- Prep20 min
- Makes~750g
- DifficultyEasy
The glossy buttercream on every Brooki cake
This is the buttercream recipe we use on every single Brooki cake. We make a tonne of cakes, from birthdays and engagements to weddings and gender reveals, and every week someone asks how we get our buttercream so glossy. So here it is, start to finish.
It's my take on American buttercream, with one key difference: the butter to sugar ratio. There's twice as much butter as icing sugar, and that's what makes it glossy, silky to pipe and not too sweet. Three ingredients, 20 minutes, and you'll never go back.
Why this buttercream recipe works
Most American buttercreams are mostly sugar. Ours flips that, and a couple of small habits do the rest.
More butter, less sugar. A 2:1 ratio of butter to icing sugar gives you a buttercream that tastes like butter, not sugar, and has that soft shine. Beat the butter first, for longer than feels normal. Five to seven minutes on high whips air into the butter and turns it pale, and that's where the gloss comes from. Sugar in slowly. Half a cup at a time on low keeps it silky smooth (and keeps it off your bench).
Whatever buttercream you make, sift first. Clumps of sugar don't beat out.
We use Colour Mill in the bakery. This buttercream soaks up colour, so you need less of it.
For the crumb coat we use a more traditional, sweeter ratio. It balances perfectly with the buttery outside layer.
The recipe
Makes about 750g, enough to fill and ice a two-layer cake.
Ingredients
Method
-
1
Cube the butter into 1.5cm pieces and place in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on high, scraping down the bowl twice, until the butter is glossy and noticeably paler.
5–7 min -
2
Turn the mixer to its lowest setting. Add the icing sugar half a cup at a time until fully incorporated.
-
3
Turn the mixer back to high and beat until glossy.
About 5 min -
4
Turn the mixer to low, add the vanilla and mix until incorporated.
Baker's note: don't rush step 1. Beating the butter until it's pale and glossy is what gives the finished buttercream its shine.
Substitutions
Colour: use gel or oil-based colours, not liquid. We use Colour Mill in the bakery. Add it at the end, a little at a time, as the colour deepens as it sits.
Vanilla: vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste both work. Paste gives you those pretty little specks.
Butter: stick with unsalted. It keeps the flavour clean and sweet.
Icing sugar: pure icing sugar gives the silkiest result. Icing sugar mixture has added starch and can taste slightly chalky.
Troubleshooting
The icing sugar wasn't sifted, or it went in too fast. Sift it, add it slowly on low, then give it a little longer on high.
The butter wasn't beaten for long enough. Give it the full 5 to 7 minutes until it's noticeably paler before any sugar goes in.
Your butter (or your kitchen) was too warm. Pop the bowl in the fridge for 10 to 15 minutes, then beat it again until smooth.
Finishing on low speed in step 4 knocks out the big ones. Before you ice, run a spatula back and forth through the buttercream for a minute for an even smoother finish.
How to store buttercream
Keep buttercream in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week, or freeze it for up to 3 months. Bring it back to room temperature, then re-beat until smooth and glossy before you use it.
A cake iced in this buttercream is happy at room temperature on the day. In the middle of an Aussie summer, keep it somewhere cool.
Frequently asked questions
This recipe makes about 750g, enough to fill and ice a two-layer cake. For a bigger cake or lots of piping, double the recipe.
Yes. It keeps for up to a week in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer. Just bring it back to room temperature and re-beat before using.
Yes, it's the buttercream on every Brooki cake. The only difference is our crumb coat, where we use a sweeter, more traditional ratio.
Absolutely. It pipes cleanly and holds its shape, which is why it's on every Brooki cake.
Yes. It's a lovely swap for the cream cheese frosting on our red velvet cupcakes.
Rather we did the piping?
This is the buttercream on every Brooki cake. Order one for pick up, or find 100 more recipes in Bake with Brooki.
They're all in Bake with Brooki: 100 recipes, 304 pages and more than 350,000 copies sold worldwide.
- Australia: signed limited edition, direct from Brooki
- United Kingdom: buy on Amazon UK
- United States: buy on Amazon US
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