Kimberly's Kakes

Buttercream
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Original recipe from: Icing on the Cake by Shalini Latour - my comments included below.
 

Original recipe:

This makes enough to crumb-coat and cover an 8" round cake.

  • 4 T (60ml) egg whites
  • 1/4 c (60 ml/2 fl oz) heavy cream
  • 3/4 c (175g/6oz) butter, softened
  • 7c (800g/ 1 3/4 lb) powdered sugar
  1. Mix together egg whites and cream
  2. Whip butter in a small mixing bowl
  3. Alternate between adding the egg mixture and powdered sugar. Beat well for smooth texture.

My comments/additions:

I get a MUCH better consistency if the butter really is softened. I'm often impatient, so I've done it with cool butter many times. I actually had it out long enough once, and wow it was a good buttercream!

I have substituted whole egg for egg whites with no only slight color effect, and it's very yummy.

I have substituted half and half, or even milk, for the heavy cream.

I add vanilla. I don't really measure, I just taste. At LEAST a tsp, probably closer to two.

I haven't really noticed a color difference if you beat the heck out of it, anyway. You can always use the clear vanilla from Wilton if you really want it more white.

If you want a more stable, less greasy, and more ... fluffy, I guess... texture, substitute some of the butter with Crisco. About 1/4-1/3 of a cup. The store frostings are usually ALL Crisco, and people eat them all the time, don't worry that it's going to taste like grease - it'll taste like sweet!

If you do this, beat the Crisco and butter together well, before you start adding the sugar.

If you want a little tang and extra flavor, substitute cream cheese for some of the butter. Maybe 1/4 to 1/3 of the total.

You can double this in a Kitchenaid ... but you probably can't triple it.

Scrape the bowl midway through the process - there's powdered sugar stuck at the bottom of the bowl. No, really. There's also unmixed butter/Crisco on the sides/bottom, too. I promise.  

I also usually add about 1T of powdered egg white/meringue powder to the powdered sugar before adding it.

Contact: kimberly@_kimberlyskakes._com
(remove the leading underscores - they were put there to foil spambots)

Copyright Kimberly Jennery, 2007