#swiss meringue buttercream | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

punkbakerchristine · 2 months ago

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Buttercreams, 7 different kinds!

buttercreams are frostings with butter as the primary fat in the recipe. butter gives them a prominent flavor, a creamy texture, and relatively good stability.

i tried pulling the main seven from a site i had bookmarked but it + tumblr continually crashed (tumblr likes to crash a lot lately, it’s really weird), so i had to consult google for them besides the main point here:

there are Simple Buttercreams and True Buttercreams.

Simple buttercreams are made by mixing of ingredients. they’re just that, simple. They are thicker and exceptionally stable frostings so they’re perfect for easy, reliable frosting. The science side of this says that they contain a high rate of undissolved sugar, and as a result, they can form a crust, ideal for intricate, long-lasting piped decorations. The primary member of this category and the one everyone learns in cake making 101 is the American buttercream.

True Buttercreams meanwhile require creating an emulsion, which takes more steps and time. These bad boys are smooth and creamy texture with no graininess as the sugar’s been dissolved. Even with more time, effort, and ingredients, they’re the ones the pros use, the kinds you find in restaurants, nice bakeries, and on tv.

now! we have that down. please save this for future reference. the internet is fracturing fast and tumblr has been… weirdly buggy lately? so take this and write it down 🤍

***also may I recommend that you use unsalted butter for these, too, especially if one of them calls for a pinch of salt

Classic American Buttercream is the most recognizable and popular frosting. As I said, it’s what you learn the very first time you make a frosting of any kind. If the recipe calls for butter and powdered sugar/confectioners sugar, it’s probably American Buttercream. It’s sweet and dense, and it’s nostalgic.

Can be used for piping flowers—you might’ve seen it on birthday cakes when you were a kid or you’ll see it on the cakes in the bakery at the grocery store.

it’s also really easy to make, such that you don’t need a mixer (just make sure that butter is s o f t).

Not recommended if you don’t like too sweet of a frosting—in any which case, look ahead to the True Buttercreams.

Russian Buttercream is a step up from American, but still rather simple: it’s butter, salt, confectioners sugar, vanilla extract, and (ready?) condensed milk. It’s also referred to as Condensed Milk Buttercream for this reason. Very sweet and vanilla-y, and kind of looks like whipped cream.

Highly recommended for piping and frosting all your cakes and cupcakes.

it’s a lot silkier and more airy than American buttercream as the condensed milk and vanilla help dissolve more of the sugar.

However, because it contains condensed milk, it doesn’t last as long as the American so… eat up.

Ermine Buttercream is another slightly more complicated frosting, but still pretty easy. Also known as milk frosting, flour frosting, flour buttercream, and $300 frosting, it’s made by gently heating milk and flour just to cook the latter, and then added into your butter and sugar.

What you get is something that is somewhat of an acquired taste because it’s not as sweet as you would expect, but it lives up to its name, it’s like velvet.

speaking of velvet, it was actually traditionally used on red velvet cake until one day, someone decided that cream cheese frosting was better and more sympathetic I could not be.

because of the incorporated flour, it’s very stable when used in piping.

It’s a little antiquated, like you’ll see it used in cake recipes from the 50s, 60s, and 70s (and the nickname “$300 frosting” should tip you off a bit), but it’d be something worth bragging about if you’re a millennial like me, like “hey, i made this cake with ermine frosting!” and expect everyone over the age of 46 in the room to look at you à la the shocked pikachu 😂

French Buttercream. Oh, boy. Here’s where it starts getting a little more sophisticated. French buttercream is made by heating a sugar syrup (sugar dissolved in water) until it reaches “soft ball stage” (which is confectioner speak for 235-240° on your candy thermometer) and then you whip it into beaten egg yolks and soft butter. The result is something that literally shines and is very rich, even pillowy.

It’s definitely a “gateway” thing, like if you can make French buttercream, you’re on your way to having it made.

