French Buttercream

Recipe courtesy Duff Goldman, Charm City Cakes, Baltimore Maryland

Show: Food Network ChallengeEpisode: Challenge: Elvis Birthday Cakes

Rated 3 stars out of 5
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  • Read 46 Reviews
Total Time:
20 min
Prep
20 min
Yield:
about 4 pounds of buttercream (enough to ice a 3-tier cake)
Level:
Intermediate
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Ingredients

  • 10 egg whites
  • 15 ounces sugar
  • 2 1/2 pounds unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • Special Equipment: 5-quart mixer with bowl and whip attachment, rubber spatula

Directions

*Cook's Note: Make sure to have a completely clean and dry mixing bowl when you start your process. Any fat or liquid at all in the bowl will stunt the protein development of the albumen (egg white protein) and you will not have a proper meringue at the end. The results could be disastrous.

Start whipping egg whites slowly in the mixer until foamy. Increase the speed of the mixer and slowly start adding the sugar until all the sugar is incorporated. Once all the sugar is in, increase the speed of the mixer even more and whip until the mixture is shiny and stiff. You now have a meringue. You know when your meringue is done when you pull out the whip, hold it horizontally, and if you have what looks a "sparrow's beak" on the end of the whip.

Replace the whip, turn the mixer on medium and start adding the butter a bit at a time. Once all the butter is incorporated, turn the mixer on high and let mix; depending on the weather, the buttercream could take anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes to form. You will know when it has formed when you hear the motor of the mixer start to slow down and whine a little bit; also, when you first add the butter, your meringue will break down and look weird and this is what you want. When the buttercream is done, the mixture will be homogeneous, consistent, and tasty.

Remove the buttercream from the bowl and transfer to an airtight container. Buttercream can be kept at room temperature for a few days or in the refrigerator for a 1 to 2 weeks, but always use warm buttercream when icing a cake. To warm up the buttercream, put it back in the mixer using the whip or the paddle, and apply direct heat with a propane torch you can find at any hardware store.

* Restaurant Recipe

This recipe was provided by professional chefs and has been scaled down from a bulk recipe provided by a restaurant. Food Network Kitchens have not tested this recipe in the proportions indicated and therefore cannot make representation as to the results.

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Newest Ratings and Reviews

Read all 46 reviews

  • on January 19, 2012

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    this is not french butter cream. Maybe closer to Italian , with the meringue, but not french.I was very embarrassed in front of my guests , who were all expecting french buttercream. I still gave it a try, hoping it would still taste ok with the egg whites, but it was not good, not sweet,too voluminous.

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  • on October 06, 2011

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    I thought this recipe was really really good. I am currently in culinary school and we actually liked this buttercream much better than some of the recipes in our book. Done correctly this cream is light and fluffy and not to sweet. Some of you that said it was like butter, well there are many ways for buttercreams to go wrong. If its like butter then that is your first indication of over mixing. Any buttercream will always have a different texture, taste when its being done by a different person.

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  • on July 15, 2011

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    This is NOT a recipe for French buttercream. French buttercream is made with egg yolks (in some recipes whole eggs instead of just egg whites. This is closer to Italian or Swiss buttercream.

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