That’s not buttercream…
That’s not buttercream…
I know what the label says, but I can tell you right now that what you just bought is not buttercream. It’s icing alright, however, it is not a real buttercream and that is just a shame.
Buttercream should have butter in it in some form or another. Yes, this is my personal opinion and yes, I feel strongly about it. Heck, I’m even dedicating an entire entry to the subject but hear me out. There are meringue-based buttercreams that will knock your icing-loving taste buds off of your tongue. You will take a bite and wonder where this cloud-esque, sweet, satiating food has been your entire life.
You should treat yourself to a real buttercream on a real, from-scratch cake sometime… soon, even! Italian Meringue, Swiss Meringue, French Buttercream, or even a German Buttercream should cross your lips once in your life on this planet. Then, when you’ve had “real” baked goods, those store-bought, pre-packaged, dough-conditioned goods will not only taste terrible to you, but also will make you a very unhappy human.
The science is simple. Buttercream should contain butter, sugar, eggs in some form, and flavoring – and that’s about it. The icing you might be used to eating at your nephews birthday party or your co-workers’ retirement lunch is probably shortening or other type of alternative fat that has been whipped into submission and creamed with powdered sugar which, by the way, contains corn starch in it. This lovely concoction is often referred to as American Buttercream.
Side note – the irony of the name has not escaped me.
The reasons and/or logic behind using shortening, margarine, and lard instead of butter are not lost on me. Being cost effective, having baked-goods in less-than-optimal situations such as picnics and outdoor wedding receptions, and getting a whiter-than-white icing are all reasons substitutes are used. But man alive, the trade-off is never fair! The coating on the inside of your mouth is reason enough stop eating American Buttercream.
Butter has a much lower melting point than other fats and substitutes, starting at around 83 degrees Fahrenheit. In contrast, American Buttercreams can stand up to outdoor event heat and changing temperatures. That also means it will leave an odd flavor and the aforementioned coating on the inside of your mouth. This coating phenomenon also means you can’t taste the cake you’re eating or probably anything else for the next 20 minutes, either. You might as well spoon the buttercream straight out of the can and into your mouth; completely bypassing the vessel it was delivered on.
So why bother with anything other than American Buttercream?
The main reason is enjoyment. Real butter does coat your mouth, but only for a moment and then it melts away, letting you actually taste the rest of the treat. A decent pastry chef worth their weight in sugar knows this and will create an entire dessert that tastes satisfying, not just like a one-note blob of sugary fat.
Real buttercream is rich, it’s delicious, it’s special and it should be in your life.
Let me make that work for you:
Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Ingredients:
3/4 cup egg whites, pasteurized
1.5 cups granulated sugar
1.5 #s unsalted butter – softened
1.5 tsp vanilla extract; pure
Directions:
Boil water for double boiler – set on medium high.
Pour the egg whites into your mixing bowl; add sugar and immediately start whisking at this time it so the whites coat all of the sugar granules.
Set over boiling water and continue to whisk. You’re melting the sugar granules but you don’t want to cook the egg whites. Keep stirring until you can put your finger in the mixture and feel it’s really warm (not boiling or scalding) but you don’t feel the sugar granules if you roll your finger with your thumb.
Once the sugar has dissolved, attach your bowl to the mixer with the whisk/whip attachment and whip on high until it has doubled in volume and the bowl is cool to the touch.
This is when you add your butter, ~1Tbl at a time. Continuously add butter. It will be an odd soup until you get to a good portion of the butter in… then it should start to thicken up. If you’ve added all the butter and it hasn’t thickened, let it keep whipping for another 5 minutes or add a few tablespoons of cold butter.
Add vanilla or other flavoring extracts at this time.
Mix for 3 to 4 minutes with the paddle attachment to make a super smoooooth buttercream
You can refrigerate for up to 2 weeks. Simply warm in microwave on 15 sec bursts until it softens up. Then whip it until it comes back. It may look like it has broken but keep whipping it then mix with the paddle attachment to smooth it out.
As always, shop local, eat well, and be kind to one another.
-Katie
