I used to steer clear of using fresh strawberries in buttercream recipes simply because I believe using freeze dried berries yields the best consistency and most flavorful buttercream. I still think it’s much easier to use freeze dried fruit when flavoring buttercream, but after years of chatting with people making my recipes all over the world, I realize that not everyone has access to it. So, I took to the kitchen determined to find the best way to make strawberry buttercream with fresh or frozen berries. And guess what? I came up with a recipe that is flavorful and easy to work with for filling, frosting, and decorating cakes and cupcakes. Plus, just look at this naturally beautiful color!

How to Use Fresh or Frozen Strawberries for Buttercream

Fresh and frozen berries contain a lot of liquid. That’s why you can’t just blend them up and add them into your buttercream – it will ruin the consistency to the point of no return! Instead, the secret to creating the best flavor + consistency is to first purèe the strawberries and then reduce them into a jam-like consistency over the stove. This reduction process keeps all the flavor intact while getting rid of the unnecessary liquid content. 

Making the reduction is super simple, but does take a little time. You’ll purèe the strawberries using a food processor, then transfer them to a small saucepan set over medium heat and bring them to a boil. Once this happens, turn the burner down to low and simmer the strawberries for 10-15 minutes, until the majority of the liquid content evaporates from the rest of the purèe. This leaves you with a jam-like consistency that you can add right into the buttercream to flavor it (once it’s room temperature, that is). 

Why Reduce the Pureè?

After purèeing your strawberries, they will be extremely liquid in consistency. Adding too much liquid to your buttercream causes it to curdle and thin to the point where it’s soupy and unusable. By cooking that purèe to the point of reduction, you’ll be able to remove as much liquid from the strawberries as possible and amplify the flavor of the berries by getting rid of all that extra water. This yields a much smoother, more flavorful buttercream in the end. 

Best Cake Pairings for Strawberry Buttercream

This strawberry buttercream goes perfectly with pretty much any cake flavor. Here are some of my favorite flavor pairings to date: 

• Strawberry Cake
• Strawberry Lemonade Cake 
• Chocolate Cake
• Vanilla Cake 
• Lemon Cake 
• Funfetti Cake
• Matcha Cake 

Whatever you end up pairing it with, I hope you love this fresh strawberry buttercream as much as I do!

Print

Fresh Strawberry Buttercream

A silky smooth strawberry buttercream made with fresh or frozen berries. Perfect for pairing with layer cakes, cupcakes, macarons, and more!

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Servings 3 Cups

Ingredients

• 5 Oz (1 Cup) fresh strawberries, chopped* see notes if using frozen berries
• 1 Cup (226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 1/2 Cups (420g) powdered sugar
• pinch of salt

Instructions

Make the Reduced Strawberry Purèe

• Using a food processor, purèe the chopped strawberries (you’ll end up with about ½ Cup after this). Add the strawberry purèe into a small saucepan set over medium heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until it becomes jam-like and has reduced by half. You’ll end up with about ¼ Cup of reduced purèe after this step. Let it cool completely to room temperature (either in the refrigerator or on the counter) before moving on in the recipe.

Make the Strawberry Buttercream

• With a hand mixer or paddle attachment on your stand mixer, beat the butter on medium-high until it’s creamy, about 5 minutes. 
• Add the powdered sugar about a cup at a time and mix on low speed, making sure each addition is fully incorporated before adding the next. Scrape down the bowl and paddle as needed.
• Add the (room temperature!) reduced strawberry purèe and a pinch of salt. Continue mixing on low speed until fully incorporated and smooth, scraping down the bowl and paddle as needed, 1-2 minutes.

Notes

*Frozen Berries: if using frozen berries, thaw and dry them completely before purèeing in a food processor. Because of the extra liquid content the ice adds, you may need to cook the purèe for slightly longer than 10-15 minutes to get it to a jam-like consistency. 

Make Ahead Tips: This buttercream can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week. When you’re ready to use it, bring it back to room temperature and re-mix in your stand mixer on low speed to bring back to smooth buttercream consistency. 

Yield: This buttercream makes enough to:

• Frost 12-15 cupcakes with a piping bag
• Fill and crumb coat a three-layer 6-inch cake or two-layer 8-inch cake
• To have enough for frosting and decorating as well, double the recipe. 

Did you make this fresh raspberry buttercream? I want to know what you paired it with and what you think! Let me know in the comments below and feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram to show me. I love to see what you create!

The post Fresh Strawberry Buttercream Recipe appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

To make things a little easier, I whipped up some handy charts below to give you a good estimate of how much frosting to make for your bakes. 

Will This Chart Work with Any Kind of Frosting?

I wrote this chart with American Buttercream in mind (which is my go-to frosting). If you’re going by volume (not by weight),  this chart will work with any kind of frosting – swiss meringue buttercream, italian meringue buttercream, whipped cream frosting, etc. Most frosting recipes will state how much they yield in Cups (aka by volume), so you can base your estimations and scaling off of the chart below regardless of your preferred frosting. 

Tips for Scaling Frosting Recipes 

Let’s say you need 4.5 Cups of frosting based on the chart below, and you notice that one batch of the buttercream recipe you’re using yields only 3 Cups. How should you proceed? 

Working backwards, you’d divide 4.5 Cups by 3 Cups to get your answer: 4.5/3 = 1.5. In other words, you’ll need 1.5 batches of your buttercream recipe to have enough for your project. That means you’ll multiply each ingredient in your buttercream recipe by 1.5 to scale the recipe properly. 

