Buttercream Basics

All About Buttercream

A question I get asked all the time is “What’s the best buttercream?”

Or sometimes it’s “What type of buttercream do YOU use?”

Well, the answer depends totally on your personal preference and what type of project you are baking. I prefer frostings that are less sweet, and I do a lot of cake decorating, so I most often make Swiss or Italian meringue buttercream. But I might make a different type of buttercream to fill macarons or to frost a simple loaf cake. So to answer those questions, first you need to know what buttercream is and what the difference is between various types of buttercream.

Buttercream is an umbrella term, because it basically refers to any sort of frosting made with butter. To make most buttercreams, you first make some sort of base, like a meringue or custard. Then, you gradually mix butter (a lot of butter!) with the base until you have a smooth, creamy frosting.

Below I’ll list out all the different types of buttercream (that I know of) and explain what they are, how they’re made, and what they’re good for.

American Buttercream | ABC


What is American buttercream?

American buttercream is made from butter, powdered sugar, and usually a splash of milk or cream. American buttercream is the classic pairing for kid’s birthday cake. I hardly ever make this type of buttercream because it’s too sweet for my taste, but lots of people love it!

What is American buttercream is good for?

American buttercream can be used for pretty much anything. It’s stiff and sturdy enough that you can use it to pipe any kind of decorations, and it holds food coloring really well.  Also, the short ingredient list means it’s super quick and easy to make. 

Tips for American buttercream:

 To get the smoothest, creamiest texture, mix the buttercream on low speed with the paddle attachment for a LONG time. If you stop just when the butter and sugar look mixed, the frosting won’t actually be homogeneous.

To balance the extreme sweetness, you can try adding a tiny splash of plain white vinegar. Trust me, you won’t taste the vinegar but the frosting will lose some of that cloying sweetness. Be sure that the frosting is properly salted as well! Sugar, acidity, and salt all balance each other out, so it’s just as important to season your desserts as it is to season your savory food!

Swiss Meringue Buttercream | SMBC

My Swiss Meringue Buttercream Recipe

What is Swiss meringue buttercream? 

Swiss Meringue buttercream is made with, you guessed it, Swiss meringue and butter. Swiss meringue is made by cooking egg whites and sugar over a bain marie (double boiler), then whipping the mixture until a thick, fluffy meringue is formed. The meringue then becomes the base for the butter.

Swiss meringue buttercream is the darling of the cake decorating world. Bakers love that it’s super smooth and creamy, while still sturdy enough to pipe decorations. And once you get the process down, it’s also fairly simple to make.

What is Swiss meringue buttercream good for?

Swiss meringue buttercream is great for special occasion cakes as it delivers both flavor and looks. It’s strong enough to pipe large swirls of frosting that won’t collapse, or delicate buttercream flowers. I also think it’s a great choice to use when you want to make a very strongly flavored frosting. It can hold a fair amount of flavorings (chocolate, jam, etc) without becoming too runny, and the base of meringue won’t compete too much with your flavoring.

Tips for Swiss meringue buttercream:

Meringues will not whip up properly in the presence of fat. This means you must be very careful that no trace of egg yolk makes it into your whites. It’s also a good idea to wipe out your mixing bowls to make sure there isn’t any grease leftover from another baking project.

Italian Meringue Buttercream | IMBC

My Italian Meringue Buttercream Recipe

What is Italian meringue buttercream?

Italian Meringue Buttercream is very, very similar to Swiss meringue buttercream. The difference is in the method of cooking the meringue. For Italian meringue, you first cook a sugar syrup, then you pour the hot syrup into the egg whites as they whip. The result is almost the same in taste and texture to Swiss meringue, but because the sugar is cooked to a high temperature, Italian meringue is a bit sturdier. 

What is Italian meringue buttercream good for?

Italian meringue buttercream is my favorite buttercream to use for piping flowers. I find it to be the most sturdy, which allows you to pipe beautiful, thin petals that don’t collapse. It’s also a good choice when baking in hot conditions, as it will hold up slightly better than Swiss meringue buttercream in hot temperatures. 

Tips for Italian meringue buttercream:

It’s really important to have a quality thermometer when making Italian meringue. Cooking sugar syrups can be a bit of a mess if you don’t know what you’re doing, and having an accurate temperature reading is a big part of it. Don’t mess around with or stir the syrup, and don’t let it overcook, or you will end up with crystallization, aka a grainy buttercream.

French Buttercream

What is French buttercream?

