color labeled for candy.

Would powder coloring work in this case?

 

[Norcalbaker59]

@Norcalbaker59 thank you for such a wealth of information! I haven't dabbled with ratios so I want to make sure I understand them. So for this case, the weight of your egg whites is what will drive the amount of the subsequent ingredients when scaling up or down. The recipe you shared has 180g of egg whites, but if I wanted to scale up the recipe to, let's say 300g of egg whites, then I'd calculate the rest of the ingredients based on the ratios above:

• Sugar: (300g) * 1.11 = 333g
• Butter: (300g) * 2.52 = 756g
• Cream of Tartar: (1/8 tsp) * 10 (since there's 300g of egg whites)

Would powder coloring work in this case?

Hey Ninamari,
Regarding powdered color, yes powder color is actually excellent. Most people don't use it though because it can be quite expensive. However a little goes a long wait so in the long run it's actually a good value. To use powdered color you need to mix it with a little bit of shortening first.


Yes, you are correct, the ratios for all ingredients in buttercream are based on the amount of egg whites. So the egg whites are 1.00 (100%).

And the reason the egg whites is used as the basis to determine the ratios of other ingredients is the egg whites is what gives the buttercream its structure. It's the primary ingredient.

This math is referred to as baker's percentages. It's also called baker's math. It's the way I always bake.

In baked goods flour is the basis on which all other ratios are based. And again that's because the flour provides the structure. Flour is always 1.00 (100%). Always. That is the constant. Flour is 1.00--always!

If you walk into a commercial bakery you'll find binders of formula, not recipes (see photo as an example). Everything is in weight, with the percentages indicated. Knowing the total weight AND how the recipe is scaled allows the baker to make adjustments to production as needed. So if a bakery's cake sells average 50 cakes on a Saturday, but typically only 20 cake sells on Monday, the bakers can adjust production up and down using baker's percentages.

If a customer wants to order a larger size cake or smaller the Bakers percentage and knowing scale allows the baker to do that easily while maintaining the exact quality of the product.

By using Baker's percentages it doesn't matter who walks in the kitchen to mix the batter, it will always be consistent in quality and quantity if baker's percentages are used.

Commerical formulas have very little mixing instructions since mixing is standardize. It really depends on the individual kitchen as to the extent of detailed instructions are on the formula pages. The second photo is an actual recipe from an advanced cake class at CIA. You can see even for teaching they don't provide a lot of instruction. In a commercial kitchen it's assumed you know how to mix a cookie dough or cake batter.

The CIA formula notes scale at the bottom of the page. Scale is very important if you want to use a different size pan. Commercial formula will usually indicate scale and baker's percentages.

Since baker's percentages provides quality control and an accurate means to scale, home bakers who bake frequently usually convert all their recipes to baker's percentages.

Baker's percentages not only allows you to control your quality and scale your recipes based on each order, but also helps you calculate your costs. Knowing how much flour, sugar, butter, baking powder you need per cake, cupcake, etc, means you can calculate how much of each ingredient you need, and track your exact costs for raw materials. Important for those who turn a hobby into a side business.

 

[ninamari]

I tried the Swiss Meringue Buttercream from this thread and I do like that is not very sweet. It was actually my first time making this (and I'm pretty sure my arm is going to feel it tomorrow!). I heated the egg whites & sugar to about 150 degrees. It was slow to climb in temperature and my poor arm was worn out from the whisking

I've also learned a valuable lesson when separating egg whites and yolks. Do it in a separate bowl!!! I accidentally punctured a yolk and some of it when into my bowl where I already had 3 egg whites. Ah, you bake and you learn

I'm not sure what to think of this type of buttercream yet. I flavored it with 2 tsp of vanilla paste and I love that it wasn't overly sweet. However, I feel like I can taste the butter. That may be what has me undecided. It was my first time using Plugra in a buttercream (we discovered Plugra very recently, so we're just starting to use it for cooking and baking), and that butter is much richer than the regular stuff (which is really not a bad thing it's delicious on some warm bread). I will try this again, but substituting some of the granulated sugar with powdered sugar.

So, if I were to replace 40% of the sugar, and the total sugar is 200g, then I'd do 120g granulated and 80g powdered?