If you don’t want to do all that math by hand, I recommend using a recipe scale calculator like this one where you can simply copy/paste your ingredients list and choose the scale amount (in this case, scale by one and one half) to get the correct amount of each ingredient.    

I will say that it’s always better to have a little more buttercream than you expected than to not have enough. To prevent that scenario, I recommend rounding up when estimating.

*A Note on Gram Measurements: I didn’t put gram measurements on this chart because different kinds of frosting vary by weight per cup. If you’re using American Buttercream (like most of my recipes), then you can go with the gram measurement of 1 Cup = 215g and scale the recipe from there.

I hope that you find this chart and info helpful for your cake planning! Let me know in the comments if you do and feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram to show me what you make! I always love to see what you create.

The post How Much Buttercream Do I Need? Helpful Chart Included! appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

My favorite way to make fruit-flavored buttercream is always with freeze dried fruit. It gives the frosting the most authentic flavor without compromising the consistency of the buttercream. So whenever I’m perusing the freeze-dried fruit selection at my local grocery store, I always check to see what kinds are available. When I saw that freeze-dried blueberries were a thing I just had to snatch them up for a buttercream recipe!

Amazing Natural Color and Flavor

This blueberry buttercream has the most authentic flavor and the natural color is just unreal. You make it by grinding freeze-dried blueberries into a powder using a food processor, then adding them to the buttercream. 

One thing I’ve noticed is that different brands of blueberries can yield slightly different colors. This is because of a natural pigment found in all blueberries called anthocyanin. Different types of blueberries have slightly different pigments. For example, wild blueberries have more of a red-violet pigment (like you see here) and cultivated blueberries have more of a deep blue or indigo pigment. 

To give you some visual examples of how this can affect the resulting buttercream color, I made this lemon cake with blueberry buttercream using these freeze-dried blueberries from Trader Joe’s and got more of a bluish purple color.

Then for this buttercream recipe, I used Natierra Organic Freeze-Dried Blueberries and it turned out way more red-violet, but with the same amazing blueberry flavor. Pretty wild! 

What are Freeze-Dried Blueberries?

The process of freeze drying removes all the liquid from the berries while keeping the color and flavor intact. The blueberries are essentially frozen, and then the ice is vaporized after that. This preserves all the nutrients of the blueberries, since the only element eliminated is the water content. The process also makes the blueberries dry enough to grind into powder for flavoring and dying foods like buttercream. 

You can usually find freeze-dried berries in the snack section at your local grocery store. I’ve seen them at New Seasons, Whole Foods, Target, Costco, and Trader Joe’s. If you can’t find them locally, Amazon is also a great resource. Just make sure they’re freeze-dried and not just dried. 

Can I Use Fresh or Frozen Blueberries?

Since both fresh and frozen blueberries still contain a ton of water, you can’t do a straight substitution in this recipe. Adding all that water content will make your buttercream split, plus the flavor won’t be as powerful. If you can’t find freeze dried blueberries locally or online, I’d recommend trying a reduced blueberry pureè to flavor the buttercream instead. That will mean pureèing the blueberries, then cooking them down in a saucepan to remove as much liquid as you can. 

What to Pair with Blueberry Buttercream

Here are some of my favorite cakes to pair with this blueberry buttercream:

• Lemon Cake
• Vanilla Cake
• Chocolate Cake
• Vegan Vanilla Cake
• Vegan Chocolate Cake

Print

Freeze-Dried Blueberry Buttercream

This delicious blueberry buttercream is packed with amazing flavor, natural color, and is the perfect consistency for decorating cakes and cupcakes.

Prep Time 20 minutes

Servings 3 Cups

Ingredients

• 3/4 Cup (18g) freeze-dried blueberries
• 1 Cup (226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 Tbsp (45ml) whole milk, room temperature
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 3 Cups (360g) powdered sugar
• pinch of salt

Instructions

• With a food processor, grind the blueberries into a powder and set aside.
• Whip the butter using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment on medium-high speed until it’s creamy and light in color (5 minutes). Add vanilla, milk, and blueberry powder and continue to mix on medium until fully combined.
• Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time and mix on low speed, scraping down the bowl and paddle after each addition. Add a pinch of salt and mix on low speed until fully combined and smooth, 1-2 minutes. 

Notes

Make it Ahead: This buttercream can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container at room temperature for one day, or in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. Bring it back to room temperature and re-mix with your mixer on low speed to bring it back to frosting consistency. 

Make it Vegan: you can easily substitute the butter in this recipe with your favorite vegan butter sticks. I like to use Earth Balance brand. Then substitute the whole milk in this recipe with your favorite non-dairy milk. Coconut and soy milk yield the best results in my opinion. 

Yield: This buttercream makes enough to:

• Frost 12-15 cupcakes with a piping bag
• Fill and crumb coat a three-layer 6-inch cake or two-layer 8-inch cake. To have enough for frosting and decorating as well, double the recipe. 

What will you do with your blueberry buttercream? Let me know in the comments or tag me on Instagram if you make this recipe!

