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This is a great recipe that is used in a world renowned bakery. (Sorry can't tell you which one!) Super for wedding cakes.The icing literally melts in your mouth. Just wanted to share!
Italien Buttercream
For two cakes
2.5 cups sugar
1.25 c water
2 lbs butter (unsalted) softened
9 egg whites
Make simple syrup with sugar/water
Beat egg whites, at soft low peak, slowly drizzle in simple syrup down side of mixing bowl, continue slowly adding sugar syrup until it;s gone and whites are stiff.
Gradually add creamed, soft butter- a little at a time only til icing is smooth-
This icing can be refrigerated or frozen- careful though it melts quickly / becomes really soft on a hot day
Great for decorating. You can get a really smooth, almost glass-like finish by heating your spatula in hot water or slightly in a flame (gas stove) before smoothing the sides
Goods Luck and have fun....
Italien Buttercream
For two cakes
2.5 cups sugar
1.25 c water
2 lbs butter (unsalted) softened
9 egg whites
Make simple syrup with sugar/water
Beat egg whites, at soft low peak, slowly drizzle in simple syrup down side of mixing bowl, continue slowly adding sugar syrup until it;s gone and whites are stiff.
Gradually add creamed, soft butter- a little at a time only til icing is smooth-
This icing can be refrigerated or frozen- careful though it melts quickly / becomes really soft on a hot day
Great for decorating. You can get a really smooth, almost glass-like finish by heating your spatula in hot water or slightly in a flame (gas stove) before smoothing the sides
Goods Luck and have fun....
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Re: World's best buttercream icing
Tue, February 13, 2007 - 12:16 PMMmm I can concurr this is a wonderful recipe, it is basically the same one I use, but I don't use syrup, I add the sugar to the egg whites while I heat them to pasteurize and the sugar becomes dissovled, This is the Italian version and I use the swiss version, same resulots though and this is a perfect and slightly easier version I must admit.
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Re: World's best buttercream icing
Tue, February 13, 2007 - 12:40 PMnow the question that i have is...when adding the "simple syrup" to the mix, is it still hot or has it been cooled? -
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Re: World's best buttercream icing
Tue, February 13, 2007 - 1:10 PMhot but not over 180° otherwise it will be so hot your eg whites will cook rather than simply stabilize. The basic idea behidn the syrup is two fold, it adds the sweetness, but it also helps stabilize the meringue that you are making at the same time, otherwise when you start adding th fat (butter) your egg whites will totally deflate, they still deflate in this case, but not completely, giving this some volume and fluff. The same thing is true with the swiss variety, With the swiss variety you add the sugar to the egg whites and stir until 180° in a double boiler on very low heat, and then immediately you turn it into meringue right there one the double boiler, The swiss method uses less sugar and is harder to make, This is a great and far easier recipe, The swiss is just lighter and fluffier and it is less sweet, I make swiss butter cream only because it is what I am used to, Italian is much better. -
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Unsu...
Re: World's best buttercream icing
Tue, February 13, 2007 - 2:43 PMYou answered this better than I! -
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Re: World's best buttercream icing
Tue, February 13, 2007 - 4:09 PMDon't worry it's a great recipe, One that I know off the top of my head, I also owned a bakery and have had Food Science class, Trust me there are classically trained chefs out there that can't make a decent butter cream not matter what, they always try and use the swiss version, This is the italian version and its far harder to screw up, and if you do screw it up, its fixable. Some times butter creams break and th fat and protein seperate, this is easy to fix if its the italian variety, if its swiss, you basically start over, Unless you are super familar with making swiss and are good at it then thats fixable too, Trust me of classic buttercream recipes, this is the one to use! I always tend to through in the little food science class that goes with a recipe, but its not really needed I suppose, just that I like to know the how and why a recipe works and whats going on in the process.
