BAKING PROJECT

There are many types of buttercream, and at times it can be confusing. The one I teach in my class is the most basic type, whereby we mix icing sugar with butter.  This type of buttercream is suitable for piping.  French buttercream (bc) on the other hand, is usually used as filling for cakes.  This is because of its very rich taste, and the texture is quite soft, making it not so very suitable to pipe with our nozzles.  It has a shorter shelf-life and must be kept in the fridge when not used.  You absolutely have to taste this French bc to appreciate it.  Make it as a special treat for your family.

The ingredient is simple :

Tool -  candy/ sugar thermometer (buy the digital type!)

Make a sugar syrup by boiling the sugar and water in a small saucepan.   Keep track of the temperature, the sugar needs to reach the soft ball stage at 118C.  In the meantime, put the egg yolks into the mixer and whisk until light and fluffy. Once you get the right sugar temperature, lower the speed and slowly drizzle the sugar into the egg yolk.  Whip at high speed until the mixture is cool.  Do not add the butter if the mixture is still hot.  (by the way, it helps if your mixer is the heavy duty type, with stainless steel bowl.. it can stand the heat from the sugar.  More reason to get the Kitchenaid ya.. heheh)

Once the mixture is cool, stir in the soft butter bit by bit.  (soft, not melted !).  Mix until everything is nicely emulsified.  At this stage, you may add any flavourings such as vanilla, etc.   Don’t panic if at any point you see the bc being sloppy and separated, just keep on whisking and it will turn out ok.  The French bc can be kept in the fridge for about a week.  Make sure it is well covered.

I’ll be exploring a different type of buttercream for my next post, so stay tune.  Take care and Happy Deepavali to all my Hindu friends and readers.

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Glace icing is the simplest form of icing. Very handy if you don’t have enough time to decorate your cake or cupcakes. I made some cupcakes yesterday and decorated it with glace icing. Here’s the recipe.

Ingredients

2 cups icing sugar, sifted

2 to 3 tablespoon of warm water or fruit juice

food colouring

Method : Sift the icing sugar. Use a wooden spoon, add the warm water and stir until the icing is smooth. The consistency should be similar to that of a whip cream. Or it should coat the back of your spoon. Add the colouring and it’s ready to use. This recipe is enough to cover an 8 inch round cake or for 24 cupcakes.

However take note that glace icing will harden quickly, so you have to work fast. I also find that my cupcake doesn’t look very nice the day after. Some of the icing started to crack. So it’s best eaten on the same day. There’s a few variety, you can add coffee powder, cocoa or fruit juice to flavour the glace icing, in place of the water.

All beginners should try this icing. A no-fail recipe !