What is Butter Cream??
Buttercream is a type of icing or filling used either inside cakes, as a coating, or as decoration.
Also used to decorate or fill cakes, desserts, roulades and petit four. Butter cream can be flavoured in many ways, either with alcohol, essences, fruit, nuts, nougat, chocolate etc.
Varieties
Simple buttercream
Simple buttercream is made by creaming together fats (butter, margarine, or vegetable oil shortening) and powdered sugar to the desired consistency and lightness. Typically twice as much sugar as butter by weight is used. Flavorings, in the form of extracts and oils, may also be added. Some recipes call for cream, non-fat milk solids, flour, or meringue powder.
Other varieties
French buttercream (also known as pâte à bombe-based buttercream or common buttercream) is made with whipped egg yolks. Custard-based buttercream is prepared by beating together pastry cream and softened butter, and may be additionally sweetened with extra confectioners' sugar.
Meringue-based buttercream
There are three types of meringue-based buttercream: Italian, Swiss, and American. The Italian and Swiss meringues must be cooled to room temperature in order not to melt the butter (which has a variable melting point below 35 °C (95 °F) as it is subsequently beaten in. The American meringue buttercream is a no-cook method which means there is no risk of melting the butter.
The most used butter creams are Italian butter cream, German butter cream, French butter cream.
Italian butter cream (Italian meringue based)
Italian butter cream which is based on a boiled meringue and butter. This method is very stable, has an excellent shelf-life and is easy to produce. Fondant and butter mixture is not classified as an italian meringue. It has poor eating qualities and is lacking flavour.
Recipe
Caster Sugar 1000 gr
Water 300 gr
Glucose 50 gr
Egg Whites 200 gr
Unsalted Butter 1500 gr
Vanilla 10 gr
Salt 5 gr
How to make Italian butter cream
- Place caster sugar, water, glucose into a clean stainless steel pan, over a low heat, stirring to boil.
- At the boil stop stirring and turn up the heat untill the sugar reached a temperature of 121c. wash down the sides of the pan from time to time to avoid crystallisation of the sugar.
- Commence whisking the meringue when the sugar reached boiling point.
- When the sugar reached 121c turn the machine down to low speed and slowly pour the hot syrup slowy in and turn the machine to fast speed and whisk untill cold.
- Lastly add the softed butter and flavours into the meringue and cream.
German butter cream(Custard Based)
German butter cream is based on a Créme patisserie. This method is particular good as Créme is standard for most producers of cakes and desserts. therefore it is excellent to use in emergencies. Shelf-life is limited due to the egg content.
Recipe
Milk 500gr
Caster sugar 120gr
Corn flour 40 gr
Vanilla flavour 1cover
Egg Yolk 1 pcs
Unsalted butter 660 gr
How to make German butter cream
- Mix a little cold milk with the corn flour and the egg in a bowl.
- Boil the remaining milk pour on to the slurry and return to the pan
- Re-boil whilst stirring.
- Strain and whisk cold
- When the custard become cold add into the creamy butter
French butter cream(Sabayon Based)
French butter cream is based on a sabayon. It is difficult to make due to the warming of the egg-mixture. This when overheated coagulates and small egg lumps are visible in the cream. The butter cream is very light and has particular good eating qualities it is very suitable to use for petit fours.
Recipe
Eggs 175gr
Sugar 175gr
Vanilla 10gr
Salt a pinch
Unsalted butter 430gr
How to make French butter cream
- Whisk eggs, sugar, vanilla, salt in a water bath to 45c (Sabayon)
- Place into the mixing machine and whisk cold.
- Creamy the butter to the same consistency and temperature as the egg and fold both together.
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