Hi! First of all I'd like to apologize for adding yet another thread about this topic to the forum, but I'm desperate!
I recently started baking cakes, cupcakes and cookies just as a hobby and I'm deeply frustrated because I have never managed to make icing/buttercream that is not grainy or gritty (the recipes I use only have butter, powdered sugar, milk, whatever flavor I want to make and gel food color). I've read on other forums to try to beat the BC for 10-15 minutes but I'm worried that it might curdle since it has butter and milk. Can that actually happen or are my fears unfounded? Either way, are there any other reasons why my BC is always grainy? (I'd rather not beat it that much since I don't have a stand mixer and just 2-5 minutes are enough for my arms to start getting tired)
Thanks so much in advance!
What brand of sugar are you using? I use Domino and beat my icing for 12 minutes and it has never curdled, or been grainy. The type of sugar makes all the difference.
https://www.cakecentral.com/recipe/22469/2-icing
This will NEVER curdle or be grainy. Try it! If you want results you have to work to get them:) Yes, the type/brand of sugar can make a difference but so will beating it longer.
It will help if you understand a couple of things about buttercream.
Emulsion: buttercream is an emulsion. buttercream starts with fat and liquid--two completely incompatible elements because fat is not soluble in liquid. To make buttercream, you have to create an emulsion. Emulsion is simply beating the fat into tiny particles that will disperse in the liquid.
Temperature: if the fat is too cold, it will not disperse into the liquid--you will not have an emulsion. Where there is no emulsion, you will have a curdled, grainy buttercream. Conversely, if it's too warm, fat will disperse too much, and the result is a soupy buttercream.
So before you begin a buttercream, make sure ALL your ingredients are in the 70 degree range, not just the butter. I don't like the term "room temperature" because it's not accurate. Right now my room is 65 degrees--in the middle of July, this same room will be 90 degrees. When you gain experience, you know by feel how warm the butter should be; whether the liquid has too much of a chill. In the meantime, just stick an instant read thermometer into your ingredients.
Even with a stand mixer, it takes some 10 minutes for me to make an eemulsion. I set a timer for 10 minutes and walk away. But without a stand mixer, you unfortunately will have to stand at the counter and beat the mixture for 10 minutes.
If after 10 minutes your buttercream is still not smooth, your ingredients are probably too cold. With a stand mixer you can let friction work its magic. Friction = heat, so just keep beating. But if you are using a hand mixer, you may heat the bowl with a hot wet towel or a hair dryer on low. I never use a hair dryer cuz I'm a neurotic germaphobic OCD keep all unsterile tools and hands away from the food kind of baker.
Now if your buttercream is soupy, it's too hot. You can bring it together by chilling. I keep a large malleable freezer pack in the freezer; when needed, I simply wrap it around the base of the bowl. If you don't have freezer packs, a wet towel chilled in the freezer will work just fine. Keep beating while you chill everything down.
I've never beat /whipped for that long and always have smooth icing. I will say that it ha been my experience 10x powdered sugar will give smoother icing over 4x.
Quote by @ypierce82 on 1 day ago
What brand of sugar are you using? I use Domino and beat my icing for 12 minutes and it has never curdled, or been grainy. The type of sugar makes all the difference.
I don't live on the States or anywhere near it so I don't have "Domino's" sugar or any other brand you have, so I have to make do with the brands I have here but I have no idea how good they are
Quote by @kakeladi on 10 hours ago
https://www.cakecentral.com/recipe/22469/2-icing
This will NEVER curdle or be grainy. Try it! If you want results you have to work to get them:) Yes, the type/brand of sugar can make a difference but so will beating it longer.
I'll try this recipe next time but I have a questions first: can I replace the shortening for the same amount of butter? When I look for the translation for shortening it says the Spanish word for butter (so basically it's telling me butter and shortening is the same? Who knows...)
Quote by @Siftandwisk2 on 4 hours ago
It will help if you understand a couple of things about buttercream.
Emulsion: buttercream is an emulsion. buttercream starts with fat and liquid--two completely incompatible elements because fat is not soluble in liquid. To make buttercream, you have to create an emulsion. Emulsion is simply beating the fat into tiny particles that will disperse in the liquid.
Temperature: if the fat is too cold, it will not disperse into the liquid--you will not have an emulsion. Where there is no emulsion, you will have a curdled, grainy buttercream. Conversely, if it's too warm, fat will disperse too much, and the result is a soupy buttercream.