 

[Norcalbaker59]

I tried the Swiss Meringue Buttercream from this thread and I do like that is not very sweet. It was actually my first time making this (and I'm pretty sure my arm is going to feel it tomorrow!). I heated the egg whites & sugar to about 150 degrees. It was slow to climb in temperature and my poor arm was worn out from the whisking

I've also learned a valuable lesson when separating egg whites and yolks. Do it in a separate bowl!!! I accidentally punctured a yolk and some of it when into my bowl where I already had 3 egg whites. Ah, you bake and you learn

I'm not sure what to think of this type of buttercream yet. I flavored it with 2 tsp of vanilla paste and I love that it wasn't overly sweet. However, I feel like I can taste the butter. That may be what has me undecided. It was my first time using Plugra in a buttercream (we discovered Plugra very recently, so we're just starting to use it for cooking and baking), and that butter is much richer than the regular stuff (which is really not a bad thing it's delicious on some warm bread). I will try this again, but substituting some of the granulated sugar with powdered sugar.

So, if I were to replace 40% of the sugar, and the total sugar is 200g, then I'd do 120g granulated and 80g powdered?

Hello Ninamari,

Yes buttercream does have a buttery taste to it. When you add things like chocolate and purées it will balance out the butter. But I too am very sensitive to the butteriness--is that a word. And although I use less butter than the standard, I would still prefer less butter.

The trick is to find that balance between flavor, texture, and stability. The fat is key to a buttercream that pipes well. I know some bakers that will go above the 1:3 egg white to butter ratio to get a better piping texture. That's one plus for shortening, it provides smooth and firm texture with makes excellent piping quality. But I can't in good conscience serve people shortening mixed with powdered sugar.

If you find the Plugra too rich, try Tillamook brand butter. I use Tillamook now and again with good results. I use Plugra for just about everything except croissants. Croissants require a higher butterfat so I really like the Irish butter, Kerrygold for that application.

Yes, you are correct in the ratios on the substitution of powdered sugar to granulated sugar. Because I use considerably less sugar than the standard, there's a lot of wiggle room to play with the sugar ratios. You can certainly increase the amount of total sugar. So if you want to add more powdered sugar for stability and reduce the butter that's another possibility. I have to say I'm impressed with your ability to immediately grasp baker's math. That's the one area in baking that most people struggle with; it usually takes multiple explanations for people to grasp the concept. Even with me I had to sit down and calculate baker's percentages a couple of times before I fully understood it.

Keep the sweetness of any flavoring in mind when adjusting the sugar level. For instance, white chocolate will add a lot of sweetness. So much so, I prefer use white chocolate curls, rather than add melted white chocolate to the buttercream.

I been experimenting with lowering the butter percentage in Italian meringue buttercream. The sugar syrup provides for more stability, so it's a good candidate for lowering the butter. The standard is 1:3 egg whites to butter. I've taken the ratios down to 1:1.8. It's a bit soft, so I'm experimenting with adding in powdered sugar to provide more body and stability since I want to be able to pipe it.

When heating the egg whites you don't need to whisk vigorously. You just need to keep them moving so you don't end up with scrambled egg whites. If you place the egg whites in a metal mixing bowl, the wider surface area won't heat the egg whites up to temperature faster. I just do it in the mixer bowl because I'm lazy and I don't want to wash an extra bowl

We've all been there with the egg yolk breaking and dropping into the whites. I've made that graceful move with a dozen egg whites already in the bowl. Good thing I like egg white omelettes!

 

[ninamari]

Update on the buttercream: This morning, my husband took some of the cupcakes with the swiss meringue buttercream to work (I had to pair the buttercream with something ). He told me he enjoyed the buttercream much better today than when it was just made. His co-workers also loved them. I tried the buttercream tonight and it seems the butter taste did mellow out a bit. But, I will still experiment!! In all fairness, I feel I should probably disclose that I'm not really a frosting/icing girl... I usually just scrape it off and eat the cake!

I will keep my eye out for Tillamook butter. Thanks for the heads-up on Kerrygold for croissants. We also like that brand of butter, but we like Plugra better. I didn't realize it had a higher butterfat content than Plugra.

