SUPER SMOOTH VANILLA BUTTERCREAM

Smooth and basic vanilla buttercream - perfect on a vanilla or chocolate cake.

You will need:

Butter, diced and cold.

Icing sugar

Vanilla Essence

Splash of milk or heavy cream

A simple, light and airy buttercream. I have to admit, sometimes it does not hold like a bakery ready butter cream in Mumbai's humid climate, but it does taste divine. Its simple and whipped up at home, and so tastes so much better just for that.

I like to use cold butter. Cold butter is tricky, as it starts to weep if left out too much. So I would suggest to dice the butter and keep it refrigerated while you prep everything else.

Again, I use salted butter as the touch of salt is very welcome against the sweetness of the icing sugar. Most recipes call for unsalted butter and that's fine too.

You should use a stand mixer if possible, or a hand-held mixer for sure.

A lot of people do tend to mix up simple sugar that has been ground for icing sugar. That will simply not work. Icing sugar is very fine, and has a small part of cornstarch in it, which stabilises the frosting.Keep everything handy as once you start whipping you do not want to wait very long.

This is a basic recipe. You can get as creative as you want - add colour, flavours.

I avoid colours as I love the creamy white but if you do want to use colours , be sure to use a gel food colour as against other liquid or powder colours available.

I love to add caramel sauce to this recipe to make a caramel icing. I usually mix in caramel to a small portion so I get two lovely simple colours to work with.

My favourite caramel recipe is here.

Adding cocoa powder or coffee powder is also a great option.

While whipping, it is important to incorporate all the sugar in the butter or else the butter cream will be grainy. It is also important not to over whip the butter as the heat can cause it to de-stabilise. Yes, it is a thin line, but trust your instinct. I am assuming you have tasted many-a-cupcakes and will see if something goes very off.

If the buttercream is a bit sloppy, cool in the in refrigerator for sometime, and the butter will hold again. This buttercream can be made upto 2 days in advance and stored air tight in the refrigerator, or even frozen. If you do store it, bring it to fridge temperature and whip it before you pipe it onto your cakes.

Also, ensure the cakes are completely cool before you pipe, so that it doesn't melt!

On to whipping...

Recipe:

Ingredients:

100g butter

1 1/4 cup icing sugar

1 tbsp vanilla extract

25 ml cold milk or heavy cream.

Method:

In a large bowl, whip up butter till soft and fluffy. It should change colour and become lighter in colour and texture.

Add 1/4 cup icing sugar and whip until completely incorporated.

Add vanilla extract and whip until mixed.

Continue to add 1/4 cup icing sugar at a time and incorporate thoroughly. ensure the texture is not grainy.

Once its ready, mix in any colours or flavour. If it is a strong flavour you want to add, reduce the quantity of vanilla so that they do not clash.