Stupid Q About Salted And Unsalted Butter
Decorating By USMC_SGTs_Lady Updated 15 Jul 2007 , 1:11am by lisasweeta
I'm just curious if its better to use salted butter or unsalted butter when making frostings and cakes.....also is sweet cream butter any different or just a fancy name?
some recipes state whether to use salted or unsalted and then some recipes don't....so i'm not sure which to use or if its even a big deal. Is the only differance between each is that one has salt in it and one doesn't
Are there any advantages or disadvantages of using one over the other?....
I use unsalted when baking and making frostings, so that I can control the salt. I did see on another thread that someone used "lightly salted" butter. I have not been to the store to check this out yet.
I ALWAYS us unsalted when baking and making buttercreams. You can always add salt, but you take it out and since most recipes already have salt in them you don't want to add more.
For baking, I also use a mix, or whatever I have on hand. If I'm using salted butter, I reduce or eliminate the addition of salt that's called for in the recipe.
For icings, I like to use half salted and half unsalted when I can. There's a recipe on here, I think it's the Buttercream dream, where the poster mentioned liking the mix because it was not too salty and not too "buttery" or sweet. I have done the same since.
I don't know any particular advantages to either, I think it's just preference.
I've been wondering if there is a specific amount of salt added to most butters, to easier figure out how much to reduce the other added salt by?
Generally with baking, you should always use unsalted butter unless a recipe specifically calls for it. The amount of salt in salted butter will vary from brand to brand and it might affect the taste of your final product. If however, you only have salted butter to bake with, omit the salt in the recipe. I wouldn't use only salted butter in a buttercream because it will likely be too salty. Additionally, people have reported that their buttercream weeps when it has too much salt in it.
Sweet cream butter is the same...just a fancy name!
thanks everyone for your advice... 
i guess it would make more sense to use unsalted so that way you can control the amount of salt being put in... 
what about sweet cream butter....i guess that is just more sweet than regular butter huh...
it would be helpful to know how much salt is in butter so you know how much to reduce from a recipe that calls for salt....hmmm maybe someone knows...
I've been wondering if there is a specific amount of salt added to most butters, to easier figure out how much to reduce the other added salt by?
I think I heard somewhere that there's about a tsp of salt per pound.
I almost always use salted, just my preference...
Controlling the amount of salt in the recipe is reason enough, but you want to use the freshest butter possible, and unsalted butter is usually the freshest, because the shelf life is shorter than the salted butter; salt is a preservative and has a longer shelf life.
Additionally, people have reported that their butcream weeps when it has too much salt in it.
This could very well be my problem lately! Would this also cause excess bubbles, as a result of the weeping?
Alright, back to unsalted in the buttercream... Always learning around here!
Not sure about bubbles.
And I fixed my spelling error...heaven knows we don't want "butcream" on our cakes! 
what about sweet cream butter....i guess that is just more sweet than regular butter huh...
it would be helpful to know how much salt is in butter so you know how much to reduce from a recipe that calls for salt....hmmm maybe someone knows...
It's all sweet cream butter...some has salt, some is unsalted.
Because the amount of salt varies from brand to brand, you probably can't pinpoint it. Some sources say there can be as much as 3/4 tsp salt per stick...some brands can have much less.
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