Basic vanilla buttercream
The fluffiest of buttercreams! Will hold its shape super well and can be kept unrefrigerated for a couple of hours without collapsing.
Ingredients
- 2 egg whites
- 120 g sugar
- 170 g butter (at room temperature)
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (or seeds from a vanilla bean)
Directions
- Place the egg whites and the sugar in a heat proof mixing bowl.
- Place the bowl over boiling water without the bowl touching the water (au bain marie).
- Whisk the eggs and sugar while heating. The eggs will start to get thick and foamy. When they reach 70 C take the bowl off the heat (check with a food thermometer).
- With an electric mixer, a stand mixer would be easiest, mix on high speed until the egg whites have cooled down. This will take 5 to 10 min.
- Stir in the butter bit by bit making sure the butter is completely incorporated before adding the next bit.
- Stir in the vanilla extract and now you have a super creamy buttercream.
You can vary a lot with the flavouring of this buttercream. Here are couple of suggestions.
Coffee buttercream
Mix 1 tablespoon of instant coffee powder with a little bit of water (0.5 to 1 tablespoon) to just dissolve it. Add this to the finished buttercream and stir well to incorporate. At first it might seem like it will not mix, but keep going. If you want a stronger coffee flavour just add more coffee powder mixed with a little bit of water.
Strawberry buttercream
Add 3 to 5 tablespoons of strawberry jam to the buttercream and stir well. This way you can basically make any type of fruit flavoured buttercream of course.