The post The Best Blueberry Buttercream Recipe appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

This Summer, something happened to me that has never happened before (to my knowledge at least): one of my cakes melted in the outdoor heat. I made a birthday cake for a dear friend’s daughter – my vegan vanilla cake with vegan vanilla buttercream. The party was outdoors and the temperature was around 85 degrees. I refrigerated the cake up until I needed to drive it to the party, thinking that would be enough to preserve it for a few hours. But about an hour after the cake was displayed, the thing started melting (along with my heart). Thankfully, these were the kind of friends who were able to laugh about it with me as it all fell apart. Here’s a before and after:

Although it was a first for me, it got me thinking about so many of you who live in hot and humid climates. I’ve even gotten questions over the years from said people wondering how to make their buttercream more heat stable. The fact of the matter is, the butter in buttercream frosting starts to break down when it’s in an environment that’s above 82 degrees, and vegan butter has an even lower melting point. So, I thought I’d do some experimenting on how to add stability to your buttercream (both vegan and non) for those hot and humid days while keeping your frosting nice and tasty. 

For my experiment, I created four mini cakes and frosted them each with different frostings using my favorite vanilla buttercream recipe as a base: 

• All butter (aka the recipe as-is)
• Half butter and half shortening
• Half butter and half shortening + meringue powder for added stability
• Half vegan butter and half shortening (with coconut milk as the liquid)

I refrigerated each cake until firm before placing them in the direct sun on an 88 degree day with 35% humidity and here’s a video of what happened:

If you’re into cake videos like this one, head on over to my YouTube Channel. You’ll find all sorts of cake decorating tutorials, recipes, and my entire Cake Basics series in video format. I’m always adding new videos there, so be sure to hit the subscribe button so you’ll always be the first to know about a new one. 

Buttercream Heat Test Results

Over the course of the two hours I had the cakes in the sun, none of them completely melted, which was kind of disappointing because I wanted things to be more dramatic. The day just wasn’t hot enough. So in the end, I had to break out the hair dryer to see what would happen with more heat applied. 

After I cranked up the heat on these cakes, the all-butter buttercream frosted cake melted into soup:

The cake with the half vegan butter and half shortening got a huge air bubble in the frosting that started to melt:

The half butter and half shortening frosted cake looked pretty good after one hour but this is after two hours out in the direct sun + hair dryer:

And the half butter/half shortening with added meringue powder had relatively no change: 

I did try an all-shortening frosting because I hear that’s really heat stable, but just couldn’t get over how terrible it tasted. You’d have to use a lot of flavoring to get it to taste normal (and even then, the texture is a little weird).

I concluded that when you’re up against crazy heat (according to these test results at least), use half butter and half shortening with meringue powder. If you’re in need of vegan frosting, you can chance it with half vegan butter and half shortening or try the all-shortening route (with the meringue powder omitted) if you can get it to taste good. I’m going to add my preferred recipe below and in the notes, I will show you how to adapt the recipe for using all-shortening, making it vegan, etc. 

What is High Ratio Shortening?

When you think of shortening, what do you think of? Crisco is what I thought of before all my research into heat stable buttercream. It turns out that Crisco (and most shortening) is made with zero trans fat – in other words, it won’t add enough stability to your frosting. So in order to add that stability, you need what’s called high ratio shortening. That means the shortening has a high ratio of fat with added emulsifiers and no added salt or water. In other words, the micro emulsifiers in it help your frosting to hold more sugar and liquid and thus make it more temperature resistant. 

Unlike Crisco though, high ratio shortening can’t be found at your typical grocery store. I found this high ratio shortening on Amazon, which claims to be made specifically for cake making, but there are other brands (Sweetex is one I hear about a lot) that cake decorators use. You might be lucky and live close to a cake decorating shop that sells high ratio shortening, so check your local area to see.  

What is Meringue Powder? 

Meringue powder is basically powdered egg whites, but it also contains cornstarch, sugar for sweetness, gum arabic for thickening, and cream of tartar which helps with stabilizing. If you want to try just adding meringue powder to your buttercream without adding any shortening, add 1 Tbsp (per batch of frosting) by mixing it into the powdered sugar before adding it to the butter in the linked recipe. 

With taste and stability in mind, here’s my new go-to recipe for heat stable buttercream:

Print

Heat Stable Vanilla Buttercream

A tasty vanilla buttercream that stands up better to hot and humid environments. Makes enough to fill and frost a double layer cake, fill and crumb coat a triple layer cake, and frost about 20 cupcakes.

Servings 3 Cups

Ingredients

• 1/2 Cup (113g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 Cup (100g) high ratio shortening
• 3 1/2 Cups (420g) powdered sugar
• 1 Tbsp meringue powder
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp whole milk or heavy whipping cream, room temperature
• 1/4 tsp salt, or to taste

Instructions

• With a hand mixer or paddle attachment on your stand mixer, cream the butter and shortening on medium-high until it’s creamy and light (almost white) in color. About 7 minutes.
• Whisk the meringue powder into the powdered sugar. Then, with the mixer on low, add the meringue/powdered sugar mixture one cup at a time, scraping down after each addition and making sure each cup is fully incorporated before adding the next one.
• Add vanilla, milk, and salt and mix on low for another minute until fully incorporated.

Notes

Make Ahead Tips: This buttercream can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. When you’re ready to use it, bring it back to room temperature and re-whip in your stand mixer to bring back to smooth buttercream consistency. 