French Buttercream is similar to meringue based buttercreams, but it’s made with egg yolks instead of egg whites. The yolks give it a much richer, more custard-like taste. Traditionally, a sugar syrup is cooked and streamed into whipping egg yolks (similar to Italian meringue). However, you can also cook the yolks and sugar together over a bain marie (like Swiss meringue).

What is French buttercream good for?

I make this buttercream when I have leftover yolks from making Swiss or Italian meringue. I know that might sound silly, but buttercream keeps really well in the freezer! French buttercream is also my favorite filling for french macarons. The richness of the egg yolk base is the perfect match for the super sweet macaron shells.

Tips for French buttercream:

After cooking the egg yolk/sugar mixture, I like to pass everything through a mesh sieve before whipping. This gets rids of any chalazae (the small string that anchors yolks in the center of whites).

German Buttercream

What is German buttercream?

 German buttercream is made with a pastry cream/pudding base. After the pastry cream is cooked and cooled, it is re-whipped and butter is added.

What is German buttercream good for?

German buttercream is a good compromise in that it’s not as sweet as American buttercream, but it’s not as straight up buttery as meringue based buttercreams. 

Tips for German Buttercream:

If you want to flavor the buttercream, you can actually steep flavorings with the milk/cream before making your pastry cream. This is a good way to include flavors without adding extra liquid to the final product. The steeped flavors will generally be a bit more subtle.

Russian Buttercream

What is Russian buttercream?

Russian buttercream is butter whipped with sweetened condensed milk. I have never made it, but have come across it a few times on the internet, so I thought it should be mentioned!

What is Russian buttercream good for?

Russian buttercream might be good to try if you need to avoid eggs.


Ermine Buttercream or Boiled Milk Frosting

What is Ermine buttercream/ boiled milk frosting?

Ermine buttercream, also called boiled milk frosting, is made by cooking milk, flour, and sugar together to form a paste. This paste in then whipped with butter to make the buttercream. This must have been a popular old-fashioned recipe, because I’ve seen a lot of people say that their grandma used to make frosting this way.

What is Ermine buttercream/ boiled milk frosting?

Like Russian buttercream, this would be a good choice if you need to avoid eggs.

Tips for Ermine Buttercream:

Like German buttercream, you could infuse the milk beforehand to add different flavors.


Marshmallow Buttercream

What is marshmallow buttercream?

So I’m not sure if marshmallow buttercream was always a thing, but I first read about it in Stella Park’s book Bravetart: Iconic American Desserts. The recipe involves making a marshmallow fluff-type base, then mixing it with butter. You can find the recipe online, but I also highly, highly recommend buying the book. It’s one of my very favorite cookbooks!

Recipe for Stella Park’s Marshmallow Buttercream

What is marshmallow buttercream good for?

I found this buttercream to hold up very well in warm weather. It’s still full of butter, so it will melt eventually. But it’s the best thing I’ve found for warm weather situations. I used this buttercream to fill macarons which sat outside in 90 degree weather for hours at a styled wedding shoot, and they stayed perfectly intact until the sun started shining on them!

Tips for marshmallow buttercream:

While I loved the stability of this buttercream, I actually found it to be a bit too stiff for piping decorations. You could definitely pipe some simple designs with it, but it wouldn’t be good for anything intricate.


Other Buttercream Variations

Cream cheese buttercream

The simplest cream cheese frosting is usually just a mix of cream cheese, butter and confectioners sugar. It’s basically American buttercream with most of the butter replaced by cream cheese. But…

I have a secret to tell you: any buttercream can be cream cheese buttercream if you substitute some of the butter with cream cheese! For any buttercream recipe, try substituting ¼ to ½ of the butter with room temperature cream cheese. Just keep in mind that cream cheese will make your buttercream much softer, so buttercreams that are normally stiff enough for piping might not be with the cream cheese.

Korean/ Glossy buttercraem

A variation of IMBC created by GG Cakraft, this buttercream is super dense. It’s formulated to pipe buttercream flowers that have a glossy sheen and super thin, almost transparent petals.

Vegetable shortening in buttercream

There are several reasons why one might use vegetable shortening in buttercream. It has a higher melting point, which will help prevent frostings from melting in hot conditions. It can also be helpful as a complete substitute for butter in non-dairy frostings.

I find the taste and texture of vegetable shortenings rather sub par, to put it nicely. It’s good to know that it exists, but I would never recommend using it.

You Might Also Like

No Comments

Leave a Reply