So now that you know how to bake a batch of delicious Vanilla Cupcakes, you need something to top them with!!
We're going to start with American Buttercream because it's very quick and easy, and the most popular choice for cupcakes.
It colours well and kids looooove it...so this is always going to be a winner at a birthday party.
Let's go through the ingredients....
Use a BUTTER that is light in colour. If your butter is very yellow to start with, your buttercream is going to be a strong creamy colour.
No problem if you are leaving your buttercream natural but if you need to use food colouring, it makes it difficult to get accurate colours. Because of the yellow base, your pastel blue will be pale aqua, your pale pink will be peach etc.
So a little tip that works a treat is to use a tiny bit of violet food colouring to neutralise the yellow tone, just like purple conditioner works on a brassy blonde. Check out the video and pics below, it's subtle but saves using lots of white colouring. I'm not a fan of using lots of chemical colouring, it messes with the consistency and ruins the flavour.
Just make sure that the violet is a blue based colour. Colour Mill or Americolour are the ones I have used and they are both called violet and work perfectly. But make sure to only add a dot at a time. I usually use a toothpick. Be careful not to add to much or you will end up with a very dirty pale grey. I kept some aside before adding the violet, I hope you can see the difference.
You can use any brand of ICING SUGAR you like, I prefer to use Icing Mixture as it has a little starch in it to stop it from clumping. Not much fun trying to sift little rocks of sugar before you make a quick batch of buttercream!
For the liquid, you can use what ever you like. I use hi-lo milk as that's what I use for most cooking, you can use full cream or skim, and sometimes I use whipping cream for an extra creamy buttercream. Just something to help work the icing sugar a little and lighten the mix to make it fluffy.
And lastly, the VANILLA, as usual, just make sure it is the real thing. You don't have to spend a lot, but extract (not artificial essence) is the way to go for flavour.
Oh and one more thing...
The beating time varies depending on the temperature.
I am in Perth, Western Australia, and we have very hot summers. So leaving the butter out to come to room temperature is sometimes not a good idea as room temp may end up quite sloppy.
On the other hand, if it's a cold day in winter, room temp may not be soft enough for the mixer to handle, so it might need a little help from the microwave.
If butter is either too warm/soft or cold/hard, it just won't cream and aerate, which is what makes it increase in volume and become light and fluffy.
So in warm weather, start with it a little on the firm side as the mixer will very quickly warm it up. And for cold weather, as I mentioned, it might need a little help.
In summer, your buttercream is more likely to come to the right consistency much quicker, so be careful not to over beat it. When you are finished the mixing process, it should stay on the spatula and be quite stiff but fluffy. If your buttercream is already sliding off the spatula before you pop it into your piping bag, it just isn't going to be pipe-able and won't hold it's shape. If you feel you have over done it with the mixer, just pop the bowl in the fridge for 5 minutes and beat again until it's the correct consistency.
And finally, a few little piping tips.
These two piping nozzles, in my opinion, are the most versatile.
The Wilton 1M and 6B are great for piping cupcakes and can give you a few different looks.
Check out the video on how to prepare your piping bag and some simple piping techniques.
The next blog post will have some more piping and fun decorating ideas because Easter is just around the corner!!
Let me know how you go in comments and don't forget to subscribe so you can be the first to receive more recipes and decorating ideas.
Chat soon
Angie
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