Need a buttercream icing recipe that is simple and classic!
I just took a Wilton cake decorating class to find the joy that I had many years ago when I worked for an ice cream store. Unfortunately, the icing recipe they provide is pretty disheartening and could probably could be used to spackle a wall. Also, it can be shockingly sweet. Of course, I would like to find the ultimate buttercream recipe: easy, bakery-like, light (to the touch...I know it will in no way be good for me!) and hopefully not made w/a cup of Crisco.
I KNOW IT EXISTS!!!
sweettoothT
Jan 26, 2007 07:35PM
I have this in my "recipes to try" folder in MasterCook. I haven't tried it yet, but it had some really good reviews and a few tips:
http://www.recipezaar.com/95416
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Thanks so much! I'm sure it taste better and I like that it doesn't contain the mysterious "meringue powder" I had to buy from Wilton to add. I'll let you know how it goes!
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I just made this today and have been making it for years, the only vanilla frosting I ever make. It's a little unusual, but very, very good. I never make frosting with powdered sugar because I can taste the cornstarch in it and I dislike it intensely.
I think my grandmother got this from a cake decorating class, probably in the 50s or 60s.
Whisk together in a saucepan 5 Tbsp flour and a cup of milk. Cook over medium heat until starting to thicken and cook for a minute or two more-- don't let it get too thick or it will be too stiff when it cools. Turn into a flattish dish (like an old-fashioned soup plate) and let cool, stirring now and again. If the roux is lumpy when it cools, just press it through a fine sieve.
Beat together a cup of unsalted butter and a cup of granulated sugar until light (you really need an electric hand mixer or stand mixer for this). Beat in the cooled roux about two tablespoons at a time. As you beat and add the roux, the frosting turns creamy instead of grainy from the sugar (I don't know how it does that! It's like a small, wonderful miracle.). Add 1-2 tsp vanilla and beat some more until it's light and creamy. Fantastic frosting. I filled and frosted a chocolate cake with it and put lots of coconut in the middle and all over the top and sides.
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Powdered sugar has cornstarch in it? not the one on my shelf. Anyway, granulated sugar in the blender makes powdered sugar in an instant.
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Yes, I think most powdered/10x sugar has 3% cornstarch in it to keep the sugar from caking. I've never been happy with frosting made from it. An older edition of JoC suggests letting it stand over hot water (in a double boiler) to cancel out the raw taste of the cornstarch, but the one time I tried this I ended up with a gritty mess of frosting.
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Wow, this is a great recipe! I'm a first-time frosting maker, and this is tastier than any I've ever bought or tasted!
Thanks so much for the recipe.
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I just made this recipe & it tastes Great, but it is too runny! :-/ Any ideas how to thicken?
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I'm not sure if you want to decorate with this icing or not but I've only ever used it as icing to cover a cake but it always receives good comments.
Buttercream Icing
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1.5 cups sifted icing sugar
.5 cup whipping cream
.5 cup boiling water
To make icing, cream together butter, icing sugar and whipping cream with an electric mixer until well blended.
Add boiling water, 1 teaspoon at a time, beating constantly until all water is incorporated and icing is light and fluffy.
I make this icing just before I'm going to use it. You can add a dash of vanilla if you like and sometimes I'll add a tiny pinch of salt in step one to take the sweetness down just a bit.
I hope you enjoy this icing...I always put it on a dark chocolate cake the big debate is whether the cake/icing tastes better at room temperature or out of the fridge.
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Island girl..this is a really interesting recipe, since I've never seen a buttercream that uses boiling water before. I'm attracted to the recipe since it does use butter (which seems to yield a better taste than shortening) and not a huge amount of 10x sugar, but it doesn't involve any kind of meringue method (Italian or swiss buttercreams, etc) since I tend to find those too buttery. Can you give some insight regarding the consistency of this? Is it easy to spread and is it capable of being used for decorations that don't require an incredibly stiff icing, such as shell borders, etc,? Finally, how much does it yield, not necessarily in cups...does this recipe fill and frost a 3 layer, 9 inch cake? Thanks for your recipe!
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Boiling water is THE secret to a good buttercream frosting. It kills the cornstarch taste and gives a chocolate buttercream the taste of real cooked fudge frosting. I always use butter, good vanilla, and a goodly pinch of salt (more or less depending on whether your butter is salted.