To Make It with Vegan Butter: substitute an equal amount of vegan butter (I love Earth Balance Sticks) for the unsalted butter, omit the meringue powder, add 1 Tbsp vanilla instead of 2 tsp, add 1 Tbsp dairy-free milk instead of 2 Tbsp whole milk (my favorite is unsweetened coconut milk), and salt to taste. 

To Make It All-Shortening: omit the butter and use 1 Cup of high ratio shortening, 1 Tbsp of vanilla (and ¼-½ tsp of any other flavorings you’d like, such as butter extract, almond extract, etc), 4 Tbsp of whole milk or non-dairy milk, and keep the salt amount the same. 

To Make It Extra White: After all ingredients have been incorporated, add 1-2 tsp of Americolor Bright White or icing whitener of your choice. 

Yield: This buttercream makes enough to:

• Frost 12-15 cupcakes with a piping bag
• Fill and crumb coat a three-layer 6-inch cake or two-layer 8-inch cake. To have enough for frosting and decorating as well, double the recipe. 

Did you try this recipe? I want to know that you think! Let me know in the comments below or feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram and show me. I love to see what you create! And if you have a go-to recipe for heat stable buttercream or technique that you swear by, let us all know in the comments. We’re all in this together!

The post Stable Vanilla Buttercream Recipe for Hot Weather appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

When I was creating my S’mores Cake Recipe, I thought it would be amazing to pipe some pretty marshmallow fluff on top and toast it. The problem was, the jar of Kraft Marshmallow Creme I started with in recipe testing was not pipeable and quickly lost its shape, melting into pools of goo all over the cake. It was a happy accident though, because instead I concocted a homemade version that is pipeable, holds its shape perfectly, and looks amazing when toasted! And this homemade Marshmallow Meringue is so tasty, you’ll forget all about that store bought stuff. 

You can totally frost an entire cake with this Marshmallow Meringue, but my favorite way to use it is for piping pretty accents and toasting them with my kitchen torch. The toasted portions of my S’mores Cake Recipe, S’mores Cupcake Recipe, and Banana Nutella Cake all feature this recipe. You don’t have to stop at accents though – this Marshmallow Meringue is super light and fluffy, making it perfect as a filling or frosting for cakes and cupcakes. Feel free to get creative! 

There are only four ingredients in this recipe, but they’re all super important. When whipped, the egg whites give structure, the sugar helps bind it all together and sweeten it, the vanilla is responsible for making it taste like marshmallowy goodness, and the cream of tartar helps it hold its shape. Don’t skip the cream of tartar! I know it might be tempting, but it’s truly a must. 

This Marshmallow Meringue can be made ahead, but if you want the best consistency for piping and frosting, I recommend using it immediately. That means if you want to use it with any piping tips or frost a cake with pretty peaks, you’ll want to whip it up as a last step in your decorating process vs. a make-ahead recipe. You can store the Marshmallow Meringue for up to two days in the refrigerator if you’re planning on using it as a filling, it just won’t be as spreadable and easy to work with for frosting and piping. 

My favorite part about using Marshmallow Meringue is breaking out my kitchen torch and toasting it. It’s exhilarating! If you’re in need of a good butane kitchen torch, here is the one I use. I’ve tried using other things to toast (matches, a lighter, etc), but nothing holds a candle to a trusty kitchen torch. So if you want to toast this meringue, you’ll need one. Something that does not work for toasting this Marshmallow Meringue? The oven. It’ll melt your meringue into soup, so don’t even think about it.

Print

Marshmallow Meringue Frosting

A homemade alternative to store bought marshmallow creme, using only four ingredients. Perfect for frosting cakes and cupcakes, piping decorations, and using as a filling. Tastes even better when toasted with a kitchen torch!

Cook Time 10 minutes

Servings 4 Cups

Ingredients

• 4 large egg whites
• 1 Cup (200g) granulated white sugar
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Instructions

• Fill a medium saucepan with an inch or two of water and bring it to a simmer over medium heat. Whisk together the egg whites, granulated sugar, and cream of tartar in a heatproof bowl, then place it on top of the simmering saucepan. Make sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Alternatively, you can use a double boiler for this part.
• Whisk the egg white mixture continuously until the sugar and cream of tartar are dissolved, about 4 minutes. It will thin out and be very frothy on top.
• Remove the mixture from the heat and add it to a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (you can use a hand mixer for this part as well). Add the vanilla, then beat on high speed for about 5 minutes. You’ll know it’s ready when it looks glossy with stiff peaks. To test it, dip your whisk attachment into the meringue and make sure the peak holds.
• Use the Marshmallow Meringue immediately on cakes, cupcakes, or any dessert. You can frost with it, pipe with it, use it as a filling, or whatever you’d like before toasting with a kitchen torch (it tastes great untoasted too though).

Notes

Make Ahead Tips

1. If you’re planning on using this Marshmallow Meringue as a frosting or piping with it, I do not recommend making it ahead. Instead, whip it up right before you’re planning on frosting or piping. If you’re using it as a filling, you can store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two days.
2. After topping your baked goods with Marshmallow Meringue, you can store them at room temperature for up to 6 hours, after which I recommend storing them in the refrigerator. Do not freeze. 

Did you make this recipe? I want to know how it went! Leave a comment below or feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram and show me. I love to see what you create.

