Buttercream, also referred to as butter
icing or frosting, is used for either
filling
Filling may refer to:
* a food mixture used for stuffing
* Icing (food), Frosting used between layers of a cake
* Dental restoration
* Symplectic filling, a kind of cobordism in mathematics
* Part of the leather crusting process
See also
* Fi ...
, coating or
decorating cake
Cake is a flour confection made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients, and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elaborate, ...
s. The main ingredients are
butter
Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condiment ...
and some type of
sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...
.
Buttercream is commonly flavored with
vanilla
Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the Mexican species, flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia'').
Pollination is required to make the p ...
. Other common flavors are
chocolate
Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...
, fruits, and other liquid extracts.
Food coloring
Food coloring, or color additive, is any dye, pigment, or substance that imparts color when it is added to food or drink. They come in many forms consisting of liquids, powders, gels, and pastes. Food coloring is used in both commercial food ...
is commonly added if the buttercream is being used as decoration. Buttercream can be piped or spread in decorative patterns and shapes.
Varieties
Mock cream or buttercream
Mock cream or buttercream is a simple buttercream made by
creaming together
butter
Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condiment ...
and
powdered sugar
Powdered sugar, also called confectioners' sugar, or icing sugar, is a finely ground sugar produced by milling granulated sugar into a powdered state. It usually contains between 2% and 5% of an anti-caking agent – such as corn starch, po ...
to the desired consistency and lightness. Some or all of the butter can be replaced with
margarine
Margarine (, also , ) is a spread used for flavoring, baking, and cooking. It is most often used as a substitute for butter. Although originally made from animal fats, most margarine consumed today is made from vegetable oil. The spread was orig ...
, or
shortening
Shortening is any fat that is a solid at room temperature and used to make crumbly pastry and other food products. Although butter is solid at room temperature and is frequently used in making pastry, the term ''shortening'' seldom refers to bu ...
.
A small amount of
milk
Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. Immune factors and immune ...
or
cream
Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...
is added to adjust the texture. Usually twice as much sugar as butter by weight is used. Some recipes also call for
powdered milk
Powdered milk, also called milk powder, dried milk, or dry milk, is a manufactured dairy product made by evaporating milk to dryness. One purpose of drying milk is to preserve it; milk powder has a far longer shelf life than liquid milk and do ...
or meringue powder.
Compared to other types of buttercream, American buttercream has fewer ingredients, and is quicker and easier to make.
It is also sweeter because of the high amount of sugar.
Because it does not have an egg or cooked base, it is less stable and melts easily in warm temperatures.
Meringue-based buttercream
![Britney Wedding Cake](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Britney_Wedding_Cake.jpg)
Meringue buttercream is made by beating softened butter with either Italian or Swiss
meringue
Meringue (, ; ) is a type of dessert or candy, often associated with Swiss, French, Polish and Italian cuisines, traditionally made from whipped egg whites and sugar, and occasionally an acidic ingredient such as lemon, vinegar, or cream of ...
until the mixture is emulsified and light.
The meringue must be cooled to room temperature in order not to melt the butter (which has a variable melting point below
as it is subsequently beaten in.
The meringue gives buttercream a structure that is more stable in warm temperatures.
Swiss meringue buttercream
Swiss meringue is made by heating
granulated sugar
White sugar, also called table sugar, granulated sugar, or regular sugar, is a commonly used type of sugar, made either of beet sugar or cane sugar, which has undergone a refining process.
Description
The refining process completely removes ...
and
egg whites
Egg white is the clear liquid (also called the albumen or the glair/glaire) contained within an egg. In chickens it is formed from the layers of secretions of the anterior section of the hen's oviduct during the passage of the egg. It forms aro ...
until the sugar dissolves, then whipping it until it forms a meringue. The meringue is then whipped with butter and flavorings.
Italian meringue buttercream
Italian meringue is made by drizzling a hot sugar syrup into already whipped egg whites while continuing to whip. The meringue is then whipped with butter and flavorings.
Other varieties
Ermine frosting (flour buttercream)
Ermine frosting is also known as boiled milk frosting or cooked flour frosting. It is made by cooking
flour
Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many culture ...
and milk until it becomes a thick paste or
roux
Roux () is a mixture of flour and fat cooked together and used to thicken sauces. Roux is typically made from equal parts of flour and fat by weight. The flour is added to the melted fat or oil on the stove top, blended until smooth, and cooke ...
.
The cooked milk mixture is then beaten with butter until light.
Ermine frosting is considered to be old-fashioned, and is less common than other types of buttercream. It is less sweet and has a texture similar to
whipped cream
Whipped cream is liquid heavy cream that is whipped by a whisk or mixer until it is light and fluffy and holds its shape, or by the expansion of dissolved gas, forming a firm colloid. It is often sweetened, typically with white sugar, and ...
.
Traditionally, ermine frosting was used to frost
red velvet cake
Red velvet cake is traditionally a red, red-brown, crimson, or scarlet-colored layer cake, layered with ermine icing. Traditional recipes do not use food coloring, with the red color due to non- Dutched, anthocyanin-rich cocoa.
Common ingredi ...
.
French buttercream
French buttercream (also known as ''
pâte à bombe
The pâte à bombe is a base used in pastry from pasteurized eggs to be used in cold preparations (tiramisu, mousse, semifreddo). It consists of a whipping of egg yolks to which a syrup of water and sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sw ...
''-based buttercream or common buttercream) is made with whipped egg yolks.
German buttercream
Custard-based buttercream, also known as German buttercream or
crème mousseline,
is prepared by beating together
pastry cream
Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on sweetened milk, cheese, or cream cooked with egg or egg yolk to thicken it, and sometimes also flour, corn starch, or gelatin. Depending on the recipe, custard may vary in consistency from ...
and softened butter, and may be additionally sweetened with extra
confectioners' sugar
Powdered sugar, also called confectioners' sugar, or icing sugar, is a finely ground sugar produced by milling granulated sugar into a powdered state. It usually contains between 2% and 5% of an anti-caking agent – such as corn starch, ...
.
See also
*
List of butter dishes
This is a list of notable butter dishes and foods in which butter is used as a primary ingredient or as a significant component of a dish or a food. Butter is a dairy product that consists of butterfat, milk proteins, and water. It is made by ...
References
Foods featuring butter
Cake decorating
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