Valeri Valeriano - Brilliant Buttercream Recipes

At its simplest, as the name suggests, buttercream is the result of creaming butter and powdered sugar. But you dont need to stop here as there is an amazing array of variations on basic buttercream. In this short book, we provide our tried and tested recipe for a crusting type of buttercream, along with an additional seven recipes for you to try, including two vegan alternatives. They are all great for piping flowers but will have different stability. Not all of these are crusting types but they are all beautiful and yummy we hope you enjoy!

What is so good about our recipe is that a little less or more of a certain ingredient is fine. So if your buttercream is too stiff, add water or milk. If it is too thin, just add icing sugar (confectioners sugar). Adjust it as you need to all in moderation, of course. You may use your buttercream straight away to cover and decorate your cakes, but if you think it is too soft, we suggest you chill it in the fridge for about an hour, or touch the surface if it is hard enough, take it out of the fridge.

• 225g (8oz) butter, room temperature
• 115g (4oz) medium soft vegetable fat (shortening) (Trex), at room temperature, OR 225g (8oz) of soft spreadable vegetable fat (shortening) (Crisco)
• 23 tsp vanilla essence, or your choice of flavouring
• 1 tbsp water or milk (omit if you live in a hot country or whenever the temperature is hot)
• 600g (1lb 5oz) icing sugar (confectioners sugar) , sifted, if using medium soft vegetable fat (shortening) OR 750g (1lb 10oz) icing sugar (confectioners sugar), sifted, if using soft spreadable vegetable fat (shortening)

Beat the butter at medium speed until soft and pale (about 1 to 2 minutes). Some brands of butter are more yellow in colour, so to make it paler you can increase the beating time to about 2 to 5 minutes.

Add the vegetable fat (shortening) and beat for another 20 to 30 seconds or less. Make sure that it is well incorporated and that there are no lumps.

Important note: As soon as you add anything to the butter, you must limit your beating time to 20 to 30 seconds or even less.

Add vanilla essence, or your flavour of choice, and water or milk, then beat at medium speed for about 10 to 20 seconds until well incorporated.

Slowly add the sifted icing sugar (confectioners sugar) and beat at medium speed for another 20 to 30 seconds or until everything is combined. You may want to fold the ingredients together manually before beating to avoid puffing clouds of sugar round your kitchen. Make sure you scrape the sides and bottom of your bowl, as well as the blade of your mixer, so you dont miss any lumps of icing sugar.

Lastly, after scraping the bowl, beat again for about 20 to 30 seconds and do not over-mix. This yields a perfect piping consistency of buttercream.

To make this light and fluffy buttercream, sugar and water are cooked to make a syrup while egg whites are beaten to soft peaks. The hot sugar syrup is added to the egg whites, which cooks them, making them no longer raw. The meringue is whipped to stiff peaks until its no longer warm. Room-temperature butter is added and mixed in until the frosting is light and smooth.

• 5 or 6 large egg whites
• 375g (13oz) granulated sugar
• 180ml (6fl oz) water
• 550g (1lb 4oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 200g (7oz) solid vegetable fat (shortening), at room temperature (optional, makes it stable)
• 2 tbsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt and/or cream of tartar (optional)

In a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, mix half the sugar with the water over medium heat, and stir just until the sugar dissolves. Brush around the sides of the pan with a clean pastry brush dipped in water to dissolve any sugar crystals you dont want the sugar to burn on the pan sides.

Attach a sugar thermometer to the side of the pan and continue boiling without stirring, until the sugar solution reaches 110C (225F).

Meanwhile, whisk the egg whites and remaining sugar in a stand mixer on low speed until the sugar is slightly dissolved. You can add a pinch of salt and/or cream of tartar for stability if you wish.

Once the egg whites are starting to become white in colour and forming stiff peaks, turn your mixer up to high and slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl. Avoid splashing the syrup onto the whisk attachment so as not to make spun sugar.

Continue whipping the whites until the mixture has cooled down. The bottom of the bowl should feel barely warm.

Switch to the paddle attachment. Once the meringue is cool to touch, slowly add the butter/vegetable fat (shortening), which should be at room temperature, while beating at medium-high speed. Then slowly add the vanilla extract.

When the mixture is well blended and smooth, and when there are no remaining pieces of butter, you can stop or switch to the whisk attachment on low-medium speed to make the buttercream fluffy.

This meringue buttercream is a slight variation on the Italian version, as the egg whites and sugar are heated over a pot of barely simmering water, which heats the egg whites to a temperature safe for consumption. Its just as delicious!

• 5 large egg whites
• 250g (9oz) granulated sugar
• 340g (1134oz) unsalted butter, cubed and at room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 14 tsp salt

Make a bain-marie (double boiler) by placing a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure the bowl doesnt touch the water.

Add the egg whites and sugar to the bowl, whisking constantly but gently, until the temperature reaches 60C (140F), or until the sugar has completely dissolved and the egg whites are hot to touch.

Remove from the heat, pour into the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment and begin to whip until the meringue is thick, glossy, and the bottom of the bowl no longer feels warm about 7 to 10 minutes.

Switch to the paddle attachment and, with the mixer on low speed, add the butter cubes one at a time until incorporated. Continue beating until the mixture has a silky smooth texture. If the buttercream curdles, simply keep mixing and it will come back to smooth. If the buttercream is too thin and runny, refrigerate it for about 15 minutes before continuing to mix it with the paddle attachment until it comes together. Add the vanilla extract and salt, continuing to beat on low speed until well combined.

Made in a similar way to Italian buttercream, the French meringue version uses a mixture of whole eggs and egg yolks as the base. You just pour a syrup of sugar and water into the eggs with your mixer running. Once the mixture is fully aerated and cool, you add room-temperature butter and mix until the frosting is light and smooth. You will need a sugar thermometer like the kind you use for making jam to make sure your syrup is at the right temperature.

• 4 egg yolks
• 4 eggs, whole
• 225g (8oz) granulated sugar
• 4 tbsp water
• 900g (2lb) butter, cubed and at room temperature
• few drops of vanilla extract