Day 14: Surprise cupcake day?!! All about buttercreams

Hello fork musketeers!

So on Thursday, I tried out this recipe with pretty good results.

Pandan cupcakes with gula melaka butter cream and salt gula melaka drizzles.

So we were originally told that we would present our cupcakes on Friday but Chef came in and told us, "Ok, you will make your cupcakes and show them to me this afternoon." Yikes! Good thing I brought all the things I needed.

The reason why Chef wanted us to do cupcakes is because it was a good exercise to do that summarizes the things we learned this month. We dealt with buttercreams; making batters and other basics.

Buttercream basics

Most people know what buttercreams are. Butter and sugar, amirite!?

Adding gula melaka syrup to swiss buttercream

The final colour

What you probably didn't know is there are different styles. They are all slightly different from each other but some are more suited to different things.

French buttercream

This is the most rich buttercream. It involves either whipped egg yolks or whole eggs that is cooked with piping hot sugar (about 120˚C) and whipped until gloriously fluffy. Then the butter is added in for... well, buttery goodness. This is a really enriched buttercream that is best eaten in smaller quantities.

Italian buttercream

While French buttercream uses egg yolks, Italian buttercream will use egg whites. It's otherwise the same method; whip egg whites and drizzle in the piping hot sugar while whisking. Then when it's cool you add the butter.

Swiss buttercream

Swiss buttercream also uses egg whites but instead of drizzling in hot sugar, the egg whites and sugar are cooked over a bain-marie/double boiler. This one will require some arm-power since you need to whip this over the bain-marie to prevent getting scrambled eggs. After the sugar's dissolved, whip it up to stiff peaks in your mixer and, once it's cooled, put in your butter.

Wait, so what about American buttercream?

I think, in general, when people think of buttercream they tend to think of American buttercream. If you've ever made buttercream that just used softened butter and icing sugar, you've made American buttercream. I think it tends to be the more common version in recipes since it's fairly fail-proof. That being said, Chef was pretty adamant that we were not allowed to make it ever and doesn't consider this style to be "real" buttercream.

In my opinion, I think it's a good option if you or someone you know is allergic to eggs. If we compare the American-style buttercream with the ones with egg, there is definitively more complexity in the texture and overall they have a better taste. Here's a handy article that talks more in depth about buttercreams if you're interested.

Whatever style you decide to make, the rule of thumb for buttercream is to keep beating it. Seriously. Unless your eggs scrambled, it can be fixed by identifying the problem (fat/water not coming together; clumps of butter; etc), addressing it and beating it some more. Generally speaking, buttercreams are an emulsion of water and fats. You just need to bring them together!

Here are some troubleshooting guidelines that may help you on your next buttercream adventure.

My buttercream looks super clumpy!
Take some of your buttercream between your fingers and feel the texture. Unless it's scrambled eggs, you can probably fix it. If it's small chunks of butter - and you'll see the small chunks melt on your fingers - your butter is probably a little too cold. Gently warm up your mixer and keep beating. The butter should incorporate.

If it's scrambled eggs it means you didn't whisk the sugar in fast enough or your heat was too high. Just try again.

My buttercream looks watery with clumps of fat floating on top.
If you see this kind of texture, it means your buttercream didn't emulsify properly. Don't fret though, it can be fixed in one of two ways: 1) you can try swapping the beater with a whisk and whisking the mixture together; the incorporated air will help them emulsify or 2) you don't have enough fat in your buttercream. Try adding a bit more butter and keep beating. Just make sure your butter is room-temperature, otherwise it'll have a hard time getting incorporated and you'll get even more stressed out!

My buttercream is super soupy.
This can mean one of two things. If you're making swiss buttercream, just keep beating it. If you're not, it probably means your mix was too warm when you added the buttercream. Either way, keep beating it and if it still doesn't firm up, put your mixing bowl in the fridge for 5-10 minutes. Remember, you just want to chill the butter enough so it's not soupy; if you leave your cream in the fridge for too long it'll just be a hard, buttery thing and you'll have to let it warm up to beat it properly.

Final notes

So I tweaked this recipe by adding some toasted desiccated coconut on top and toasted almonds. While the flavours are obviously there, I wanted to make it a bit more exciting with some textural contrast.

I think the original recipe was a little too sweet for some; Chef and some of my friends noted the sweetness. I did this recipe again by decreasing the amount of sugar in the cupcake by half. Since sugar not only adds sweetness but moisture as well (remember that for the next time you decrease sugar in your next cooking adventure), the cupcake came out a bit drier. However, since the buttercream and caramel was so moist and sugary, the overall experience is balanced out. I had Chef and a few people tell me the reduced sugar version was better, but YMMV.

I hope you guys give this a try. Next week we'll be starting breads and viennoiseries. I'm pretty excited to make my own croissants!