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Step by step tutorial for how to make 4 Minute Buttercream Frosting with powdered sugar and butter. I discuss the ingredients, equipment, and the timing of each step to get perfect, silky smooth buttercream! I also troubleshoot issues with consistency and offer ideas of ingredients to add to make different flavours of buttercream.
For my buttercream recipe click here: http://www.britishgirlbakes.com/recipes/buttercream-frosting
For my FREE course, 10 Frosting Techniques, click here: https://www.britishgirlbakes.com/free-course
For my recipe for lemon curd click here: http://www.britishgirlbakes.com/recipes/lemon-lime-curd
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0:00
Hi, I'm Emily and I'm going to show you how to make perfect buttercream frosting in just four minutes
0:06
I'm using butter, vanilla extract and powdered sugar and I have a mixer with a paddle attachment
0:13
Putting this on. And we're going to start with the butter. You can use salted or unsalted but if you use salted just leave the salt out of the recipe
0:23
I'm making this batch of buttercream with 10 sticks of butter and that will make 12 cups of frosting
0:28
which is about enough to frost and fill three different 6 inch cakes
0:32
Make sure your butter is at room temperature. If your butter is cold, here's a quick trick
0:37
Spread your butter out on a plate in a single layer and put it in the microwave for 10 seconds
0:42
Then flip every single stick of butter and microwave it for another 10 seconds
0:49
Once your butter is at room temperature you're going to put all of it into a mixing bowl
0:55
If it's at room temperature you can beat it for about 5 seconds just to make sure it's silky smooth
1:00
If it's not quite at room temperature you might have to beat it for a little bit longer
1:04
I'm using 10 sticks of butter, 2 bags of powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon of vanilla
1:10
For the powdered sugar it needs to be really fine with absolutely no lumps or little granules of hard sugar
1:16
And if it does have those you're going to have to sift it. Otherwise you can use it straight out of the bag
1:21
Now add half of a bag of powdered sugar. If you add all of the sugar, when you mix it the sugar will fly everywhere, out of the mixing bowl, onto the counter
1:29
So it's best to add just half of a bag at a time
1:33
Mix it on the lowest setting, so the slowest speed, for 1 minute
1:37
This will incorporate all of the powdered sugar into the butter. If you're enjoying this tutorial please click the thumbs up button
1:45
Subscribe to my channel for new cake decorating tutorials every week. You really can make this buttercream in just 4 minutes
1:51
After adding each half of a bag of powdered sugar, beat your buttercream for 1 minute
1:56
Then add the next half a bag, beat 1 more minute, next half a bag, 1 more minute, final half a bag and 1 more minute and your buttercream will be perfect
2:03
After that of course you'll have to check the consistency. You might need to add in other flavours if you're trying to get a flavoured buttercream, but the essential buttercream just takes 4 minutes
2:12
Before adding any more powdered sugar, scrape down to the bottom of the mixing bowl with your spatula, loosening off any butter or powdered sugar that's stuck down there
2:20
Also scrape around the paddle attachment because you'll get clumps of buttercream stuck to that that hasn't incorporated properly
2:26
Then add the next half of a bag of sugar, mixing again on the lowest speed until all of the sugar has been incorporated, for about 1 minute
2:35
I use this recipe for my buttercream for almost all of my cakes
2:39
I love it because it's so quick, it only takes 4 minutes to make
2:43
It's also very easy, it only has 3 ingredients and you don't have to do any precise measuring
2:48
Also it's so versatile, you can change the flavour with so many different ingredients
2:52
I like to make a really large batch of this, as big as my mixer will hold, and then I divide it into different mixing bowls and add different ingredients to make different flavours
3:01
I have a free 10 part course on different frosting techniques that you can make with this frosting
3:07
If you're interested, click the link in the screen or in the video description box below
3:14
Scrape down to the bottom again, add another half of a bag of sugar, scrape down to the bottom again and then add the final half of a bag of sugar
3:23
Mix for 1 more minute, again with the speed on the lowest setting
3:27
Always, always, always beat your buttercream at the lowest speed. If you beat it quickly, it will incorporate a lot of air into your buttercream and then when you try and frost a cake, you'll get lots of air pockets in your frosting
3:39
While it's mixing, add your vanilla extract. It's really important that you use real vanilla, not an artificial vanilla essence, because you can really taste the difference in the flavour of the buttercream
3:49
Now your buttercream should be perfectly silky smooth. Stir your buttercream to check the consistency
3:55
It has to be spreadable, but it also has to be able to hold its shape
3:59
If it's too runny, it will slide off the cake when you try and frost it. If it's too stiff, it will be too difficult to spread onto the cake and it will pull off crumbs into the frosting
4:08
As I stir my buttercream with a spatula, you can see that it's holding its shape very well, but it's actually too stiff
4:15
When I try and spread it, there are lots of little air pockets in the frosting
4:19
This isn't going to spread easily onto a cake or pipe smoothly out of a piping bag onto a cupcake
4:26
If your frosting is too thick, you can add a bit of milk or cream, one tablespoon at a time
4:31
The liquid you add doesn't have to be milk or cream. For example, if you're making strawberry buttercream and you're going to add strawberry puree, you can do that instead of the milk or cream
4:41
Now when I smooth it, you can see that there are no air pockets and it's going to glide really easily onto a cake
4:47
If you don't add any milk or cream to your buttercream, you can store it at room temperature for about a week
4:52
Just put it in an airtight container or in a bowl with some plastic or saran wrap over the top
4:58
If you do put milk or cream into it, I'd recommend storing it in the fridge, or you can even freeze it
5:03
Just put it in a ziplock bag and let it defrost properly before you use it
5:07
You'll have to mix it again for a few minutes before using it, just to make sure it's all incorporated properly and there are no harder lumps of frozen buttercream
5:14
The same if you take it out of the fridge. These are some of my favourite flavour ingredients
5:19
Make a batch of lemon curd for lemon buttercream. After it cools, add one tablespoon of curd for every cup of buttercream
5:26
For strawberry buttercream, simmer strawberries over a low heat for about five minutes, mashing them up with your spoon or spatula
5:34
For every four strawberries, add one tablespoon of sugar. This will make a thick strawberry puree and when it cools, add one tablespoon of puree for every cup of buttercream
5:44
For chocolate buttercream, melt chocolate chips and let them cool. I use a quarter of a cup of chocolate chips for every cup of buttercream
5:52
For peanut butter buttercream, my favourite, add two tablespoons of peanut butter for every cup of buttercream
5:59
You can find lots more recipes on my website, britishgirlbakes.com. If you haven't added any butter, of course you've added butter
6:09
If there's any butter or cream, of course there's butter in it. When you get the spiral that..
6:16
...spiral. Also... ...each quarter of a bag... ...each quarter of a bag..
6:24
...my quarter. Or in a... ...or you can... ...or in a bowl wrapped..
6:32
...in a lid with a... ...in a lid. Really ingreezy... ...ingreezy
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