French buttercream recipe

How to make French buttercream ! An easy frosting recipe, made with egg yolks. This cream is perfect for decorating your cakes and cupcakes ! 

French buttercream is a classic recipe, widely used to garnish and decorate cakes, such as the French Christmas roll cake, somes traditionnal pastries like the mocha cake or other desserts. 

Unlike other popular buttercream recipes such as Swiss or Italian, which are prepared with meringue (egg whites), this one contains only the egg yolks. This makes it the tastiest of all buttercream recipes.

Why choose this buttercream

Depending on your preferences, you can use several recipes of buttercreams, but this one is very appreciated for its taste and its smooth and shiny texture. As it contains yolks, it has a more yellow color than other creams prepared with egg whites, which is why it is used much less on cakes. 

But it can be colored easily and you can add a flavor to it to give it even more taste. Like fruit puree, cocoa powder, etc. 

Materials

• Stand mixer or an eletric hand mixer 
• Candy thermometer

Ingredient notes

Egg

Use fresh, not several days old eggs, preferably at room temperature. To make sure you separate the whites from the yolks, do it when they are cold and use an egg yolk separator. 

Sugar

The sugar used in the preparation of this cream is granulated sugar. It will be used to prepare the sugar syrup. 

Butter

Use unsalted butter and take it out about 20 minutes before starting the preparation, it should have a soft consistency and still be a little firm to incorporate well. 

Salt and Vanilla

The salt and vanilla will help balance the taste of the sugar and bring out the full flavor of the butter.

How to make the French Buttercream recipe 

1. Place the egg yolks in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat at high speed.
2. Meanwhile, cook the sugar and water in a saucepan to make a sugar syrup. Check the temperature with a cooking thermometer which should read 239°F / 115°C.
3. Reduce the speed of the mixer and add the sugar syrup in a trickle over the egg yolks.
4. Continue mixing at high speed for about 10 minutes, until mixture completly cools.
5. Lower the mixer speed again and add the chopped butter, vanilla and salt.
6. Continue on high speed for at least 10 minutes until smooth.

How to store it 

Contrary to other buttercreams, this cream is more fragile, even though the yolks have been cooked by the syrup. It should always be kept in the refrigerator. 

Can we freeze it

Yes you can keep it in the freezer for up to 3 months. You have to put it in a conservation box with a hermetic lid. To defrost it, let it slowly return to the refrigerator. 

Tips for making French buttercream

• Use an egg yolk separator to make sure there is no white left in the yolks.
• Take the butter out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes before you start to make sure it is the right texture and to avoid problems with liquid and grainy cream.
• Use a powerful stand mixer to beat the mixture thoroughly
• Let the mixture cool completely before adding the butter
• Mix the cream with a flat spatula for 2 minutes at slow speed to smooth it and remove air bubbles.

Others buttercream recipes

• Swiss meringue buttercream
• Italian meringue buttercream
• Russian buttercream
• American buttercream

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