On baker's math... Thank you!! I like numbers, so that helps. Just don't give me trigonometry. I think that's actually part of the reason I love baking... it's precise, a different kind of science, but science and math nonetheless. I rely on recipes a lot when it comes to baking, so it would be nice to really be able to go in the kitchen and whip up something. From what I understand, knowing those key ratios are a must. I have a book on the subject, I read a bit of it last year. I'll definitely be reading it more in the coming months.

I was whisking quite a lot... I've always been intimidated by recipes that require eggs over a heat source (I was terrified when I made pastry cream for the first time a few weeks ago). I have this terrible image in my head that the moment the heat touches the eggs, they will immediately cook and I'll end up with a bowl of sweet scrambled eggs. So I kept whisking and whisking and whisking and my arm wanted to fall off. Next time I try this, I will just keep it moving. My arm will thank you. I will also try a different bowl. I did it in the mixing bowl as well and the first hurdle was finding a pot big enough for it!

I will also try a different flavoring.... maybe chocolate. You mention stability and I'm curious. Once this buttercream is piped onto cakes/cupcakes, I'm assuming it also needs to be kept refrigerated due to the butter? Even if powdered sugar is added? I'd rather err on the side of caution and keep it refrigerated, but man, I wish a had another fridge and freezer dedicated to baking

By the way, I vote to have butteriness submitted as an official term in this forum

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Update on the buttercream: This morning, my husband took some of the cupcakes with the swiss meringue buttercream to work (I had to pair the buttercream with something ). He told me he enjoyed the buttercream much better today than when it was just made. His co-workers also loved them. I tried the buttercream tonight and it seems the butter taste did mellow out a bit. But, I will still experiment!! In all fairness, I feel I should probably disclose that I'm not really a frosting/icing girl... I usually just scrape it off and eat the cake!

I will keep my eye out for Tillamook butter. Thanks for the heads-up on Kerrygold for croissants. We also like that brand of butter, but we like Plugra better. I didn't realize it had a higher butterfat content than Plugra.

On baker's math... Thank you!! I like numbers, so that helps. Just don't give me trigonometry. I think that's actually part of the reason I love baking... it's precise, a different kind of science, but science and math nonetheless. I rely on recipes a lot when it comes to baking, so it would be nice to really be able to go in the kitchen and whip up something. From what I understand, knowing those key ratios are a must. I have a book on the subject, I read a bit of it last year. I'll definitely be reading it more in the coming months.

I was whisking quite a lot... I've always been intimidated by recipes that require eggs over a heat source (I was terrified when I made pastry cream for the first time a few weeks ago). I have this terrible image in my head that the moment the heat touches the eggs, they will immediately cook and I'll end up with a bowl of sweet scrambled eggs. So I kept whisking and whisking and whisking and my arm wanted to fall off. Next time I try this, I will just keep it moving. My arm will thank you. I will also try a different bowl. I did it in the mixing bowl as well and the first hurdle was finding a pot big enough for it!

I will also try a different flavoring.... maybe chocolate. You mention stability and I'm curious. Once this buttercream is piped onto cakes/cupcakes, I'm assuming it also needs to be kept refrigerated due to the butter? Even if powdered sugar is added? I'd rather err on the side of caution and keep it refrigerated, but man, I wish a had another fridge and freezer dedicated to baking

By the way, I vote to have butteriness submitted as an official term in this forum

Oh yes the buttercream does mellow out after a day. And it does taste better when there's chocolate in it. But then what doesn't taste better with chocolate added I hear ya on the scrape the icing off and eat the cake! That why my version of buttercream has so little sugar.

I have a sweet tooth, but I prefer a subtle, more understated dessert. Sugar is a powerful taste. It quickly overwhelms. At a certain point you taste none of the flavors. There's no nuances, there's only sweet. The mark of a well made dessert is one that strikes balance between sweet and flavor. One of the nicest compliments I ever received was for a simply Chocolate Chunk Cookie. A guest at this picnic said, "you added a dash of toffee or caramel in that cookie...I love caramel and I can taste it." I knew then that I got the right balance in that cookie. She tasted the caramel, not just the sugar and chocolate. Sadly, American pastry tends toward the sugar bomb

SMBC can sit out for a day. Some people say two days, but I wouldn't leave a cake sitting out on the counter at room temperature for two days. After refrigerating the cake should sit out for about an hour before slicing and serving to give the SMBC a chance to soften.