About 6 Tbs. (3/4 stick) butter to a pound of confectioner's sugar (that's ~ 4 cups?), 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla. (this for a two layer cake.)
I've never decorated a cake, just frosted them; so I can't recommend this for anything but good eating. And I like my frosting firm but creamy, non-sticky to the touch.
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SweettoothT, yes a good buttercream does exists. I am definitely partial to Italian buttercream since it is the most stable of all. Many high end bakeries use this method.
750 g. granulated sugar
1/4 liter of water
6 oz. egg whites
2 1/2 pounds of soft butter
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
Bring sugar and water to 118 c. On a clean mixing bowl, whip egg whites until frothy.
Pour sugar syrup into whipped egg whites and whip until firm meringue. When cool,
add diced butter and continue whipping until light and fluffy, add vanilla.
Please look up more concise directions on making buttercreams since it can be somewhat
tricky sometimes, but the end product is well worth it, try it, you will not be disappointed.
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hmm, this sounds tasty and appears simple enough. So this is italian buttercream?
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Yep. I love Italian meringue as well. Mmmm, buttercream.
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Wow! half metric and half regular (what is the proper term?)
You're as confused as I am...why does this country refuse to use metric? Let it be a 20 year project when both systems are used and then just phase over....!
It's a Republican plot!!! No, it didn't happen during the Democratic years either...we need a new party
"The American Centrist Party"...(!?) we in the middle want to enter the 21st Century!
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Classic or neoclassic buttercream from Rose Levy Beranbaum's "The Cake Bible." Classic has egg yolks, sugar and water, and butter. Neoclassic replaces the water and some of the sugar with corn syrup, eliminating the need to use a candy thermometer. Of course, when you're done, you add flavoring too.
"The Cake Bible" also has a recipe for buttercream using Italian meringue.
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Powdered sugar, real butter, and the grated rind and pulpy juice of oranges. Courtesy of my great-grandmother. This "Orange Blossom Icing" is terrific, especially on angelfood cake.
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Awww, my Grandma used to make this same icing. She would go outside and pick whatever citrus was best at the time (orange, lemon, or grapefruit). My favorite was the lemon, but it was all wonderful. This is the best icing out there, though not so great for decorating(?).
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The best buttercream I've made is from Dorrie Greenspan's new cookbook. I'll try to paraphrase when I get a chance.
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I like Restaurant Eve's buttercream recipe for their "not your birthday" cake:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/...
But, if you're making roses and decorations, the Wilton recipe holds up under extreme conditions (like heat). Crisco holds it form. If I'm making a cake that's going to be outdoors, I'll use a buttercream frosting but the Wilton frosting (I know they call it buttercream but it is really criscocream...) for decorations.
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I've been looking for a cake exactly like this - thank you so much for posting.
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Chowser, I did end up making this cake and it was a huge hit. Thanks again for posting.
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I just made it again, too, for people who've never had it. My friend said at a party a day later, they were still raving about it. Last year I did a sour cream chocolate layer cake with milk chocolate buttercream (from the Cake Bible) which they really liked but sometimes something that's plain and simple like this is perfect.
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Exactly. Sometimes you just want a place, old-fashioned birthday cake type-cake. It was just perfect.
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Thankyou for posting this. The icing they use in those classes (similar to that used in many grocery stores etc) drives me nuts! 1 cup or so of Crisco to 2 lbs of powdered sugar, along with imitation vanilla (real vanilla is too dark) etc. I do understand why the Crisco icing is popular -- holds up better in the heat, doesn't need to be refrigerated etc -- but frosting should taste good. Even in the class I took, when we ate one of the samples, everyone scraped off the icing, flowers and all.
Fine Cooking has a great vanilla/white butercream recipe. If you don't need it immediately, I can dig it out and email it to you when I get home. And just as a side note, the Barefoot Contessa's chocolate buttercream is fabulous.
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WOW! That's very cool of you, but don't go out of your way. I'll try to dig up on their website (here's hopin!) I'm going to also try the one sent from chowser. The Restaurant Eve one. I'll let you all know how it goes. Trying on my brother's bday cake.
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Hi! I was wondering if I could get a copy of your buttercreme recipe? Thanks so much!
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I posted the recipe here: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/36403...
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Hello,
I just made buttercream frosting for the first time. It is very buttery, lightly sweetened and very fluffy! I got the recipe from cookscountry.com - If you try it, let me know how it worked out for you.
