{Recipe} Buttercream

People are scared of buttercream for some reason.... it's not hard... you don't even need measuring equipment!! Just an electric beater!

Recipe:
500 grams of icing mixture (supermarket brands are fine)
250 grams of good quality butter (I like Dairy Soft in the white tub)
1 tbs of good quality vanilla essence

... and 4 tbs of good cocoa powder if making chocolate buttercream....

This will make enough for about 25 cupcakes or more if you put a little buttercream on top. If you are making less cupcakes then you can halve the recipe.

Directions:
Put the butter in a bowl and beat until it's smooth. Then add the vanilla and half of the icing mix or icing sugar. Once combined, add the rest of the icing mix and then it won't fly out everywhere. Beat until its nice and smooth. It should feel light to spread when you dip your spatula in.

Tips:
Use an icing mixture as opposed to pure icing sugar as icing mixture contains cornflour and won't clump. you won't need to sift it because the cornflour stops the sugar clumping...

{gluten free}... then use pure icing sugar.... but you WILL need to sift it does not contain corn flour...

Use a good quality butter because this is what makes buttercream great. My favourites are Danish Lurpak butter (UK) or Dairy Soft (AUS) in the white container. Both are more expensive but worth the money as we usually make buttercream for special occasions anyway!

Don't keep buttercream in the fridge as it will take on fridge flavour. It also goes hard and won't pipe. So if you do make it the day before, you can keep it on the table with cling film over it. If it's the middle a hot Queensland summer, put it in the fridge. Let it come back to room temp before you try and pipe it. 

{vegan buttercream} quantities are the same, just swap butter for non-dairy spread... I find Nuttelex has the least flavour and takes on the vanilla, chocolate or essences you add. If the buttercream looks to soft and curdling, just add a little more icing mix. 

You can see how to make grass icing here.

{TIP} Do not use a butter that is labeled 'spreadable' for buttercream as it is butter blended with vegetable oil, you won't get the nice firm consistency and the buttercream will too soft.

{Tutorial} How to make grass on cupcakes

The 'grass' is one of the cutest icing effects and can be used for any theme... from enchanted gardens and teddy bear picnics to under the sea!

Here is the low down on the 'grass' nozzles... and how to use them.

Nozzles that give you the grass effect are called multi opening nozzles. There are a few different sizes by various brand names such as Wilton and Ateco. I have the Ateco 234 and Wilton 233. Ateco will give you a bigger grass than the Wilton. But using the Wilton nozzle to pipe lots of grass can give you a very sore wrist!

To get a really good grass effect from either of these nozzles you have to have really really smooth icing. Use icing mixture, which is a blend of icing sugar and corn flour.  The corn flour stops the icing sugar sticking together, so you always get super smooth icing. 

If you need gluten free products, using pure icing sugar but sift it really well, at least once.

Both icing sugar and icing mixture can be used in our perfect buttercream recipe!

Bake your cupcakes just below the cupcake case. The pink case looks bigger than it actually is... it is only about 3mm from the top of the case to the cake. The case holds the grass in and stops it falling off the cupcake. 

Start on the outside and work your way around. Hold the nozzle just about the cake and squeeze, as you feel it hit the cake, gently lift the icing bag up as you keep squeezing, then stop squeezing and pull off. The grass should stand upright. you can see the first grass, it's shorter. I stopped squeezing too early.

 Here are the two cupcakes I did, both with different nozzles. You get totally different effects. The big Ateco gives you really lush thick grass, like a lawn that needs to be mowed...perfect for a teddy bears picnic!  The Wilton gives you smaller neater grass perfect for an enchanted garden. I used the Wilton 234 for the original enchanted garden cupcakes. Hope this is helpful! Happy decorating!