In so far as holding its shape, piped SMBC will hold up in temperatures up to about 78°.
Italian meringue buttercream will hold up at slightly higher temperatures

 

[Apocalypso]

I found this thread so helpful and also fun to read the dialogue! I haven't baked much in quite a long time, but I decided to make an orange cake yesterday, and made an Italian meringue buttercream, the recipe from Julia Usher's web site. (She uses a sugar/corn syrup mixture instead of all cooked sugar.)

I was relieved when I got to the homestretch because it was a smooth, fluffy frosting. For flavoring, I added vanilla, a few drops of almond extract, and a bit of amaretto. It tasted mild but food. But I frosted a mini-cake with it, and after it was refrigerated on the cake, all I could taste was sweetened butter.

I don't think I messed up the making of the icing... it wasn't broken at least. It was supermarket butter, unsalted, and I do think a little salt in the egg whites, or maybe next time one stick of salted butter among the unsalted, might help.

But I want to try the SMBC and see what I think. Maybe I'll splurge for a European butter, though I can't imagine more butterfat is my issue... maybe it's just better flavor butterfat. Does grassfed make a lot of difference in the final icing? I've heard Costco's house brand of organic butter is pretty good. Any opinions?

 

[ninamari]

To me, European style butter tastes so much better than grocery store butter. Ever since we tried Kerrygold, we have been buying less and less of the grocery butter. Now we basically buy Kerrygold and Plugra (although I recently saw a Land-O-Lakes brand butter at the grocery store that says it's European style and contains 82% butterfat).

I guess what I'm trying to say is, once you try European style butter, you may never want to go back (nothing wrong with that! ). It just tastes so much better and my husband loves cooking with it. He's noticed how, when he cooks with it, it doesn't reduce as much as the grocery brands as it has less water. I haven't used Kerrygold in baking yet. I've only used Plugra and, so far, I love the results... well, I'm still on the fence on the flavor of the SMBC as I mentioned earlier. I haven't had a chance to make it again, to play around with adding powdered sugar and making a chocolate version, but it's on my to do list.

I think, in general, since the ingredients used in baking are so simple and humble, using high quality ingredients really do have an impact on the final product. Both my husband (he loves to cook) and I have been very happy with results we've gotten since switching butters.

Personally, I'd advise against using salted butter in the icing. You never know just how much salt has been added to it. You can always add a bit more salt if you feel like it needs it. I like to have control of what goes into it. You can always add more, but you can't take it away

 

[Apocalypso]

Oh, I thought you couldn't add granular salt at the end, had to go into the egg whites. That's why I thought using a little salted butter among the unsalted would be a last chance to affect it? (Sorry, I was mostly guessing on that, that the salt could remain gritty.)

 

[ninamari]

You can try increasing the salt that you add to the egg whites. It might take some trial and error. I haven't made Italian meringue buttercream, so I'm not too sure about adding salt once it's all whipped - I'll defer to more experienced bakers than me

I was looking at some recipes for the SMBC and I saw that salt was added along with flavoring at the end (link). I do like using fine salt so it dissolves faster.

 

[Angie CupcakeQueen]

My buttercream recipe is an American buttercream. In the beginning I used only butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. I was young and just started baking and this is the basic recipe I knew.
A couple years ago, I was doing my sisters wedding cake and knew that the recipe wouldn't suffice so I fixed it.
Now I use this recipe:
1 cup butter
1 cup shortening
2 tablespoons meringue powder
4 teaspoons vanilla extract or paste
2 lb. bag of powdered sugar
Salt
1-2 tablespoons milk

It seems like a lot of sugar and it is but I've gotten the recipe so that when I make it it's actually not as sweet as it may sound like and it has a really nice texture. I usually add a little salt and taste to get it to where I want it before I add the milk. It turns out great.
It's key in this recipe to put in the meringue powder and extracts or flavorings after you cream together the butter and shortening. Then add the sugar slowly. It tends to break if you miss any steps. It's happened to me once or twice with this particular recipe.

