How do you make buttercream less sweet? Why does my buttercream taste grainy? What’s the right consistency for piping? Can I use buttercream in a hot climate? In this tutorial I answer the25 most commonly asked questions about my4 Minute Buttercream, which I use to frost and decorate all of my cakes.If I don’t answer your question, ask it in the comments or take myonline course on The Basics Of Buttercreamto learn how to make, troubleshoot, colour, store, and decorate with buttercream! If you prefer to watch a video of this tutorial, scroll to the bottom of the page. 1. Do I need a mixer to make buttercream? If you have a handheld mixer you could use that instead of a stand mixer but it’s more labour-intensive because even though it’s only supposed to take four minutes to do the mixing, holding the mixer with your hand and moving it through the thick butter and sugar for that length of time is actually really exhausting! 2. Can I use salted butter? 3. Can I use margarine or vegetable shortening instead of butter? 4. Why is my butter more yellow than yours? If you mix the butter on its own in the mixing bowl for a few minutes before you start the process of making the buttercream it should lighten the butter a little bit and then you’ll end up with more of a white colour. 5. What sugar do you use? 6. How can I make the buttercream less sweet? You could try a meringue based buttercream or aganacheinstead. This buttercream does rely on the sugar for stability so it’s an essential ingredient. The sugar keeps buttercream firm and that gives it its shape when you’re frosting or when you’re piping. You could reduce the amount of sugar a little bit and also reduce the amount of milk or cream. That way it will still have a similar consistency but if you take too much of the sugar away the buttercream become very liquid and it will slide off your cake or your piping won’t hold its form. 7. Can I use a whisk attachment to make it? 8. Your recipe says 4 minutes but I usually mix it for at least 10 minutes – can I do that? If you beat it for just a minute after each addition of the sugar that will be enough time to incorporate the sugar and the butter together and then once you add the liquid at the end it will be the perfect consistency. You really don’t need to beat it for longer.
I suppose you could make buttercream without a mixer. You’d have to have a lot of arm strength and also a lot of patience! I love making buttercream in my stand mixer because I can multi-task while it does all of the work for me!
Yes, absolutely! I use salted and unsalted butter interchangeablybut if you do it with salted butter justdon’t add the salt that’s in the recipe.
Yes, you can from a consistency point ofview. It will taste different. The taste thatbutter gives the buttercream is reallyunique andthe flavour of margarine and shorteningis a little bit different soif you’ve ever tasted buttercream madewith actual butter I’m sure you will beable to taste the difference when it’smade with something else.
Every butter seems to have a differentcolour. I don’t have a particular brandthat I use –I’m living in North America at themoment and the butter that I buy in thesupermarket is quite a light colourcompared to butters that I’ve used inEnglandand I’m sure it varies from country tocountry and brand to brand.
Definitely use powdered sugar not normalbaking sugar(caster sugar, granulated sugar, or whitesugar).It does need to be powdered sugar and itshould say somewhere on the packagingthat it’s10x powdered sugar, which just means thatit’s been sifted 10 times so it’s areally really fine powdered sugarand if you use one that isn’t as fineyou’ll notice the difference in thetexture of your buttercream.
A lot of people ask if you can justreduce the amount of sugar in the recipeto make the buttercreamless sweet. Although that’s possibleto a certain extent (and I’ll explain itin a second),unfortunately this type of buttercreamis just a very sweet buttercream so ifyou don’t like sweet buttercreams Iwould recommend trying something else.
No, a whisk attachment won’t work forthis buttercream, it does have to be apaddle attachment or a beaterand the reason is because you don’t wantto incorporate a lot of air into thebuttercream because then it will get airbubblesand the paddle attachment mixes itreally well without doingthat. The entire purpose of a whisk isto incorporate air so it’s not a good tool for this buttercream.
It isn’t necessary for this recipe. Ifyou want to beat it for longerthere shouldn’t be a problem with it aslong as you keep the mixer on its lowestsettingand as long as you’re using a paddleattachment and not a whisk attachmentbut it’s not necessary.
9. Why are there little white lumps in my buttercream?
After you’ve mixed powdered sugar with butter to make buttercreamyou might notice little whitelumps or specks in the buttercream. The reason for that is that the butterhasn’t been left to come toroom temperature so the butter istoo cold. It should be very soft like in this picture.
