so today we are going to do a deep dive into making buttercream and you may not even know
this but there are a lot of different types of buttercream in fact today we are going to make
six different types which actually isn't even all of the different types but these are the
most commonly used types of buttercream and i want to show you how to make each one and then
we'll talk about the differences in all of them they all have a slightly different flavor texture
and best use so today we are going to cover american buttercream swiss meringue buttercream
italian meringue buttercream french buttercream german buttercream and russian buttercream
it's a united nations of buttercream let's go we're going to start with the easiest buttercream
to make which is american buttercream it involves just beating butter and powdered sugar together
start by adding 227 grams which is two sticks of room temperature unsalted butter to your mixer
and beat with a paddle attachment for about 30 seconds until creamy then i typically start with
about 2 cups which is 240 grams of powdered sugar and beat that with the butter you can
go ahead and add your vanilla extract or whatever flavorings you like here and a big pinch or two of
salt and then scrape down your bowl now you can add more powdered sugar to get to the sweetness
level that you like up to about two more cups or 240 grams more if your frosting is getting
too thick then you can add a few tablespoons of milk or cream to thin it out this style of
buttercream is the sweetest and thickest of all of the styles we're covering today and it stays
lightly pale yellow and after it is added to your cake or cookie it does develop this thin crust on
the surface this can actually be really helpful for cookie decorating so that they don't easily
get messed up if they touch each other but it can make it really difficult to create a smooth
look on a layer cake next up is swiss meringue buttercream to start you need to set up a double
boiler which is a pan of simmering water that your heat proof bowl sits on top of make sure
that your bowl is not coming into direct contact with the water add 180 grams or three quarters of
a cup of egg whites to your mixing bowl along with 400 grams or two cups of granulated sugar
gently whisk the egg whites and the sugar together while warming them over the double boiler
you aren't trying to whip air into the egg whites at this point rather we're just continuously
stirring them with the whisk so that they do not get too hot on the bottom of the bowl and cook
the goal here is to heat the mixture until the sugar is completely dissolved which will
happen around 160 degrees fahrenheit or 71 degrees celsius if you don't have a thermometer to check
the temperature you can stream some of the mixture off of your whisk and then rub it in between your
fingers to check for graininess it should feel completely smooth once your mixture is hot enough
remove it from the double boiler and transfer it to the stand mixer fit with your whisk attachment
whip on medium speed until the meringue cools down completely i always check by touching the bottom
of the bowl to see if i can still feel any warmth this will take around 8 to 10 minutes once the
meringue is cool and it reaches stiff peaks you can add vanilla extract or any other flavorings
and a big pinch of salt and then we're going to add our room temperature butter that has been
cubed up little by little you will add a total of one pound which is 480 grams or four sticks
of butter don't be alarmed if the mixture breaks and starts looking really curdled as you're adding
your butter this is completely normal keep beating it and it will come back together into a really
silky smooth frosting swiss meringue buttercream is ivory in color and it is definitely less sweet
than american buttercream and it is so silky smooth which makes it really great for smoothing
on cakes next we have another type of meringue buttercream which is italian meringue buttercream
for this method we are going to make a sugar syrup which we will stream into the egg whites rather
than heating the egg whites with the sugar in my pot here over medium-low heat i have 400 grams
or two cups of granulated sugar and 170 grams or three quarters cup of water for this method you
do need to use a candy thermometer because it's really important to get to the right temperature
i also have 180 grams or three quarters cup of egg whites in my stand mixer ready to go
you want that set up because we're going to start whisking once our sugar syrup gets hot once your
sugar syrup is about 200 degrees fahrenheit or 93 degrees celsius go ahead and start whisking your
egg whites on medium-high speed you want them to be filling up with quite a bit of air before you
string in the syrup once your thermometer reads 240 degrees fahrenheit or 115 degrees celsius take
it off the heat and slowly and carefully stream it into your mixer while it is still running
keep it slightly away from the side of the bowl because the sugar syrup can stick to it and harden
after all of the syrup is in continue mixing until the mixture cools down completely and the egg
whites have reached stiff peaks be patient with it this is going to take a good 8 to 10 minutes
to fully cool down you can add your vanilla or any other flavorings you like and a few big pinches of
salt here and then after the mixture is holding stiff peaks you can start slowly incorporating
the butter add your room temperature butter one cube at a time while continuing to whisk on medium
medium-high speed and we will be adding a full pound of butter which is 450 grams or four sticks
i always use unsalted butter for all of my frosting so that way i can control how much
salt i'm adding but you do want to add salt to any of your frostings so it doesn't taste
overly sweet this frosting will start to break and look curdled as well as you incorporate the butter
but again just keep mixing and it will come back together into a very smooth and silky frosting
i find italian and swiss meringue buttercreams to be extremely similar in flavor and texture
italian is a bit more stable so if you need to use it in a warmer environment that can be really
helpful and i also find that it doesn't get quite as many air bubbles as the swiss meringue does
but picking which one to use is really just a preference of method i personally like the
italian method better it pipes like a dream as well and it is so easy to smooth on a cake
for the french buttercream the method is identical to the italian meringue method except we are going
to use egg yolks rather than egg whites so once again i have my pot set up with my candy
thermometer and i have 250 grams or one and a half cups of sugar and 115 grams or a half cup
of water and i'm heating that over medium heat in my stand mixer fit with my whisk attachment i have
200 grams or three quarters cup of egg yolks this will take about 12 large eggs to get this amount
as the sugar syrup reaches 200 degrees fahrenheit or 93 degrees celsius turn on the mixer to
medium-high speed to whip some air into the yolks as soon as your thermometer reads 240 degrees
fahrenheit or 115 degrees celsius take it off the heat and slowly and carefully stream it into
your egg yolks while the mixer is still running keep it slightly away from the side of the bowl
because the sugar syrup can harden onto the side let the mixture continue running until the bowl
is cool to the touch and then you can add your flavorings of choice and a few pinches of salt
add your room temperature butter one cube at a time while the mixer runs and we will add
one pound which is 450 grams or four sticks this buttercream does not typically split on
me while i'm adding the butter but if it does just keep mixing and it will come back together
i find this to be the richest tasting of all of the buttercreams which is
not surprising because it has so much fat in it with all of the egg yolks and the butter
it is great as a filling for a cake but be aware that it does not hold up to heat well
it's super silky smooth and it's pretty bright yellow in color and it pipes like a dream next we
are diving into a lesser-known buttercream which is my absolute favorite style and that is german
buttercream it starts with pastry cream so in my pot over medium heat i have 340 grams of milk
which is one and a half cups and then in a mixing bowl i'm combining 200 grams or one cup of sugar
40 grams or a third cup of corn starch three large eggs and a big pinch of salt and i'm whisking all
of that together to combine as soon as the milk is starting to slightly simmer we are going to
temper the egg mixture by very slowly streaming in about half of the hot milk while whisking
then i'm going to add the egg mixture to the pot and whisk continuously over low heat until
it starts bubbling up and thickening it's going to get very thick once it has thickened up you
can turn off the heat and whisk in your vanilla extract or any other flavorings you like then
transfer your pastry cream to a bowl and press some plastic wrap right on top of it so it doesn't
form a film and then we're going to refrigerate it for at least one hour until completely cooled
once the pastry cream has cooled down put 570 grams which is two and a half cups or five
sticks of room temperature butter in the bowl of your stand mixer fit with the paddle attachment
beat on medium speed for several minutes until it has lightened in color and
increased in volume scrape down the bowl periodically during this process now we can
start adding the pastry cream little by little to the butter scraping down the bowl every so often
once it is all added you can increase the speed to medium high and beat for another three to four
minutes until it is very light and fluffy german buttercream is also known as creme mussoline and
is often used as a filling for pastries i describe the flavor as ice cream in frosting form and it is
the sweetness level that is perfect for me it's just enough but it's not too sweet and
do be aware that this buttercream is not very stable in the heat but if you've never tried it
i highly recommend and the last buttercream we are covering today is russian buttercream
or also known as sweetened condensed milk buttercream this buttercream is almost as
simple as the american buttercream you just need to be a little bit more careful with your timing
i have a half pound which is 227 grams or two sticks of room temperature butter in my mixing
bowl fit with the whisk attachment and i'm going to start by whisking it on medium high speed until
it is about triple in volume this is going to take several minutes and you want to scrape down the
bowl a few times during this process the butter will lighten in color and become very pale yellow
once the butter has increased in volume we're going to slowly add one 14 ounce can or 396 grams
of sweetened condensed milk make sure that it's sweetened condensed milk and not evaporated milk
i do this in about four additions while whisking well in between each and then
scraping down the bowl you don't want to do this too fast otherwise it won't incorporate fully
once all of the milk is added you can add your flavorings of choice and a few pinches of salt
the mixture may look really thin and soft at first but keep whisking and it will thicken up
this buttercream is really light in texture almost like a slightly thicker whipped cream
it pipes very easily but it is not very stable to hold intricate shapes
this buttercream is much lighter and less sweet than american buttercream with
relatively little extra effort but i do have to admit though that this is my least favorite of
all of the buttercreams it has a very strong milk flavor which i just don't love but many people
really do like it so you should definitely try it if you haven't so i really hope you enjoyed
this video and i hope this inspires you to try one of these different types of buttercreams
and if you do please let me know what you think and if you have any questions you can
always leave those down in the comment section i do my best to answer them and make sure you're
subscribed so you never miss a video and i'll see you next time with another baking tutorial
oh my god that was amazing