When I did my sisters wedding cake instead of all the vanilla I used one and a half tsp. of orange extract and one and a half tsp of lemon extract with two tsp. of vanilla. It's delicious.

 

[Sean James]

Ashley Rhodon,

Lol. We've all been there. As we ventured into the world of cake, we all made an American "buttercream" at some point. The vast majority of us took one bite, gagged, and scream, "In 200,000 years of humankind, someone, somewhere must have come up with a better icing than this crap!" And so the journey into real buttercream begins.

American "buttercream" is the only crusting icing. Crusting "buttercream" requires shortening and LOTS of powdered sugar. That's why it's so sweet. The massive amount of powdered sugar gives it the "crusting" effect.

While you can do some modifications to a meringue based buttercream it will never be a crusting buttercream. I'll talk more about modifications to create a more stable buttercream below.

Meringue buttercreams work well under fondant. My preference is for an Italian buttercream under fondant as it's a bit more stable.

Ive never personally used all meringue powder in a buttercream. It is routinely used in small potions as a stabilizer in royal icing and American "buttercream". I know it is used at times as a replacer for liquid eggs. I just don't have any experience with that and I don't know anyone who has.

A couple of things to keep in mind when making a meringue based buttercream.

Emulsion: buttercream is emulsion. An emulsion is just two or more things beaten together until they are suspended into each other. They are things that normally do not blend well together. In this case, fat and egg whites. So you just really need to have faith as you mix a buttercream because it will absolutely, without question, at some point during the mixing look like a soupy mess. So it's very important that you not panic, do not turn your mixer off, do not try to add anything to try to thicken it. I always tell bakers making a buttercream for the first time to set a timer for eight minutes, then turn and walk away. Do not even look in that bowl again until the timer sounds.

Butter: a high butterfat butter works best as it has less water. This goes back to the emulsion. You're mixing fat in liquid which do not normally mix well together. So the less water in the butter, the better your emulsion. I prefer Plugra brand which is about 82% butterfat in it. A standard grocery store brand of butter is about 80%

In my own experience I found you can actually have too much butterfat. I used Vermont Creamery cultured butter a couple of times. The butterfat is 86%. The buttercream was too soft to pipe.

Eggs: an average large egg white is 30 grams. I find this to be pretty consistent among brands with the exception of Trader Joe's--or at least my Trader Joe's. Their large eggs are a tad smaller overall, so their whites are about 28g on average.

Sugar: I only use cane sugar. I've used both ultra fine baker's sugar and regular granulated sugar for these buttercreams. My preferred brand for granulated, Baker's, brown, and powdered sugars is C&H. I will use Domino cane sugar since it is part of the same company as C&H.

Cream of Tartar: Cream of tartar not only stabilizes the egg whites, but you get a much smoother and fluffier meringue. And I have never once over beaten egg whites using cream of tartar. This is one step I will not miss. I've noticed no difference between brands. The last time I purchased it the national brand name was out of stock, so I bought the Safeway store brand. No differences in performance.

Ratios: by knowing the ratio of sugar and fat to the egg whites in any given buttercream recipe, you can adjust to your tastes. As a general rule, adjustments up/down up to 15% can be made to most recipes without knocking everything out of kilter.

Equipment: it's important the mixing bowl and whisk beater is dry and free of any oils as oils will keep egg whites from beating to stiff peaks. I generally run mine through the dishwasher or wash with soap and vinegar.


SWISS MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM

Yield: icing for 4 layer 8" cake

Ratios:
Egg whites: 1.00 (100%)
Sugar: 1.11
Butter: 2.52
Cream Tartar: scant 1/8 tsp per 30g (1 large egg white)

The classic buttercream ratios (meaning what they teach in culinary classes) is 1 part egg whites, 2 parts sugar, 3 parts butter. As you can see from the recipe I use, I prefer my buttercream with a lot less sugar than the classic buttercream. So there is a lot of wiggle room where you can adjust to your taste.


Temperature:

Butter should be between 70° - 72°. I've used butter up to 75°, but that's pushing it.