Then when you add the sugar to the butter it forms the little hard granules you can see at the bottom of this cake. It’s an absolute pain and there’s no way to get rid of them other than removing them one by one and you’ll have hundreds in a batch of buttercream! So it’s really really important to let the butter come to room temperature before you start the process of making the buttercream.
10. Why does my buttercream taste grainy?
The buttercream definitely shouldn’ttaste grainy. You shouldn’t notice anytexture because it should be verysmoothand the reason for that is that thebutter and the sugar should completelyincorporate to make a smooth buttercream.
If you do notice a gritty or a grainy texture, that’s from the sugar, not from the butter and it’s either because you haven’t sifted the sugar (sometimes sugar comes pre-sifted so i actually don’t sift the brand that I buy) but if you find that there are clumps in it, you really do need to sift it.
The other reason is unfortunately just the type of sugar that you’re using. It might not be the 10x (the 10 times sifted) icing sugar or powdered sugar so if you try making another batch and you sift the sugar and it still tastes gritty or grainy it’s just the brand of the sugar that you’re using, so I’ve had a lot of people ask me about this and I’ve suggested they try a different brand and they do and then they have fantastic results. So i know it’s not the solution you want to hear but try a different brand of sugar and hopefully everything will work perfectly.
11. Why is my buttercream yellow instead of white?
Butter is a yellow product naturally but some brands are lighter than others. Butterdoes lighten when you mix itbut when you finish making thebuttercream, if your buttercream stillhas too much of a yellowish tinge forwhat you’re looking for you can try this trick.
It sounds a little bit strange but use a teeny tiny bit of violet food colour. You can just dip a toothpick into the bottle of colour and then put a really tiny bit to start with. Stir it all together and the violet takes away the yellow tinge and it will make your buttercream look really bright white.
12. Why are there air bubbles in my buttercream?
If you have air bubbles in yourbuttercream it’s because you’veincorporated too much air into it,which usually happens when you beat thebuttercream at too high of a speed. Itreally needs to be on the lowest speedof your mixerand if it isn’t because of that then itcould be because you were using a whiskinstead of a paddle or a beater attachment.
13. How can I get rid of the air bubbles?
If you do have air bubbles in yourbuttercream you can try and fix it.Put the buttercream in a big bowl andtake a spatula and really slap it aroundin the bowl so really aggressively stirit.Knock the buttercream against the sidesof the bowl and that will knock the airout of the buttercreamand the more you stir it, the smootheryou’ll notice it getting.
14. How do I know how much milk or cream to add?
I’d suggest adding the milk or cream tothe buttercream at the end of the recipe,just a tablespoon at a time so you canobserve how the consistency of thebuttercream is changing as you add theliquidbecause once you make the buttercreamtoo liquid it’s very difficult to get itto go back to the right consistency.You’d have to add even more sugar andthen it would become really sweet.
15. How can I tell if my buttercream is too stiff?
I like to use a few ways to test theconsistency of buttercream.The first is to pull your spatulathrough the bowl of buttercream andobserve the trail that the spatulaleaves behind.It should be a completely smooth pathwaybehind the spatulaso both the buttercream trail itselfshould be smooth but also the edges ofit should be really smooth.
When the buttercream is too stiff you’ll notice there are lots of little holes behind the pathway that your spatula’s left and that’s where the buttercream has broken away from itself and it’s because it’s so stiff that the spatula’s tearing it as you pull it and also the edges of the pathway of the buttercream, you’ll see that they’re really shaggy, rugged peaks where the buttercream has again almost split apart and that’s because it’s really too stiff so you have to add a lot more milk or cream but just a tablespoon at a time so you can see how it does with each tablespoon.
The second way I like to test it is to scoop up a little bit of buttercream on my spatula and then just gently tap the spatula on the side of the bowl. Just tap it once or twice and see if the buttercream falls off. This will vary from person to person depending on how firmly they tap the spatula on the bowl but for me it usually comes off by the second tap and that shows me that it’s the right consistency.
If the buttercream is still clinging onto your spatula it’s far too stiff and if when you lift the spatula up from the bowl the buttercream slides straight off the spatula then it’s definitely too runny.
