American Buttercream by Bridget

American Buttercream by Bridget

I grew up calling American buttercream “frosting.” It wasn’t until a few years ago that I discovered that this “frosting” I’d been eating and making for years has an official name. American buttercream is a really straightforward and simple recipe compared to, say, Swiss, Italian, or French buttercreams.

How lucky are we to live in a world with so many buttercreams?

 
 

To make American buttercream, you need just a few ingredients: butter and/or shortening, extract, powdered sugar, and milk. That’s it.

 
 

For the butter component, use any combination of butter and shortening. Don’t freak out on me here, but I almost always use some shortening. In south Texas where it’s always hot, and the humidity hovers around 90 billion percent year round, shortening keeps the buttercream from melting and helps any piped decorating stay intact.

If you want to really ensure that your piped decorations hold their shape, make a crusting buttercream using all shortening. I highly recommend this if you’ll be serving your cake at a southern picnic or transporting it for a distance in a hot car.

 
 

Start by creaming your butter, shortening, or butter/shortening mixture. You want it super creamy and smooth; it’ll look a little like a face cream. (No, I have not rubbed this on my face. Yet.) Next, you’ll mix in any extract you might be using. Vanilla always works.

 
 

For the next steps, you’ll add sifted powdered sugar and milk, a little at a time. I find that sifted sugar makes for a smoother frosting.

Once that’s all incorporated, beat until thickened. The higher the mixer speed and the longer you beat the frosting, the fluffier it will be.

 
 

American buttercream is very forgiving. Too runny? Mix in some more sugar. Too stiff? Beat in some more milk. You can make it ahead of time and store it, covered, in the fridge. When ready to use, take it out, and stir vigorously until workable.

 
Here are a few flavor ideas for you:

• Almond Amaretto: add 1 teaspoon almond extract and 1 tablespoon Amaretto in place of vanilla.
• Cookies & Cream: stir in 6 crushed chocolate sandwich cookies.
• Vanilla Bean: swap vanilla extract for vanilla bean paste, doubling the amount.
• Salted Caramel: stir 1/2 cup cooled, salted caramel into the finished buttercream.

 
Get your spoons ready because you’ll be eating this directly out of the bowl!

 
 

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