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Re: World's best buttercream icing
Tue, February 13, 2007 - 9:45 PMthat's what i was thinking. i knew about the cooking the whites thing. i remember it from when i was in school. i'm getting back into the work, and i just want to be able to do this stuff again. it's very frustrating since i graduated in september of '05 and haven't really made anything big since then. i miss it and i want someone in a bakery or chocolate shop to take a chance on me and let me work for them at a good/living wage.
**sigh** enough about me. heh -
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Unsu...
Re: World's best buttercream icing
Tue, February 13, 2007 - 10:44 PMI heat my simple syrup to 117c , half of a vannilla bean
then turn the eggwhites on high
then at 121c you pour the hot syrup in a long stream int othe whites as they whip.
let it run until it's cold, at which time you can use this as an icing, it's super shiny, beautiful on lemon chiffon cake
or you can add the whipped butter.
P.S Janie good luck on the good living wage, i've been doing this for a while now and we all still laugh at how underpaid we are as skilled workers. But luckily I'm not in it for the money I'm in if for the fame, har har -
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Re: World's best buttercream icing
Tue, February 13, 2007 - 11:03 PMyeah and sadly the living wage here in the SF bay area (california) is so freaking high...it's practically impossible to get it here. i would need $14/hr minimum on a full time job to be able to live, pay rent, pay car payment & insurance, etc.
now about that fame thing...tell me more heh heh heh -
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Unsu...
Re: World's best buttercream icing
Tue, February 13, 2007 - 11:30 PM14$ / hour I know baker's who live under their tables to make 9.50$/hour , hilarious, I say.... hilarious...
what a funny life this job entails, you have to have total loyalty, work till you drop stress until you cry and shake, you rarely if ever sleep for atleast 8 months of the year, you barley see your family, your expected to create madness out of craziyness, get along with schizo waiter's and customer's allergic to everything under the sun, but I wouldn't want to do anything else. I love it. I also like going to the dentist too and getting blood tests, it's just the way it is I suspect. -
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Re: World's best buttercream icing
Tue, February 13, 2007 - 11:43 PMwow...true dedication. if i didn't have the bills i have, i could live on that. oh well...back to management. -
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Unsu...
Re: World's best buttercream icing
Tue, February 13, 2007 - 11:46 PMhaha ahh i got bills, and kids and loans, I wouldn't work for minimum wage. I looked in the city a few weeks ago for kicks and my jaw dropped when he said what they were paying their baker's, no wonder it's a dieing art. -
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Re: World's best buttercream icing
Thu, February 15, 2007 - 8:58 AMwow, I can't imagine trying to live here (hawaii) on $14/hr much less $9.50. Lucky for me, there are so few skilled bakers on the island I can demand higher. It pays to be willing to get up early and miss the surf.
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Unsu...
Re: World's best buttercream icing
Tue, February 13, 2007 - 2:42 PMSorry- warm . If it's too hot it will mess up (cook) the egg whites and if it's too cold- it's candy already.The mixer bowl will feel slightly warm to touch after you add it SLOWLY. SLOWLY is the key, down the inside of the bowl. Butter should also be added a little at a time- (about a spoonful or two) .
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Unsu...
Re: World's best buttercream icing
Fri, February 16, 2007 - 3:51 PMPersonally, I prefer French Buttercream-- uses the whole egg and the same amount of butter. It's pretty damn fab.
But Italian isn't bad either. -
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Re: World's best buttercream icing
Fri, February 16, 2007 - 6:01 PMI got curious, so I dug out my old books from Culinary School and found this
Italian Buttercream made by slowly streming in hot syrup at 240° Is the most stable of all three varieties of buttercream But not always the safest because the egg whites mey not become hot enough to pastuerize.
Swiss Buttercream, Second most stable and safest because eggs and sugar are heated to the pasteurization level of 180°, Stability is not great and it breaks easily in the production phase.
French Buttercream, Unstable and melts at temperatures over 80° Very easy to make yet unsafe due to raw egg products, Tend to be the lightest of all buttercreams in terms of texture, Food safety can be mitigated by using pasteurized eggs.
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