16. What’s the right consistency for frosting cakes?
When you frost a cake it’s essentialthat your buttercream is the rightconsistencyotherwise you’ll have a nightmare crumbcoating the cake and a nightmare tryingto get the final coat of frosting smooth.You can test the buttercream whenit’s in the bowl before you even startfrosting your cakeusing the methods that I mentioned: bydragging your spatula through the bowland also scooping up some buttercreamand tapping it on the side of the bowland seeing when it falls off.
But as a second check, you can also test it as you’re frosting the cake. Put the buttercream on your offset spatula and start to spread it onto the cake and if the frosting is clinging onto the offset spatula instead of gliding onto the cake then you know your buttercream’s too stiff and you need to add more liquid.
It should spread really easily like very soft butter spreading onto a piece of bread and your spatula should glide around the cake and then you should be able to swipe your offset spatula right off the cake and it should leave the buttercream behind. It’ll leave a little peak as you as you swipe the spatula off but the buttercream will stay behind on the cake, it won’t pull off with your spatula.
It’s much more common that buttercream is too stiff rather than too loose or too runny. If it is too loose when you spread it onto the cake over the top surface of the cake instead of sticking out over the sides of the cake it will slide right down the sides of the cake rather than staying in that smooth top layer at the top and in that case I would just recommend turning that into your crumb coat, spread it very thinly all over the cake, let it set, add a bit more sugar to your buttercream and beat it again until it gets thicker and then use that for your final coat of frosting.
17. What’s the right consistency for piping?
I usually use the same consistency ofbuttercream for frosting a cake orpiping.The exception is for Russian tips, whereit needs to be maybe a little bitstifferso to do that you can either add alittle bit more icing sugar and thenstir it together again or the otherthing you can dois put the frosting in a piping bag putit in the freezer for one minute.
Set a timer for one minute so you don’t forget and then when you take it out of the freezer do a test flower and that should be the right consistency and I have a a very detailed tutorial on5 tricks to pipe with Russian tips.
18. My buttercream is too runny. Can I chill it in the fridge or freezer to thicken it?
The only time when I would recommendcorrecting the consistency ofbuttercreambecause it’s too loose or too runny byputting it in the fridgeis if you’re really confident that thatproblem has been caused by heat.
Even if the consistency of the buttercream is correct (it has the right balance of sugar and butter and milk or cream), warmth or heat can make the consistency too loose. For example, if you pipe the buttercream using a piping bag and you either take a long time piping or your hands are really warm, or if it’s a really hot day. In these situations, when you notice that the buttercream starts to get runnier, you can put it in the freezer for 1-2 minutes. Stir it around and then try and use it again and see if the consistency is better.
But the consistency may be too loose because there’s too much liquid in the buttercream. For example, maybe you added too much milk or cream or a liquid flavor ingredient like strawberry puree or lemon curd. If this makes the buttercream too runny I wouldn’t recommend putting it in the fridge or freezer because the temperature of the buttercream is not going to fix the consistency.
19. Can I use this buttercream in a hot climate?
Yes, you can! I started baking anddecorating cakes in Costa Rica, which haspretty extreme summers especially at thebeachand I used this buttercream and I neverhad any problems. There are a fewprecautions you could takeand there is a substitution you can make.
If you’re going to serve a cake outside on a hot day, keep the cake in the fridge until you serve it or until you have to display it outside so that it stays cold for as long as possible. Also keep it in the fridge until you transport it because a cold cake is going to resist the vibrations and the movements of travel a lot better than a cake at room temperature.
If you have had the cake in the fridge until you transport it or take it outside, if it sits outside for an hour or two before you eat it that will be enough time for it to go from being cold just to room temperature rather than completely melting in the heat. Find a place in the shade to display it, ideally with a breeze or fan blowing on it!
If you put any cake with any frosting in full sunlight on a hot day with no breeze it’s probably not going to last very long – the frosting will droop, the filling may cause a bulge in the frosting, and the frosting might even melt and slide down the sides of the cake. This buttercream isn’t an exception but you can use a substitution to make the buttercream even more stable than it already is.
The substitution is to switch out the butter for a vegetable shortening like Crisco, Trex, or any other brand. I can personally taste the flavour (I’ll talk about that in a second) so what you could do is you could switch half of the butter out for the vegetable shortening and leave the other half and that way the buttercream will stand up a little bit better to the heat.