Thanks!
4 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
pinch table salt
1 pound unsalted butter (4 sticks), softened, each stick cut into quarters
1. Combine eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt in bowl of standing mixer; place bowl over pan of simmering water. Whisking gently but constantly, heat mixture until thin and foamy and registers 160 degrees on instant-read thermometer.
2. Beat egg mixture on medium-high speed with whisk attachment until light, airy, and cooled to room temperature, about 5 minutes. Reduce speed to medium and add butter, one piece at a time. (After adding half the butter, buttercream may look curdled; it will smooth with additional butter.) Once all butter is added, increase speed to high and beat 1 minute until light, fluffy, and thoroughly combined. (Can be covered and refrigerated up to 5 days.)
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I also tried this recipe, but found it too buttery and I even reduced the butter to 3 1/2 sticks. The texture is much nicer than butter + powdered sugar, very silky
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I was wondering how your search for better icing was going? Thanks so much!
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This is my basic buttercream recipe that I reply on for cakes of all sort. It makes a large batch, but it can easily be reliably halved for smaller situations.
http://pastrychef.com/htmlpages/recip...
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Thanks for the recipe! Can you provide some information regarding taste and texture of this recipe? I've not yet tried a recipe that uses egg whites in combination with butter and shortening (I've tried recipes that are half butter and half shortening but no egg whites and recipes that are all butter and egg whites but no shortening...none of which I've loved). I'm still on my hunt for the ultimate recipe so would love to see if this one could be it! I know you're a pastry chef so I have high hopes.
Also, must one use high-ratio shortening in this recipe? It is my understanding that high-ratio shortening holds color/prevents beads of color better than regular shortening but that it does not affect taste/texture. Do you find this to be accurate? Thanks in advance for any additional information you are able to provide.
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The buttercream from this recipe is sweet but it isn't the puckering sweet and pasty that some recipes are. the butter and shortening provide body, but the 50-50% ratio doesn't have the overt sweetness . The egg whites are there to help it set up, but this will not harden like royal icing will.
High ratio shortening is called for but I use regular shortening with no noticeable changes. You might have to use a bit more color, but I have never found that the extra pigment required affects the outcome of the recipe.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I made a lot of mistakes to gain my experience and I am still learning.
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Thanks so much for the recipe!
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Hi SweettoothT. I am not sure if you're still looking, but I have a recipe from my grandmother, who studied pastry whatever back in the former Hungary/Yugoslavia.
5eggs
250g sugar
1 butter (half a pund, unsulted)
flavouring (you can use baking chocolate, vanilla or lemonrind)
Put the eggs and sugar in a large stainless steel pot and cook over medium heat stirring constantly. When it gets to a pudding-like consistency stir like crazy for another few seconds until it cooks through:D, be careful not to burn the bottom (it is supposed to be cooked over steam, but I never have the patience for it, and this works for me) Take off the stove and add butter, stil until it melts. Wehen it cools whip it with a handheld mixer and you've got a great icing. I use it for both filling and frosting. eat within 3 days :-)
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Everytime I've made this icing it comes out perfect.
Mom Mom's Butter Cream Icing
2 tablespoons cornstarch or 4 tablespoons flour
1 cup whole milk
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix cornstarch (or flour) with milk. Cook until thick, whisking the entire time. Set aside to cool. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla and cooked cornstarch mixture slowly. Beat until it feels like whipped cream.
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What is the texture like? Since it uses flour, is it pasty like the powsered sugar + butter or does cooking the flour with milk prevent that?
Is the milk mixture just heated or can it be boiled?
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Love the one from Magnolia Cafe...Can be found on www.foodtv.com
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I took a cake decorating class at an occupational school a few years ago. The instructor made us bring 3 pounds of butter the week before we had a cake to decorate. In exchange, we received 3 pounds of Italian Meringue buttercream frosting. It is not easy to make. From the teacher's demonstration, I remember you had to calibrate your candy thermometer, to make sure the water was the correct temperature. Boil sugar in the water, add small pieces of cold butter, beating in your stand mixer while adding egg whites. Very labor intensive. I never really liked it. It was like eating slightly sweetened butter on very sweet cake. It was very greasy. If you got it on anything, including your hands, it was very tough to clean. It is used in very high-end bakeries. I prefer the regular bakery stuff. I've had better results using a high ratio shortening like Sweetex instead of Crisco. It's available on line.
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