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Recipe File: Buttercream Frosting (American)
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Michael Chu



Joined: 10 May 2005
Posts: 1654
Location: Austin, TX (USA)

PostPosted: Tue Jun 06, 2006 4:30 am    Post subject: Re: Buttercream w/egg yolk Reply with quote

Amy wrote:
Would microwaving the above raw egg frosting (after making it, of course), kill off the salmonella, and then you could just rewhip it?

Depends on how long you microwave it. Trouble is, you might end up cooking the eggs and liquid would probably end up weeping out of it while it cooked and whipping it up would end up making it into small chunky soup. If you gently heat it and hold it at 160°F for a couple minutes, that will kill off any bacteria. Just do that to the eggs in a double boiler right before you use it in the recipe.
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Amy
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 06, 2006 6:06 am    Post subject: Buttercream w/egg yolk Reply with quote

Thank you!
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Amy
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 06, 2006 8:06 pm    Post subject: Posted Buttercream recipe Reply with quote

Michael,

I like the way you posted your recipe method above--it is a lot less fussy than the Ann Warren recipe method (of Cupcake Cafe--she was featured on one of the earlier Martha Stewart Living shows some years back), where you first make the syrup, then blend it into the whole eggs, wait for it to cool, then pour that mixture into the butter you're whipping....

Let's hear it for one-bowl frosting!

Big smile
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ktexp2



Joined: 03 Nov 2005
Posts: 34

PostPosted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 3:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

While we're on frostings, anyone have tips for a good merengue (jeez I can't spell - sorry!) style frosting? Everytime I make one, all I taste is egg whites. And its not terribly stable, either. It breaks down after a day and definitely does not keep in the fridge. I love a nice creamy frosting, but I do tire of the various buttercreams after a while.
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Metrobake
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 11, 2006 9:37 pm    Post subject: Buttercream Reply with quote

Use flash-pasteurized egg whites. These are in cartons in the refrigerated section of the grocery store, next to the egg substitutes. They look raw, but they aren't. The powdered egg whites are great for royal icing, but the refrigerated ones work better for meringues. Of course, really fresh eggs work best, but I'm not convinced that the sugar syrup effectively cooks the eggs (whip out your instant-read thermometer if you want to decide for yourself), so I use flash-pasteurized for my retail sales.

I, too, graduated from a "culinary" school, but in my case, it was a "baking/pastry" school. There is a difference.

Regards,
MB
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Cakeaholic
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 02, 2006 6:44 am    Post subject: General Buttercream Question Reply with quote

I ran across this site while searching for a recipe for buttercream frosting. I am a huge fan of the old-fashioned bakery birthday cakes with the thick buttercream frosting flowers all over them (I was never one of those who would leave chunks of leftover icing on the plate!)

Anyway, buying an entire cake just to satisfy a random craving is ridiculous (and dangerous!), so I was hoping to learn how to make my own, but I want it to taste like the real thing. Even if I wanted to buy an entire cake, it's hard to find a decent one anymore. In my area, there are so many grocery-store bakeries that there are few independent bakeries around, and most of the grocery stores get it wrong, opting for that fluffier icing version that can only be described as tasting like a mixture of Cool Whip and Pledge.

To me, confectioners' sugar has a funny taste to it, and I think that's the problem with the recipes I've tried in the past, though I'm not 100% certain that's been the whole problem. Anyway, I wanted to know if, based on my description of what I'm trying to make, anyone can confirm that recipe is what I'm looking for.

Thank you!
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spugne



Joined: 30 Jun 2006
Posts: 2
Location: Centralia, IL

PostPosted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 3:46 am    Post subject: Confectioners Sugar Alternative Reply with quote

My mother's "special" cakes were the Waldorf-Astoria red chocolate cake and Nutmeg Feather Cake from a 1950s Betty Crocker cookbook. She always used what she called 12 minute frosting (also called "Poor Man's Icing) on both -- still my favorite frosting. No confectioners sugar. Easy and cheap and tasty -- and it can be flavored as you wish. It is similar to the two listed above but not quite. Great as a filling for sandwich cookies or in/on chocolate cupcakes.

Recipe:
Step One: Mix 1 cup milk with 4 Tablespoons of flour (COOK & STIR UNTIL THICK, COOL).
Step Two: Beat 16 Tablespoons of butter (unsalted) with 1 teaspoon of vanilla for four minutes.
Step Three: Slowly beat in 1 cup sugar (regular or superfine granulated) on high speed four minutes until fluffy.
Step Four: Add cooked and cooled flour mixture and beat four minutes more.

