- Hey bakers, today I'm going to show you
how to make the perfect chocolate buttercream.
It is creamy, silky, rich and perfectly sweet.
Also, it comes together in a snap.
Okay, let's get started.
For this recipe we're using
One and 1/2 cups of unsalted butter
at room temperature.
That's about 340 grams.
But, let me tell you room temperature butter should
yield to the touch.
So you press down with your finger and
you have to like press, it doesn't just give way
and melt.
Let's add this in here.
If you want to double this recipe
it doubles up perfectly for like a giant 9 inch
triple layer cake.
That'll be delicious.
We're gonna cream this up.
(electronic mixer sound)
I'm using the paddle attachment on my stand mixer
but you can use hand beaters and in a pinch
you can even do this by hand with a whisk or,
you know, a spatula but that is a lot of work so.
This is the easiest way.
Even though it takes up a lot of space and it's pricey.
(electronic mixer sound)
Okay, so my butter is nice and creamed up.
It's just you know, it's more pliable now.
It helps the whole process get started.
(upbeat music)
In my hand I have 1/3 of a cup of a really
nice cocoa powder.
This is from Valrhona,
but any nice cocoa powder will do.
It is the main flavor
so you kinda wanna splurge on this.
You can tell a difference.
Sift it out because the cocoa will have
a lot of lumps in it.
There is a high fat content to it.
It's important to sift the ingredients for your
buttercreams.
Especially if you're going to be piping it.
If you're doing any piping, your tips will get clogged
by clumps.
You don't want the clumps.
And it's really easy to get rid of them.
So just, a little bit of sitfing goes a long way.
You will thank me later.
I've had batches of buttercream ruined by clogs.
All right.
(electronic mixer sound)
Mix that in there, go low and slow.
I'm gonna add in half a teaspoon of salt to get started.
I might add a little bit more later.
(electronic mixer sound)
Okay.
This butter is becoming a beautiful dark brown color.
I'm scraping the mixer down.
And let's just continue mixing.
(electronic mixer sound)
That smells amazing.
Okay, now it's time for the sugar and the same rule
holds true.
This sugar is probably fine, it's a new bag.
You know, C & H sugar.
Not sponsored but I find they don't have lumps.
Some brands do and sometimes if the bag
has been opened for a while, got a little bit of
moisture in there, it'll get lumpy.
So, let's put this mixer to the side and sift out
a pound and a half of this.
You don't have to use exactly a pound and a half
if you don't have a scale.
Just, you know, most of the bag.
You can use less, you can use more.
It's going to be up to personal taste.
The less sugar you use, the more
kind of like, silky and soft your buttercream
is going to be.
So, if you don't like things super sweet,
cut back on the sugar.
But, not as good for stacking.
So, if you're building up a cake or
doing something structural,
you're going to see
'Oh my gosh, my cake is leaning.
I have to put it in the fridge to chill
and harden up.'
And then at room temperature it might go soft again.
So,
more sugar, more sweet, more structure.
Word to the wise.
Love a fresh bag.
Okay.
This gets messy.
Some people are so much neater than I am.
But, I am who I am.
Sift a bit of sugar at a time.
So soft.
Sifting powdered sugar reminds me of Christmas
because I use a little dusting of powdered sugar
to look like snow on a bunch of my cakes
and cupcakes.
(christmas music)
It brings back holiday memories.
None of that mess ever happened.
You didn't see anything.
Okay.
Last bit that is one pound 8 ounces
or, what?
Like 680 grams-ish.
Okay, there we go.
Sifted nice and neat.
Almost.
Almost no mess.
Almost.
(grunts)
Okay.
Now for the fun part.
We're going to be adding the sugar in.
So just take a cup full at a time.
Maybe a little bit more.
Add it into your mixer.
You can use a tea towel to cover it up or,
if you want you can use that plastic attachment.
I have three of those by the way people
and I'm just not a fan.
I don't like it.
Because, it's one more thing to clean and
there's always a little bit extra that flies out
anyways, so.
I don't know.
(electronic mixer sound)
Mix it up on low with your paddle attachment.
You can take a peak in it and
once that sugar is incorporated more,
increase the speed and you can remove
the tea towel and see what's going on.
Here we go.
Just to show you right now.
Looks like buttercream.
Tastes like buttercream.
(giggle)
Could definitely use some more sugar.
Keep on going.
(upbeat music)
(electronic mixer sound)
All right, looks a little crunchy.
I'm going to add in a teaspoon and a half
of vanilla.
Just for a little bit of something extra.
It's optional though.
(electronic mixer sound)
And now for the, hush.
And now for the coffee.
I almost always add coffee to anything chocolate.
You do not taste the coffee.
You're not drinking a cup of coffee.
Let's add in about two teaspoons
of luke warm, or tepid,
or cold coffee.
This is from a mocha pot so it's really, really strong.
It's basically espresso.
That's why I'm so wired every morning.
(upbeat music)
Oh my gosh, just adding in that little bit
made such a big difference.
I can smell it already and it is amazing.
A little bit more sugar.
Just a touch.
And we're almost wrapping it up here.
(upbeat music)
(electronic mixer sound)
Okay, this is my secret in the kitchen.
Don't tell anybody.
(giggle)
(spray can sound)
All right.
Let's take a look at this.
It looks amazing.
(exaggerated biting sound)
No, I'm going to get a spoon.
I'm not an animal.
In front of people.
(excited exclamations)
Got a really nice hit of salt.
I'm actually gonna add in a sprinkle more of salt.
I like a salty chocolate.
And, I'm just gonna add in a touch
like maybe a half a teaspoon more of this coffee
mixture.
(electronic mixer sound)
Okay, let's mix this up.
And you know, a little splash of cream
never hurt anybody.
Could you use Bailey's?
Yes, you could.
"Oh we're out of cream, I'll have to put Bailey's
in my coffee."
(giggle)
Secret's out mom.
All right, nice splash of cream.
We can actually scrape the bowl down
because it's looking kind of crazy.
It's a lot of layers.
One final mix, let's see how this goes.
(electronic mixer sound)
Okay.
Clean spoon, let's check this out.
Oh yeah.
Look at this chocolate.
Transferring my buttercream to a piping Bag
fitted with an 869 tip.
One of my favorites.
It's a large, open star, really versatile.
Highly recommend it.
This can get messy.
It's important to not to overfill your piping bag.
That's how catastrophes happen.
Better to keep filling it up then to have one
that's super full and unmanageable
or starts leaking out the top.
All right, let's get to piping.
I'm excited.
How about them apples.
Look at this!
How cute is that?
And you know it's going to be delicious.
Okay, let's do a couple more just for fun.
So, by the way I do bake my cupcakes
in the regular old white papers.
But, for the sake of my audience I will pop
them into some decorative cups over here.
You can bake cupcakes in these cups,
but I find they get a little bit discolored
and yellow during baking, so.
This is the more aesthetically pleasing way
but totally optional.
There we go.
Nice and easy and delicious.
Can't wait to eat these.
All right, these guys are gonna get photographed
for my cover shot.
Putting you aside.
However, this spoonful of buttercream is just for me.
I mean, wow.
Whipping it really pumped a lot of air into it.
So it has almost a frothy texture.
It's not dense.
If you want to check out some recipes
this would be perfect for my vanilla cupcake recipe.
And why not try out my ultimate chocolate cake?
Click down here for that.
It is like heaven on earth.
So chocolatey, delicious and moist.
Thanks so much for watching.
I appreciate you.
And if you like my videos, click that like button.
Like.
A lot of buttercream in my mouth.
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