Oh Frosting..where would I be without you? You cover my cakes, cookies and cupcakes. My clothes, my apron, my counters and my car seats... in fact you cover my life lol.
Today we're covering ABC or American Buttercream. Let me start by saying it's called "BUTTERCREAM" for a reason and that means it calls for BUTTER, not margarine, not shortening...But beautiful, delicious and glorious BUTTER.
Now that that's out of the way..the Salted vs. Unsalted debate is completely up to you. I prefer unsalted but have and will use salted butter in a pinch. If you have a palette it doesn't matter which you use because you'll be able to tweak your frosting to your liking regardless of your butter base.
Not all butters are created equally so select a butter that is delicious to you by itself or on bread. I have quickly come to know that not all butters taste like well.. butter...which is weird and will get me off on a tangent rant so I'll just get back to matters at hand..butter...glorious butter . some of my favorites and reasonably priced brands you can find easily available at your local walmart, Costco or Kroger brand store - these store brands have gotten it right when it comes to delicious butter.
So once you have your butter, you're on the right track and now it's time for powdered sugar....use whatever brand you like. I'm a C&H girl just because that's what my mom used and it's what I grew up eating, but my grandmother was a Domino Sugar fan. So it really just depends on what you like. There's several different brands out there nationally and regionally, again use your favorite.
Remember that good ABC requires a lot of powdered sugar so buy 32 oz or more for the recipe below.
Now the secret to a good American Buttercream is to not be overly sweet. Most recipes tell you butter, sugar, vanilla and that's it...wrong. The most amazing buttercream has a hint of acidity to it to balance it out. For me this comes in the form of a pinch of salt and a hint of lemon juice.
Now you see why I say the Salted vs. Unsalted debate is useless. Personally, I like to control the amount and type of salt being used. For me it's sea salt.
Lemon juice can be fresh or bottled, either way it's the acidity you need.
Which brings me to vanilla, use YOUR favorite. I personally am not a fan of the vanilla in America and special order a special brand of foreign vanilla - a secret I won't be sharing so don't ask lol.
Clear vanilla is best to keep your buttercream bright white but if all you have is dark vanilla that's fine too. To get your buttercream back to white just add a dab of purple to it. A very very very small amount...remember you can add more. Unless you want purple frosting, just a dab will do ya.
OK so recipe time, here we go.
2 sticks room temperature butter (unsalted - if using salted salt to taste)
8 cups of powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt (to taste)
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
4 teaspoons of vanilla
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream or half &half or milk.
You're going to mix all of that in your stand mixer and then TASTE it. If it's not already the most amazing American Buttercream frosting you've ever had then play with it and tweak it to your taste. More salt, more lemon, more sugar (don't go over 10 cups) etc... it's not an exact science it all comes down to taste. And what's important is how it tastes to YOU and what YOU like. Pipability is also important for a cake decorator so get to your desired consistency by adding more or less liquid.
If you're in a high heat or high humidity area and your cake is going to be exposed to the elements here's a couple of tricks for sturdy frosting.
For every stick of butter add a tablespoon of shortening. You won't be able to taste it and you won't have a greasy mouth feel either, but your butter will stabilize and it will keep it from spreading in the heat. The next tip and hint is to add a 1-3 tablespoons of cornstarch until you reach the thickness you're looking for.
I know you're sitting there thinking cornstarch???? Yes cornstarch. It's already in your packaged powdered sugar and again you won't be able to taste it, you will just be able to thicken and stabilize your frosting to stand up to the high heat and humidity. You can use either trick by itself or together. Since we're in a high temp area we use both tricks together during the summer and let me tell ya, this frosting will not move or slide once set and will still be delicious.
So try it out and give some feedback would love to hear from you.
From my frosting covered life to yours...
Yvette Marie
