Basic Buttercream
While the process is basic, the taste is far from it. Perfect for every kind of baking need, and crusting too, so perfect for playing with your food!
Ingredients
500 g (18 oz) Powdered Sugar (Icing Sugar)
250 g (9 oz) Butter (Lurpak if possible, or another quality butter)
2 tsp Vanilla Flavour
Water to thin as necessary
Method
Mix the butter until it’s soft and creamy, and add your icing sugar a bit at a time, making sure it’s nice and mixed together before adding more. This is the key to eliminating the ‘gritty’ feel of full butter buttercream
Scrape down the mixing bowl after incorporating each addition of Icing Sugar, to ensure an even mix. It also helps to mix your buttercream on a relatively low speed, as whipping lots of air into your buttercream can actually make it harder to work with, particularly if you plan to use it between cake layers, as air has to go somewhere, and you don’t want it bulging out of your cake!
Notes
Basic Buttercream is safe at room temperature for one week. I don’t recommend refrigerating or freezing Basic Buttercream, as it messes with the consistency. You can however freeze prepiped flowers, or moulded elements for up to 3 months, as long as they are well covered to avoid freezer burn.
I recommend you resist thinning your Buttercream until you have it mixed, as its easy to add to much. Its also a good idea to use water instead of anything dairy based, as its no longer shelf stable once dairy is added, and must be kept refrigerated.