To combat the flavour of the substitution, in Costa Rica when I made a cake or cupcakes to sit outside in the heat for a long period of time I switched out half of the butter for shortening but also added a teaspoon of artificial vanilla essence for every batch of buttercream. Keep the original measurements of the real vanilla extract in the recipe and for some reason the addition of the artificial vanilla essence takes away the shortening flavour. I don’t know the science behind it, it’s just something I stumbled upon that works!
20. How do I make chocolate buttercream?
To make chocolate buttercreamyou caneither add cocoa powder mixed with a bitof liquid or you can add meltedsemi-sweet chocolateor you can add both. I share my favouriterecipe anda video tutorialhere.
21. How do you get such bright colours on your buttercream cakes?
I use gel colours. I don’t have just onebrand that I use, I’ve tried Wilton,Americolor and Chefmaster and I reallylike all of them. The advantage of gel colours overliquid colours (the kind you can buy in the supermarket or grocery store) is that they’re reallyconcentratedso you don’t have to use a lot to getreally bright colours.
Apply gel colours just a few drops at a time. Because they’re so concentrated, you don’t need to use much to get a bright colour. However, you do have to use quite a lot of them to get very dark colours like a dark purple or red orblack buttercream. Add a few drops of colour, stir to mix the colour into the buttercream, and then check the shade of the colour.
When you think you’ve got a colour similar to the shade that you want, maybe a little bit lighter, cover the bowl with cling film/saran wrap/a lid and leave it for 30 minutes. With time and exposure to air the colour starts to darken so it will get a few shades darker in that time. If you want the colour to be even darker you can add a few more drop of gel colour. This works well for dark colours likeblack buttercream.
22. How do you get your buttercream so hard on your cakes?
My4 Minute Buttercreamis what’scalled a crusting buttercream whichmeansbecause of the amount of sugar in it,when it’s exposed to air it willeventually crust which means it justforms a harder surface. When it crusts, you can apply pressure to it without damaging it.
I exaggerate this by putting cakes in the fridge so that the buttercream sets really hard and that lets me do all sorts of decorating techniques like decorating with acetate transfers, stenciling, and even carving buttercream. All of those techniques really rely on having a very firm buttercream.
If you don’t want to or can’t refrigerate your cake, you can just leave it at room temperature. It will still form a crust on the outside but it won’t get as hard as it does when it’s in the fridge so the buttercream will be a bit more fragile when you’re decorating it.
If you do put your cake in the fridge and it gets that very hard frosting, when you take it out of the fridge and you leave it to come to room temperature before you serve it, the buttercream will soften again.
23. How long can I leave my buttercream at room temperature?
Because of the amount of sugar in thebuttercream you can leave it at roomtemperature longer than you might leavea cup of milk at room temperature.
It must be sealed properly, which means covering it tightly with cling film or saran wrap or a lid because if it’s exposed to the air it will crust on the outside and then when you stir the buttercream you’ll get little chunks of crusted buttercream within it. Covered buttercream will be fine for two to three days at room temperature.
24. Can I leave buttercream in the fridge?
You can put buttercream in the fridge.The same as for room temperature, it’sreally importantto seal it properly and then you canleave it in the fridge for a week or upto two weeks.
25. Can I freeze buttercream?
You can freeze buttercream! I like to doit in a ziploc bag because it’s easierto fit in the freezer thana big tupperware or bowl but you can do ithowever you like as long as it’s asealed container.
Take it out two or three hours before you’re ready to use it so that it has time to thaw and come to room temperature. Then put it in a bowl and stir it and if it still has lumps of hard buttercream in it, wait for about another hour and then stir again.
You’ll notice that the buttercream looks quite air bubbly so stir it a few times before you use it to knock those out and then it will be perfectly smooth and it will behave the same way as if you’d never frozen it or put it in the fridge in the first place.
I hope I’ve answered all of your questions about my4 Minute Buttercream. You can find therecipe and video tutorialonhow to make itandcheck the consistencyandadd other flavourshereand if you have any questions I haven’t answered, please ask them in the comments below!
Here’s the video version of this tutorial:
