Creamy, custardy vanilla French buttercream, made with whole eggs, pipes beautifully, tastes not too sweet, is shiny and silky smooth. You’ll fall in love with it. It’s perfect for icing and filling cakes, decorating cupcakes or any other baked goods. You’ll be making it again for sure!
Another thing that I’ve learnt in the last weeks is how to make French buttercream. I’ve been always hesitating because it involves eggs and sugar syrup and everyone was saying how complicated it is. But then, my colleague Linda showed me an alternative and easy way how to make it.
The most used buttercreams are American buttercream (butter and icing sugar; check also these chocolate bananas with buttercream), meringue-based Swiss meringue buttercream and Italian meringue buttercream, German buttercream (custard base) and last but not least, the French buttercream.
Contrary to the classic French buttercream, which uses egg yolks, sugar syrup with butter being added at the very end cube by cube, this recipe asks for whole eggs and a bit different procedure. In fact, whole eggs are first beaten with sugar over a water bath, then off the water bath and at the end incorporated into fluffy beaten butter.
Positive and negative sides of French buttercream
Also, contrary to the traditional (American) buttercream, it’s less sweet yet still delicious. Due to butter it’s stable and amazing for piping. And thanks to the eggs it gets creamy and silky smooth. However, it doesn’t hold up very well in warm weather, as in hot summer days. Therefore, use it in more suitable colder months to create beautiful cakes (see my French buttercream cake recipe coming up as next post) or cupcakes.
Since this recipe uses eggs, the buttercream won’t be that white. More of a pale yellow to be exact. But, you’ll be still able to create different colours of your choice or just use it like that.
No extra, fancy appliances are necessary to get great results. No need for a kitchen thermometer, too. So cool! Another great thing about this recipe you’ll combine eggs and sugar right away. There’s no need to make a “lava-hot” sugar syrup. Wink. All you’ll need are two bowls (one for eggs, one for butter) a pot for a water bath and a hand mixer.
Tips for an amazing French buttercream
The butter should be at room temperature. In other words, it has to be soft, but not melted. For instance, when you press into it, it should yield only when by applying a bit of pressure. Therefore, I suggest taking it out of the fridge at least 1 hour prior to using it.
Combine sugar and eggs; beat them twice on high speed; once until they get warm and fluffy over a water bath (make sure the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl) and once until they cool down (removed from the water bath).
In case you have some French buttercream leftovers, you can either store them in the fridge for up to two weeks or freeze them for up to 3 months. Make sure to store it in an airtight container or in a zipper-lock bag. When taking the buttercream out of the freezer, place it in the fridge overnight to allow it to thaw. Then, let it come to room temperature first and then whip it shortly with a hand mixer to get fluffy again.
Ingredients for around 700 g French buttercream (for one 20 cm cake, filling and icing):
- 140 g eggs
- 140 g sugar
- 400 g butter (soft at room temperature)
- some drops of vanilla aroma
- food gel colour (Royal Blue and Teal)
To begin, place the softened butter in a bowl. Using a hand mixer, beat the butter until pale and fluffy. In another (heat-proof) bowl add the sugar and carefully crack in the eggs. In a small pot, which fits the bowl, simmer some water and place the bowl with sugar and eggs on it. Keep the water at a light simmer and make sure it doesn’t touch the bowl.
Again, using a hand mixer, beat the eggs at high speed (over the water bath) until fluffy, pale yellow and slightly warm to the touch. Once the eggs have the right consistency and they feel warm, remove the bowl from the pot, place it on a kitchen towel and continue beating until cooler to the touch. It will take about 15 minutes (also the bottom of the bowl should be cool to the touch).
At this point, slowly, one third at a time, add the egg batter to the butter. Mix until well combined. Then, add the vanilla flavour and the food colour of your choice (starting with a tip of a toothpick).
Finally, after you reach the colour you were looking for, you are ready to use this French buttercream on cakes, muffins, cupcakes and so on. I’ll show you more in my next recipe.
Enjoy!