We usually used this on cakes eaten the same day, but you would probably want to refrigerate it if not (all that butter). It gets hard like a buttercream when refrigerated, so allow cake to come to room temperature before serving.
[/u]
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diegorvila



Joined: 29 Aug 2006
Posts: 1
Location: Galapagar, Madrid, Spain

PostPosted: Tue Aug 29, 2006 10:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you for this post. It is essential for non-nortamericans
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RingDing10
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 6:14 pm    Post subject: Cooked Icing & Lumps Reply with quote

I have a recipe for icing that my mother in law always made for every birthday & holiday we had. She passed away last year and I have inherited all of her recipes and now everyone expects me to make this cake. Problem is everytime I make the icing I get lumps, Tons of little lumps! It is a 2 part recipe. one that you cook flour, milk & salt. you cook it in a double boiler until thick. then you let cool. I then make a mixture of crisco, margerine, sugar and vanilla. beat till no longer sugary. I then add the two and beat. Neither of the mixtures have lumps until I combine the two then out of no where these little lumps of the "cooked" mixture appear. Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong? How do I get rid of the lumps?
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cakeman
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 6:26 am    Post subject: This is a Cook's Illustrated Recipe Reply with quote

This recipe, “Buttercream Frosting (American)” is actually a Cook’s Illustrated recipe called, “Rich Vanilla Buttercream Frosting” found in their New Best Recipes Book and Baking Illustrated books.

It is a great recipe and glad to see it hear with pictures. I also like Cook’s Illustrated “Rich Coffee Buttercream Frosting”, a variation that accompanies this recipe, very tasty.
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Guest






PostPosted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 8:59 am    Post subject: Re: This is a Cook's Illustrated Recipe Reply with quote

cakeman wrote:
This recipe, “Buttercream Frosting (American)” is actually a Cook’s Illustrated recipe called, “Rich Vanilla Buttercream Frosting” found in their New Best Recipes Book and Baking Illustrated books.

With a recipe as simple as buttercream, it seems like there would be many sources with almost the exact same recipe. Michael's had a good history of crediting his sources when he uses an existing recipe, so maybe he forgot on this one or didn't realize that the recipe he uses is the same as the Cook's Illustrated one. Maybe he'll update his write up with a reference to Cook's after reading these comments. Ahem, Michael?
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chemist/cook
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 04, 2006 10:45 pm    Post subject: separated buttercream Reply with quote

Michael, I have had the same experience with a buttercream recipe made with egg yolks and soft-ball stage sugar. As some of the others have suggested, heating the bowl lets the buttercream to come back together. I believe that when the butter is too cold, it "crystallizes" into an ordered state that refuses to mix with the rest of the ingredients. The irony is that the harder you beat the heck out of it, the more it refuses to combine. A little heat agitates the molecules enough to reach a disordered state, giving you fluffy frosting. There is a technical term for this that skips my mind at the moment.
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novice
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 14, 2006 2:20 pm    Post subject: buttercream Reply with quote

PLEASE help! I did the sugar mixture to "soft ball stage", and upon adding it to the egg yolks that I kept moving with the mixer, it simply stuck to the side and bottom of the stainless steel bowl. Mixing over was like trying to mix a marble. Even the tiniest of streams drizzled down the side in the whipped egg yolks resulted in the hard, crystaline blob like precipatate at the bottom! (Eggs were at room temperature, sugar syrup was hot right off burner.) I do not have thermometer, but relied on "soft ball" stage in glass of water.

Can anyone help? I need this buttercream TONIGHT. Thanks!
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Guest






PostPosted: Sat Oct 14, 2006 2:39 pm    Post subject: Re: buttercream Reply with quote

novice wrote:
PLEASE help! I did the sugar mixture to "soft ball stage", and upon adding it to the egg yolks that I kept moving with the mixer, it simply stuck to the side and bottom of the stainless steel bowl. Mixing over was like trying to mix a marble. Even the tiniest of streams drizzled down the side in the whipped egg yolks resulted in the hard, crystaline blob like precipatate at the bottom! (Eggs were at room temperature, sugar syrup was hot right off burner.) I do not have thermometer, but relied on "soft ball" stage in glass of water.

Uhm, not to be rude, but have you read Michael's description of how to make buttercream or are you using a random recipe? At no point does the recipe call for heating a sugar mixture to soft ball stage (which is around 235F) and then adding egg yolks to it. Michael clearly states that you start with the egg yolks, sugar, and whatnot and heat that mixture until 160.
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novice
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 14, 2006 3:00 pm    Post subject: buttercream Reply with quote

Thanks, guest. McDee DID post about 'soft ball' stage. (Scroll back) I am using a Julia Child recipe that I used quite successfully 15 years ago for a genoise, and got raves. This recipe says 'till 238 degrees F', which is soft ball stage.

Not having the thermometer anymore, can you sugest an approximation of when 160? (Emeril Lagasse has a buttercream that uses sugar and corn syrup heated till disolved). I would like to follow Michael's and your suggestions.

Thanks.
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