Egg whites should be heated to 140° minimum. I heat to 160°

You can use commercially pasteurized egg whites, but you get less volume. They also take a lot longer to whip. If using commercially pasteurized egg whites, bring to 72° minimum before beating.

Equipment

• Stand mixer
• Whisk attachment
• Paddle attachment
• Hand whisk
• Pot large enough to set mixer over

Ingredients

180g/6.25 oz/6 egg whites ( NOT Trader Joe's, see note above)
200g/7 oz/1 cup cane sugar (divided, doesn't need to be exact) (C&H cane sugar)
454g/1 lb butter, preferably 82% butterfat, cut into 2" cubes (Plugra)
3/4 tsp cream of tartar (brand doesn't matter)
1/8 tsp salt (Diamond Crystal)

Method

Fill large pot large enough to hole mixer bowl without the bowl touching the bottom. Fill with a few inches of water. Water should not touch the bottom of mixer bowl. Bring to boil, then reduce to simmer.

Place egg whites, HALF the sugar, salt in mixer bowl. Hand whisk to combine.

Place mixer bowl over simmering water. Whisking continuously to prevent eggs from cooking. Heat egg mixture to a minimum of 140° (I heat to 160°). The sugar will dissolve as the egg whites heat.

With whisk attachment, beat egg mixture on medium speed (kitchenaid #4) for about a minute. Egg whites will be translucent, but very bubbly. Add Cream of Tartar and continue to beat on medium speed another minute, until egg whites begin to turn from translucent to white.

Gradually pour in the remaining sugar.

Increase speed to med-high (kitchenaid #6).

Beat until a quite reach stiff peak. The egg whites will go from dull white to very smooth and glossy. I always watch the ring of egg whites up against the bowl. When that ring looks smooth and glossy, I know the egg whites are ready.

Stop mixer. Replace the whisk with the paddle attachment.

On low speed (kitchenaid #2) begin adding butter, a couple of cubes at a time. Allow the cubes to incorporate a bit before adding additional cubes of butter.

After all the butter has been added, set a timer for eight minutes. Now walk away. The buttercream will probably look like soup. In fact, the minute you begin adding a butter it will deflate. This is perfectly normal. Have faith. Set the timer walk away.

When the timer goes off, you will have a lovely bowl of fluffy white buttercream that is not too sweet.

Flavor as desired

Extracts: Mix in any flavor of extract. I normally use vanilla bean paste.

Chocolate or white chocolate: melt and cool approximately 6-8 oz of quality chocolate. Chocolate should be fluid, but cool. Mix into buttercream.

Purées: with purées, you have to take care as too much can ruin the buttercream. Add small portions at a time. The moisture in purée will vary by fruit, and batch by batch. So don't assume you can add the same amount of purée of the same fruit.

Coloring: buttercream can be resistant to color due to the butter. I would NOT recommend Wilton colors. Americolor gels mixed with a bit of their Flo-coat will create a smooth even colored buttercream. The flo-coat essentially converts the gel color to a food color that can be used in applications where moisture is an issue, like in candy.

So If you don't want to mess with mixing flo-coat and gel color, you can use color labeled for candy.

To make a stiffer more stable buttercream:

Replace a potion of the granulated sugar with powdered sugar. I use 25%, but I know some will take it as high as 40%. You can increase the total sugar by adding powder sugar. As I mentioned above I don't like a sweet butter cream so my ratio is quite low compared to the standard. So you can certainly add additional powdered sugar for stability. You add the powdered sugar after the meringue is beaten but before you add the butter.

You can also replace up to 25% of the butter with high ratio shortening. I would not recommend store shortening has there are no emulsifiers in retail shortening. High ratio shortening is specifically formulated for the baking industry so it contains emulsifiers.

Since it's for the trade, home baker's have to purchase it repackaged into small quantities. If you're interested, check with your local cake decorating shops or online.

Storing:

keeps about 5 days in the refrigerator. I know a lot of people say you can freeze buttercream, but I've never had a lot of luck freezing it so I don't.

After refrigerating it will need to be re-whipped. I leave it on the counter for about an hour and then whip with the paddle attachment on low. It will go through a phase where it looks broken. But again let it mix. It's an emulsion, It'll take a while for it to come back together.

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