Basic Buttercream for the masses

Measuring cup of confectioners sugar, originally uploaded by foodchronicles.

One of the things that bothers me(other than the chocolate stained grout in my kitchen) is that something as simple as buttercream can elude the masses. I have a recipe that I use that I have shared before, however, this is the recipe we used at the bakery to get us the smoothest cakes on the planet. Everyone thought it was fondant.

I'm sharing that recipe today. Yes! Save it now, and pay attention, I'm only doing this once. ;-)

Begin by having the following ready to go. Mise en place!

10 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla (clear if you wish)
1 cup of hot water
1 pound of unsalted butter, softened
1.5 pounds of vegetable shortening (I use all butter except when I'm doing a wedding cake that needs to be white!)

Measure out your sugar and put in your bowl. Add 1 cup of very hot or boiling water. Add vanilla and salt too! Mix well.

You can tell by this photo, I recycle. Yes, the recipe is written on a pull of page of a magazine. Hey it was handy!





Yes, yes. I know. This flies in the face of all that is sacred and holy in the wilton world! Mixing the sugar and water before everything else? How could this possibly work? I'll have lumpy frosting for sure! No. Keep reading. You'll be fine.

Now add your fats. Yep add all the shortening and the butter now. I softend the butter and then divide it with my fingers. Oooo. That's fun! Make sure you are weighing out your fats!







Ready! Now slowly, slow! Begin mixing it all up. First it will look like this:
and then like this. Begin adding speed, about slow/medium on the dial:
Now turn it up to high medium and let it go. Set your timer to 15 minutes and step away from the mixer. It has to mix for 15 minutes. If you want you can stand and watch. The first time is fun, well maybe for you. Me, I go check my email or see what's happening in the blogworld.

In fifteen minutes your beeper will go off and you'll have this!:

The lightest, creamiest buttercream ever! I'll show you how I smooth it another day.

Thanks for visiting. Show's over! Go on. Make your own, and then come tell me how it worked out for you!