American buttercream

I haven’t made American buttercream before as I started off with the French buttercream and loved the taste of it. This weekend I made some vanilla and coconut cupcakes, so I decided to try American buttercream to top my cupcakes. I think it is a good option when you need to be vegetarian or when making an eggless dessert. Surely, whipped cream is a good filler but if you want to do a fancier decoration with pipings, whipped cream can’t hold up very well for more complicated piping.

Since I only had nine cupcakes, I made a small amount of buttercream to use in one go. The basic recipe is as below and I made a third of the recipe. The result is as seen in the photo above, a slightly off- white appearance, smooth buttercream. I have to admit, it is very simple and quick to do. The downside is though: too sweet for my preference. In addition, I found this buttercream although appear smooth, it tastes grainy, I feel like I was crunching through very fine sugar grain. Having said that, this is my first attempt at American buttercream, and there may be ways to improve its texture that I am yet to learn.

Recipe:

3 cup icing sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1-2 tbsp milk (can also use water or cream instead)

Method:

1. Cream the butter and whip until it’s lighter in colour, smooth and fluffier thanks to more air incorporated
2. Slowly add icing sugar and whip well to combine and make sure all sugar has been dissolved. A good whipping from this step ensures a whiter and fluffier appearance at the end due to more air got incorporated
3. Add the milk to thin out the buttercream.
4. Add vanilla extract. Flavours or colour can be added at this step.

Notes:

• This recipe is quite flexible. The buttercream can be thickened by adding more icing sugar or thinned down by increasing amount of milk used.
• Some or all of the butter can be replaced by vegetable shortening for a whiter and less sweet buttercream. I am yet to test this.

Source:

http://joepastry.com/2008/american_buttercream_1/

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/12/classic-american-buttercream-recipe.html