The post Homemade Marshmallow Meringue Frosting Recipe appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

I am a firm believer that having a go-to vanilla buttercream recipe is essential for cake making, and this Vegan Vanilla Buttercream is the one I reach for when I’m in need of a trusty vegan frosting. Not only does it frost like a total dream, it also holds its shape beautifully when piped and can be easily tinted any color under the sun. Oh, did I mention it tastes amazing too? Cause that’s pretty important! 

There’s nothing complicated about this Vegan Vanilla Buttercream recipe, but the powerful vanilla flavor and silky texture make it seem complex. The truth is, I simply swapped out the dairy in my favorite (non-vegan) Vanilla Buttercream Recipe with vegan friendly ingredients and the results ended up being so perfect. It’s just four ingredients: a good vegan butter (I love Earth Balance sticks), powdered sugar, a quality vanilla extract, and your favorite unsweetened dairy-free milk. 

One of the secrets to success with this recipe is making sure your ingredients are room temperature before starting. That means you’ll need to take the non-dairy milk and vegan butter about an hour ahead of time so they can come to room temperature before you start the recipe. Want to really knock this recipe out of the park? Invest in a great quality vanilla for flavoring. You can use any kind of vanilla extract or paste, but I always use bourbon vanilla (I get mine from Trader Joe’s!) to give it a rich vanilla flavor. 

This Vegan Vanilla Buttercream is extra versatile in the sense that it can be used for filling cakes, frosting cakes extra smooth, piping cupcakes and intricate decorations, and any other kind of dessert that calls for buttercream. It’s as easy to work with as it is to make. It can be paired with any cake flavor (everything pairs well with vanilla!), but if you’re looking to make an all-vanilla cake be sure to check out my Vegan Vanilla Cake recipe! It’s a tried and true crowd pleasing combination. Enjoy!

Print

Vegan Vanilla Buttercream

A silky smooth, flavorful vanilla buttercream that's dairy-free and vegan! Perfect for pairing with cakes, cupcakes, and any dessert that pairs well with vanilla buttercream.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Servings 3 Cups

Ingredients

• 1 Cup (227g) vegan butter, softened to room temperature I use Earth Balance sticks
• 3 1/2 Cups (420g) powdered sugar
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp unsweetened dairy-free milk, room temperature

Instructions

• With a hand mixer or paddle attachment on your stand mixer, cream the vegan butter on medium-high until it’s creamy and light in color. About 7 minutes. 
• With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, scraping down after each addition and making sure each cup is fully incorporated before adding the next one. 
• Add the vanilla and unsweetened dairy-free milk and mix on low for another minute until fully incorporated. 

Notes

Make Ahead Tips: This buttercream can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. When you’re ready to use it, bring it back to room temperature and re-whip in your stand mixer to bring back to smooth buttercream consistency. 

Dairy-Free Milk Suggestions: My favorites to use with this recipe are unsweetened coconut milk and unsweetened soy milk. You are free to use any dairy-free milk you’d like, but make sure you like the taste of whatever milk option you choose, as it will end up flavoring the buttercream. 

To Make It Extra White: After all ingredients have been incorporated, add 1-2 tsp of Americolor Bright White or icing whitener of your choice.  

Yield: This buttercream makes enough to:

• Frost 12-15 cupcakes with a piping bag
• Fill and crumb coat a three-layer 6-inch cake or two-layer 8-inch cake. To have enough for frosting and decorating as well, double the recipe. 

Did you make this Vegan Vanilla Buttercream? I want to know what you think and how you used it! Let me know in the comments below and feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco in your Instagram photos to show me. I love seeing what you create!

The post Vegan Vanilla Buttercream Recipe appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

I’m excited to share everything I know about coloring buttercream with you, especially because how I achieve buttercream colors has been one of my most frequently asked questions over the years. I’ve got all the info you need below, but first, here’s a video to walk you through all of the products I love and helpful tips for getting those colors spot on: 

Want to see more Cake Basics videos like this one? Head to my YouTube Channel to see the growing collection. You’ll also find tons of cake recipes and decorating videos there to inspire you and broaden your skill set – be sure to hit the subscribe button so you never miss a new one!

My Favorite Products:

Although I definitely started out with those liquidy primary food colors you can get in the baking aisle of any grocery store, over the years I’ve learned that using gel-based food colors make a world of difference. Here are the ones I have come to depend on and will be taking about throughout this post:

Americolor Soft Gel Paste Kits: these water-based gels are the best there is (in my opinion). They’re super concentrated, so you don’t need to use a whole lot to get rich colors. They also don’t affect the taste or consistency of your buttercream, and they come in pretty much every color you could imagine – you won’t ever have to worry about mixing custom colors. 

If you’re serious about your buttercream color palettes, I highly recommend getting either the Nifty Fifty Kit or Heavenly Seventy Kit. Like the names suggest, the Nifty Fifty comes with 50 gel colors and the Heavenly Seventy comes with 70 gel colors. Of course, you can purchase any Americolor gel on its own (they come in a few different sized bottles), but it’s always ideal and inspiring to have an entire kit full of color gels on hand. 

Americolor Bright White: whether I want my buttercream to be extra white for frosting a cake or I need to whiten it before adding color (we’ll get to the importance of that below), my favorite icing whitener is hands-down Americolor Bright White. If you’ve ever struggled with buttercream that is too yellow for your liking, I recommend keeping a big bottle of this on hand. 

