Buttercream

Appears in

By Bo Friberg

Published 1989

  • About
Buttercream is indispensable in the pastry kitchen. Its primary use is for filling, icing, and decorating cakes and pastries. Buttercream should be light and smooth and should always be made from a high-quality sweet butter. Icings made from all margarine or shortening can be unpleasant to eat—because of their higher melting point, they tend to leave a film of fat in your mouth—but a small amount of margarine or shortening added to the buttercream stabilizes it without detracting from the taste. On very hot days or in hot climates, you can increase the ratio of butter to margarine to equal amounts, but only if absolutely necessary to prevent the buttercream from melting.