I’ve only tried it once in my life and it is so marshmallow-y and soft.

it is very rich, though, like you only need a little bit of it or you will feel sick to your stomach 😂

because it’s so soft, it’s not recommended for piping details or anything like that.

you also want to be careful making it as you’re using egg yolks but the hot sugar syrup will help cook them.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream is somewhat of a goal of mine given the complexity and it’s also a frosting the pros use. First, you make the Swiss meringue which—if you remember my mnemonic device for meringues—is made by whipping egg whites and granulated sugar over a bain-marie until fluffy. You then whip your butter, vanilla extract, and confectioners sugar together, then switch off the mixer, and gently fold in the meringue.

It is heavenly. It is exactly what I imagine the Swiss Alps to be like after a snowfall.

there’s a strange elegance to it, like if you make your cake and frost it with Swiss meringue buttercream, expect everyone to either take you way more seriously or downright envy you.

it’s the easier of the meringue-based buttercreams.

it’s also very versatile in terms of flavor (for this reason, I call it the Alex Skolnick of the buttercreams): bakers put things like chocolate, fruits, and cinnamon in it all the time—I once saw matcha-flavored Swiss meringue buttercream.

it is however, one of those things that seems easy but it’s easy to mess up (like the sugar won’t dissolve all the way or you can accidentally cook the egg whites). You have to focus and even then you’ll probably have to do it a couple of times to get the hang of it.

German buttercream is also known as custard buttercream given it’s made with pastry cream (i’m thinking in the next week or so, I’ll make a post on the million different types of creams because I admittedly still can’t tell them apart). What you do is whisk together milk, cream, and egg yolks until they’re thoroughly combined.

In a saucepan, whisk together sugar, cornstarch and salt. While still whisking, drizzle cream mixture into sugar mixture until thoroughly combined and no lumps.

Gently cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and resembles to pudding. Remove from heat and pour through a fine-mesh strainer into a heatproof bowl. Whisk in butter, 1 Tablespoon at a time (usually about 3-4 tablespoons or roughly half a stick), and then stir in vanilla extract. Let it cool off in the fridge so it can set, and then you simultaneously take it plus the butter for the actual buttercream out to reach room temperature.

and then you take your softened butter and whip it in the mixer so it’s nice and fluffy, and you carefully add in the pastry cream.

gosh, that’s a mouthful 😅

it’s like everything you wish American buttercream is because it pipes on beautifully, like it’s the kind used for intricate swirls and decorations on those “showstopper” cakes and what’re known as “lambeth” cakes (those really boldly colored cakes you might have seen on Instagram or in the baking tags on here, they’re like four feet high and bright pinks and greens and orange and blues). It’s not nearly as sweet, either!

as you can see, though, it’s quite complicated and requires a lot of butter, too. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart.

Italian meringue buttercream is the one. This is the one. If you can master Italian meringue buttercream, you are not one to be trifled with.

Again referring back to my mnemonic device for remembering the different meringues: you make the sugar syrup with water and sugar in water until it reaches softball stage. Meanwhile, off to the side, you start whipping your egg whites and cream of tartar (which helps the egg whites maintain their stiff glossy shape). When the syrup is ready, you keep the mixer down low and very carefully pour it in. Once that’s in, you add your vanilla extract then you gradually add your butter. Oh, my god, do you add butter (Martha Stewart’s recipe calls for a whopping four sticks/an entire box).

This is the cream of the crop. I usually see it on wedding cakes and I also see it on baking shows sometimes… and it’s more of a double edged sword than Swiss meringue buttercream.

I mean, christ almighty, the amount that can go wrong here—for example, bakers make a point to tell you that the butter should be room temperature or soft but not melted (it can make the frosting oily or greasy). Because you’re handling 235° sugar syrup, you can also get burned—happens to confectioners, chocolatiers, and bakers get burned all the time. And Italian meringue buttercream is tricky and as daunting as it is because the timing involved is absolutely everything. In other words, when they do it right, it’s stunning and is guaranteed to win. But when it misses, it REALLY misses.

by the way—this is seriously a miracle of science and nature—each one of these can be made vegan. You use aquafaba (the water found in cans of chickpeas) in lieu of egg whites, coconut oil in lieu of butter, soy or oat milk in lieu of regular milk when making pastry cream, and apparently ground flaxseeds in some water is a good substitute for egg yolks.

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