Wilton Color Right Food Coloring System: If you’re not ready to invest in a big kit of Americolor gels and don’t want to keep buying colors one-by-one, the Wilton Color Right Food Coloring System is wonderful. It comes with eight water-based gels that you can mix with one another to create custom colors. Again, these are super concentrated and don’t affect the taste of your buttercream. The only thing I’ll mention with these is that you’ll need to know some basic color theory to achieve the colors you want (I’ll give you a mini lesson below!). 

I do realize there are other brands and types of food coloring products out there, but the ones above are the ones I reach for on the daily and are responsible for all the color palettes I’ve been able to create. So with these in mind, read on for everything I know about creating colorful buttercream. 

My Best Tips for Getting the Colors You Want:

1. Consider Your Buttercream Type

First, let’s talk about the type of buttercream I’m using, because that makes a huge difference in the outcome of the color. I use this buttercream recipe for everything I do, which is an American buttercream. Of all the buttercream types, American buttercream is the easiest to color and achieve rich, dark hues with minimal product. 

Other types of buttercream, such as Swiss Meringue or other meringue-based buttercreams, don’t take color as easily due to the high fat content not being as compatible with water-based gels. This may mean either the need to use more product, use different types of product (such as oil-based gels), wait longer for the color to develop and deepen, or use alternative methods of coloring the buttercream. I’ve never worked with any other type of buttercream before, so if Swiss Meringue (or another type) is your go-to, you may need to research the best methods and products to use for what you’re working with. 

2. Start with the Right Base Color 

Remember those elementary school lessons about colors? Yellow + blue = green and so on? Well along these same lines, when coloring buttercream it’s important to know that whatever color your buttercream is to start with (aka the base color) will mix with any color you add, which has a huge effect on the final color. To get the purest color palettes, you’ll want to start with a white buttercream, because white + any color = that same color (which intensifies as you add more color).

My go-to vanilla buttercream recipe is pretty pale in tone to begin with and easy to mix with colors, but if you’re starting with a more yellow-toned buttercream, that yellow color will mix with whatever color you add to it. To combat this, you’ll need a good icing whitener like the Americolor Bright White mentioned above. I add a teaspoon or two to each batch of my buttercream at the very end of the recipe, make sure it’s mixed in well, and just look at the difference it makes: 

It’s totally fine to start with yellowish buttercream if the end result of your coloring session will be in the yellow-toned family (yellow, orange, lime green, etc), but just keep in mind that the base color will affect the end result. Other than that, the only time I recommend not starting with white buttercream is if you need to achieve the colors black, deep burgundy, or dark brown. In those cases, always start with chocolate buttercream because it’s much easier to go from brown to black (and so on) than it is to go from white to black. 

3. Start Small

It takes practice to know how much buttercream you’ll need for different scenarios – what amount is ideal for filling and frosting a cake? Or for the final frosting layer on top of a crumb coated cake? Or for just a few buttercream flowers? Because those amounts vary so greatly, it’s almost impossible to come up with a “recipe” (or how many drops to use) for different color intensities.

I will say that the smaller the amount of buttercream you start with, the smaller the amount of color gel you’ll need to use to get a rich color. That being said, if you’re going for a pastel color and starting with a small amount, it’s also easy to add too much color gel and go overboard. Once you have the amount of buttercream measured out, the best way to approach coloring buttercream is start with a small amount of gel to see what color you end up with and go from there. 

To demonstrate, I’ve got two bowls here with about ½ Cup of buttercream each. I’ll start by adding about half a drop of Fuchsia color gel to the bowl on the right and mixing it all together. 

After mixing it all together, I can see we end up with a super slight pink color and can feel more comfortable adding one more drop to achieve a Fuchsia pastel.

Now I’ll double the amount (so, three drops) to the bowl on the left to show you how quickly this color can intensify. 

The more buttercream you have, the more drops you’ll need to use to intensify or darken the color. Because of this, you’ll just need to practice and be sure to always start with a tiny bit of gel unless you want a super dark color to begin with. 

4. Allow Time for Colors to Deepen

Not only does the color get richer and richer the more color gel you add, it’s also important to know that these colors will actually darken a little more over time. Again, this is going to take some practice and patience, but just look at how these Fuchsia colors from the above example have darkened after 15 minutes:

And then after 30 minutes: 

So whether you’re going for a dark color or not, be sure to factor in that the color will most likely get a little bit darker over time. 

5. Study Up on Color Theory

Especially if you’re mixing custom colors, knowing a thing or two about color theory will make you so much more confident. Here’s a great article that covers the basics, like what happens when you mix certain colors together and how to make a color warmer or cooler. The Wilton Color Right Food Coloring System that I mentioned in my “favorite products” section above comes with eight different color gels that you can mix together to create certain shades. It even comes with a handy little guide on how to make certain colors, but I still think it’s really important to know color theory, because sometimes the color you mix up is just a little off and knowing color theory will help you learn how to fix it. 

To demonstrate, I’ll show you how I would create a few different variations of purple buttercream starting with one drop of pink and one drop of blue. Notice that we end up with a cool-toned purple pastel color: 

The more blue you add to this color, the cooler it will be and the more pink you add, the warmer it will be. I want a warmer toned purple, so I’m going to add another drop of pink. See how the tone of the color changes? 

Now that I have a sort of “recipe” for this color, I can darken it by adding another round – one drop of blue and two drops of pink. I’ll keep doing this, adjusting the tone as necessary, until I end up with the color I’m going for – all the while knowing that time will intensify the color. 

