Hi everyone,
I'm new here and i wonder if someone out there can help me.
I'm a beginner in baking and just made Martha Stewart's Swiss Meringue Buttercream with strawberry puree a while ago. I am really disappointed that the frosting turned out to have a very strong buttery taste despite me adding plenty of strawberry puree.
I stayed away from buttercream frosting because I am afraid it will be grainy and buttery but it seem Swiss meringue is not the kind of frosting I'm looking for either.
I'm looking for the smooth fluffy type of frosting without any buttery taste that some bakeries have on their cupcakes, but i have no idea what type of frosting they are. There's no cream taste taste to it so I'm pretty sure they are not cream cheese frosting. 
I thought of baking some cupcakes for my boyfriend's birthday but it seem this is not as easy as it seem. And I thought baking cupcakes is easier than cake. 
Do buttercream and swiss meringue frosting have strong buttery taste?
Frosting on Sprinkles and Magnolia cupcakes are called buttercream frosting? Boyfriend is not a fan of their frosting because they are pretty grainy.
Help please!
I'm looking for the smooth fluffy type of frosting without any buttery taste that some bakeries have on their cupcakes, but i have no idea what type of frosting they are. There's no cream taste taste to it so I'm pretty sure they are not cream cheese frosting.
The frosting without any buttery taste has been made with white vegetable shortening.
The best kind that you can make at home uses milk and cornstarch cooked together. That is then whipped into the shortening with sugar.
This is the recipe that I like, it comes from Jeanne's which is a very famous bakery. It is smooth and tasty. The other recipe is also very good (Safeway). OK so the Jeanne recipe here has flour, I use the same amount of cornstarch because it is easier to cook:
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/food/spread-the-word-icing-a-smooth-treat-164550696.html
This is the recipe that I like, it comes from Jeanne's which is a very famous bakery.
Thanks for sharing this, BakingIrene. Do you ever use all butter instead of half shortening / half butter for this recipe? I wanted to try it that way but thought I'd check to see if you knew the results.
If you want a really good SMBC try FromScratchhSF's.
http://fromscratchsf.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/tutorial-swiss-meringue-buttercream/
Yes I do use all butter for this creamy frosting.
I use unsalted butter for this icing, but I use very little salt in general. You can try unsalted butter. Taste with no salt, then add a 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Then add more salt ONLY if it needs it.
When I bake a cake with salted butter, I do not add any salt at all and it tastes right.
You can always add more sugar when you make SMBC to sweeten it more. But also, if you are just tasting it straight from the bowl and you are used to very sweet American icing you may not like SMBC at first... You need to put it on a cake.
As a happy medium you could also make "whipped buttercream"' which is essentially 1/2 SMBC and 1/2 American buttercream. Despite me only ever making SM, my husband hates it and will only eat one of my cakes if I do the hybrid.
Last, yeah, everyone says "buttercream" even if their icing has zero butter in it. I equate it to people calling all tissue "Kleenex" or all brown soda "Coke". Just one of those things.
When I make swiss buttercream I always use about half of the amount of butter. I think the butter is too overpowering when you use the full amount. Just going from memory I think I do...
5 egg whites
1 cup + 2 Tbs sugar
2 sticks of butter (I use salted)
1 tsp. vanilla
I also like this frosting a lot. It's very close to a whipped icing. http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/desserts/thate28099s-the-best-frosting-ie28099ve-ever-had/
Yes I do use all butter for this creamy frosting.
I use unsalted butter for this icing, but I use very little salt in general. You can try unsalted butter. Taste with no salt, then add a 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Then add more salt ONLY if it needs it.
When I bake a cake with salted butter, I do not add any salt at all and it tastes right.
Thank you! 
And then there's this response. I made this the other day out of a frustration I was having with someone clearly used to ABC. 
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The frosting without any buttery taste has been made with white vegetable shortening.
The best kind that you can make at home uses milk and cornstarch cooked together. That is then whipped into the shortening with sugar.
This is the recipe that I like, it comes from Jeanne's which is a very famous bakery. It is smooth and tasty. The other recipe is also very good (Safeway). OK so the Jeanne recipe here has flour, I use the same amount of cornstarch because it is easier to cook:
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/food/spread-the-word-icing-a-smooth-treat-164550696.html
Sorry for my super late reply. Thank you so much for the info BakingIrene! Now I know why there's no buttery taste in those butter cream frosting!!
I will surely try the recipe you have recommended but out of desperation I opted for cream cheese frosting I got from allrecipe.com for my bf's cupcakes. They don't frost well (sort of melted) but they taste good. 
Thanks again!
You can always add more sugar when you make SMBC to sweeten it more. But also, if you are just tasting it straight from the bowl and you are used to very sweet American icing you may not like SMBC at first... You need to put it on a cake.
As a happy medium you could also make "whipped buttercream"' which is essentially 1/2 SMBC and 1/2 American buttercream. Despite me only ever making SM, my husband hates it and will only eat one of my cakes if I do the hybrid.
Last, yeah, everyone says "buttercream" even if their icing has zero butter in it. I equate it to people calling all tissue "Kleenex" or all brown soda "Coke". Just one of those things.
Thank you FromScratchSF for your info!
How do you do the hybrid "whipped buttercream"? Make 1/2 SMBC and 1/2 American buttercream and mix?
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