If you’re ever stumped on how to mix a certain color, you can always Google how to make it as well. There are a lot of painting and art websites that will note the different colors that make up a turquoise blue or a forest green, so if you just Google things like “how to mix (name of color)” the results may be art-related but so helpful! 

6. Learn How to Lighten Colors 

Just in case you made a color and realized that after time it’s too dark or not right in some other way, having a little extra white buttercream or Americolor Bright White around is a life saver. Mixing in a little bit of white buttercream or icing whitener will help lighten the color so you can achieve the shade you were wanting to begin with instead of having to start from scratch. 

I hope all of this is helpful for your buttercream color palettes! It really does open up a whole new world of creativity when you have a great buttercream recipe, the right products, and know how to use them. So excited for you to explore some new possibilities with colors! 

Want more Cake Basics? Head here to see all of the posts and learn the methods of caking I’ve come to love over the years. I’m cheering you on every step of the way!

The post A Guide to Coloring Buttercream Frosting appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

I’ve tested a ton of buttercream recipes in my day, but my go-to is a super simple American buttercream recipe that I’ve tweaked to my liking. I’ve used this recipe for frosting countless cakes and cupcakes and I’m a big believer that a good vanilla buttercream is something every baker should have in their recipe box. There’s nothing fancy about the way this recipe is made, but it will certainly taste like you whipped up something special!

Making sure you use a good quality vanilla extract or paste is one of the secrets to success. You can use any kind of vanilla extract or paste, but I always use bourbon vanilla (I get mine from Trader Joe’s!) to give it a rich vanilla flavor. The other secret to success? Room temperature everything. That means taking the milk and butter out and letting them come to room temperature for about a half hour to an hour before you start any mixing. 

Here’s a quick video I whipped up to show you my method for making this buttercream recipe and all my tips for success:

I’ve got more recipe videos like this one + some fun cake decorating tutorials on my YouTube channel if you want to see some more! I’m always rolling out new videos, so click the subscribe button while you’re there to ensure you never miss a new one.

Print

Vanilla Buttercream

A rich, flavorful vanilla buttercream that is so easy to whip up, but tastes like you made something special. 

Prep Time 20 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 3 cups

Ingredients

• 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 1/2 cups (420g) powdered sugar, sifted
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp whole milk or heavy whipping cream, room temperature
• 1/4 tsp salt, or to taste

Instructions

• With a hand mixer or paddle attachment on your stand mixer, cream the butter on medium-high until it’s creamy and light (almost white) in color. About 7 minutes. 
• With the mixer on low, add the sifted powdered sugar one cup at a time, scraping down after each addition and making sure each cup is fully incorporated before adding the next one. 
• Add vanilla, milk, and salt and mix on low for another minute until fully incorporated. 

Notes

Make Ahead Tips: This buttercream can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. When you’re ready to use it, bring it back to room temperature and re-whip in your stand mixer to bring back to smooth buttercream consistency. 

To Make It Vegan: substitute an equal amount of vegan butter (I love Earth Balance Sticks) for the unsalted butter, use 1 Tbsp dairy-free milk instead of 2 Tbsp whole milk (my favorite is unsweetened coconut milk), and omit the salt. 

To Make It Extra White: After all ingredients have been incorporated, add 1-2 tsp of Americolor Bright White or icing whitener of your choice.  

Yield: This buttercream makes enough to:

• Frost 12-15 cupcakes with a piping bag
• Fill and crumb coat a three-layer 6-inch cake or two-layer 8-inch cake. To have enough for frosting and decorating as well, double the recipe. 

Tips for the best buttercream consistency

There are three types of consistency for buttercream that you need to know, and each one plays a different role in cake decorating.

Medium Consistency

This is the most versatile of all consistencies. It works perfectly as a filling between layers, crumb coating, frosting a cake (especially if you want a smooth buttercream finish), and even decorating cupcakes with simple piping tips. This buttercream recipe is medium consistency as-is, so it’s super easy to spread smoothly onto cakes. To test and make sure you’ve got a medium consistency going, you should be able to dip your rubber spatula into the buttercream and it will come out with soft peaks and spread easily when you move your finger over it.

Thin Consistency

This is the perfect consistency for painting with buttercream or writing a message on your cake. To achieve it, just add 1-2 additional teaspoons of room temperature milk to thin out the buttercream. 

Stiff Consistency

If you’re piping buttercream flowers, especially ones with petals that need to stand upright, you’ll need a stiff consistency. Add an extra 1/2 cup of powdered sugar per batch of the above recipe to achieve this. When you dip your rubber spatula into the frosting, it should come out with stiff peaks, but when you pipe with it, make sure it’s not so thick that you have to put a ton of extra pressure on the bag or clog the piping tip. If you’re running into these problems, fear not! You can tone it down by adding room temperature whole milk, 1 tsp at a time, until it’s just right.

The post Basic Vanilla Buttercream Recipe appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

I am absolutely over the moon for these color gel pastes and they deserve an entire post all their own. The kit comes with (you guessed it) fifty different colors, and they’re all so good that I probably will never have to spend time mixing custom colors ever again – something I had to do all the time before. Here’s a little video I whipped up to show you the color palette I chose with the spatula painted technique before you read all about it:

Disclaimer: this post does contain some affiliate links, meaning I may receive a small commission if you click them and purchase items I’ve recommended. Using these links won’t cost you any extra money, but they do help to keep Sugar & Sparrow up and running. Thank you for your support!

You Will Need:

• A cake that’s been frosted with smooth buttercream and chilled
• A few cups of tintable buttercream (like vanilla or another light-colored flavor)
• Food color gels of your choosing
• Small icing spatula (I use this one)

Step 1: Start With A Chilled Buttercream Cake

This technique looks beautiful on top of a smooth buttercream surface, especially when you’re only doing it partially down the sides like I am. If you’re planning on covering the entire cake with swipes of buttercream, you could technically start with a crumb coated cake since the entire surface will be covered. Either way, starting with a chilled cake is essential.

Make sure the cake you’re decorating has been chilled for at least 30 minutes and is firm to the touch as a starting point. This way, the swipes of buttercream will adhere perfectly without affecting the buttercream underneath.

Step 2: Mix Up Your Color Palette

Divide your buttercream into separate bowls and tint them with food color gels until you achieve the perfect color palette. The color palette for this specific cake consisted of just five AmeriColor colors that I thought would look pretty together: navy, turquoise, lemon yellow, electric purple, and fuschia. I love the way it turned out!

Feel free to get creative with your color palette, because you can’t really go wrong with this technique! I’ve seen it done beautifully with a monochromatic color palette and the first time I created a cake like this I used varying shades of terracotta, blush, cream and burgundy. Total magic.

Step 3: Apply Your Paint Strokes

One color at a time, use your icing spatula to swipe paint strokes onto the cake in an upward motion. You’ll want them to overlap some, but all in a random pattern.  

When you’re applying the buttercream paint strokes to the top of the cake, swipe the spatula from the outer edge toward the center of the cake and keep the strokes pointed toward the same direction. Like this:

In this particular cake design, I stopped my buttercream paint strokes halfway down the side of the cake with the exception of some smaller, random strokes further down. You can use this technique on the entire cake as an alternative, or just do the sides of the cake and decorate the top with other elements, like a floral arrangement. Whatever look you’re going for, this is such a fun and easy way to add an eye-catching artsy effect! It’s one of my new favorite techniques, and I can’t wait to try it in other color schemes.

Ready to give this technique a try? Tag me on Instagram and show me what you end up creating. I can’t wait to see what fun color palettes and designs you come up with!

The post How To Make A Spatula Painted Cake appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

If you’re more of a video-inclined learner, here’s a quick one I shot of the semi-naked technique. I’ll break everything down in the tutorial in the next section:

You Will Need:

• Thin Consistency Buttercream (this Vanilla Buttercream recipe is perfect)
• Baked Cake Layers
• Offset Spatula
• Bench Scraper
• Turntable

Step 1: Prep Your Cake Layers

If you haven’t already, start by torting your cake layers to an even, level height. In my opinion, this step should never be missed, no matter what kind of cake you’re creating. Torting helps to get rid of any domed cake tops, thus setting your entire cake up for being super level and sharp.

Once your layers are perfectly even and level, fill them and start stacking them. Tip: when you’re stacking your cake layers, it helps to very slightly offset the middle layer so that the edge sticks out a little further in some areas. The top and bottom layers should be completely parallel for evenly straight sides, but slightly offsetting the center layer (and I’m talking a centimeter or two) will help create more varying depth with your semi-naked finish.

Step 2: Frost And Smooth The Top Of The Cake

Start frosting the top of the cake by placing a bit of buttercream on the top and smoothing it with an offset spatula, turning the cake on your turntable as you smooth.

You should have enough frosting on the top of the cake that it extends about ¼ inch beyond the top edges.   

Step 3: Frost And Smooth The Sides Of The Cake

Using that same offset spatula, apply buttercream to the sides of the cake, starting at the bottom and working your way up to the top. Since the semi-naked look involves buttercream that looks barely there, try to apply a pretty thin layer.

When you’ve got the sides covered, take your bench scraper and smooth the sides of the cake until they’re straight and you have some nice areas of cake peeking through. If you have areas that need more buttercream, simply apply more buttercream and keep smoothing until you like what you see.

Try not to press too hard when you’re smoothing the more “naked” areas, since you could puncture the cake layers and cause them to crumble. If this happens, just smooth it over with more buttercream.

Step 4: Smooth The Top Edges

Now that your sides are looking so rustic and beautiful, you’ll probably notice a little buttercream crown has formed around the top edge of your cake. This is a really good sign, because it means you’re going to have a nice, sharp top edge when you’re done smoothing it.

Using your offset spatula, smooth the buttercream crown inward, moving the buttercream toward the middle of the cake. The goal here is to create level, sharp edges by swiping through the buttercream crown and moving the excess buttercream across the top of the cake. Smooth the top of the cake until it’s level and you don’t have a dome in the middle from moving the buttercream crown inward.

Step 5: Decorate

Now that you’ve created your very own semi-naked cake, it’s time to dress it up a little! Some awesome next steps would be incorporating some fresh flowers (made food safe) to decorate, doing a ganache drip, or keeping the design rustic with some greenery like fresh herbs or eucalyptus! Here’s what I’ve done in the past: 

Whether it’s your first semi-naked cake attempt or not, let me know if this tutorial was helpful and show me what you’ve created by tagging me on Instagram! I’d love to see your creations.

The post How To Frost A Flawless Semi-Naked Cake appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.