So before you begin a buttercream, make sure ALL your ingredients are in the 70 degree range, not just the butter. I don't like the term "room temperature" because it's not accurate. Right now my room is 65 degrees--in the middle of July, this same room will be 90 degrees. When you gain experience, you know by feel how warm the butter should be; whether the liquid has too much of a chill. In the meantime, just stick an instant read thermometer into your ingredients.
Even with a stand mixer, it takes some 10 minutes for me to make an eemulsion. I set a timer for 10 minutes and walk away. But without a stand mixer, you unfortunately will have to stand at the counter and beat the mixture for 10 minutes.
If after 10 minutes your buttercream is still not smooth, your ingredients are probably too cold. With a stand mixer you can let friction work its magic. Friction = heat, so just keep beating. But if you are using a hand mixer, you may heat the bowl with a hot wet towel or a hair dryer on low. I never use a hair dryer cuz I'm a neurotic germaphobic OCD keep all unsterile tools and hands away from the food kind of baker.
Now if your buttercream is soupy, it's too hot. You can bring it together by chilling. I keep a large malleable freezer pack in the freezer; when needed, I simply wrap it around the base of the bowl. If you don't have freezer packs, a wet towel chilled in the freezer will work just fine. Keep beating while you chill everything down.
This was great thank you so much! I will definitely be more careful next time when checking the temperature of my ingredients. But I guess the question still remains about whether or not mixing it for that long of a time will curdle my buttercream. All my life I've been told by my mother and my grandmother that when beating dairy ingredients I should be careful not to overmix, otherwise it would curdle. So is that a myth or...?
You can try a cooked flour frosting instead of the American buttercream. Regular granulated white sugar and no grittiness. It won't be as sweet so that might be an issue for you depending on your preference.
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/12/flour-buttercream-fluffy-frosting-recipe.html
Where buttercream is concerned, the single most common cause of curdling will be failure to emulsify, which is almost always due temperature of ingredients. Keep in mind that beating isn't the cause--it's temperature. Beating causes friction. Friction causes heat. That's a temperature issue--not a mixing issue. Control your temperature and you will be successful.
I know the following my be brain numbing, but it helps to understand a bit about curdling.
Curdling, its causes and fixes, are product specific. So you can't assign a single action, like beating too much, as the cause of curdling. Acids, alkaline, and temperature are the most common causes in cooking and baking.
All the ingredients in your bowl and the environmental conditions they are subjected to will determine whether or not curdling will occur. And what's in your bowl is product specific. The ingredients for a savory cream sauce are different from a buttercream. The cause of curdling in a cream sauce will be different from curdling causes in a buttercream.
Curdling is protein denaturation. While we call curdling a separation, it's technically the opposite. Protein molecules are uniform in shape; they very selectively bond with other molecules.
Inside a protein molecule are bits of hydrogen particles capable of forming bonds with a lot of other things. When denatured, protein molecules are broken open, and those hydrogen bits inside bond with everything around it. That's why you get those clumps.
Land as I mention, the cause of protein denaturation are many, and will vary by ingredients and environmental factors.
As you experiment with different recipes, you learn how to manipulate ingredients and environmental conditions to obtain the results you want. Celebrate your successes, but never be discouraged by your failures.
Failure is your greatest teacher.
Quote by @Punchyy on 11 hours ago
Quote by @Siftandwisk2 on 4 hours ago
It will help if you understand a couple of things about buttercream.
Emulsion: buttercream is an emulsion. buttercream starts with fat and liquid--two completely incompatible elements because fat is not soluble in liquid. To make buttercream, you have to create an emulsion. Emulsion is simply beating the fat into tiny particles that will disperse in the liquid.
Temperature: if the fat is too cold, it will not disperse into the liquid--you will not have an emulsion. Where there is no emulsion, you will have a curdled, grainy buttercream. Conversely, if it's too warm, fat will disperse too much, and the result is a soupy buttercream.
So before you begin a buttercream, make sure ALL your ingredients are in the 70 degree range, not just the butter. I don't like the term "room temperature" because it's not accurate. Right now my room is 65 degrees--in the middle of July, this same room will be 90 degrees. When you gain experience, you know by feel how warm the butter should be; whether the liquid has too much of a chill. In the meantime, just stick an instant read thermometer into your ingredients.
Even with a stand mixer, it takes some 10 minutes for me to make an eemulsion. I set a timer for 10 minutes and walk away. But without a stand mixer, you unfortunately will have to stand at the counter and beat the mixture for 10 minutes.
If after 10 minutes your buttercream is still not smooth, your ingredients are probably too cold. With a stand mixer you can let friction work its magic. Friction = heat, so just keep beating. But if you are using a hand mixer, you may heat the bowl with a hot wet towel or a hair dryer on low. I never use a hair dryer cuz I'm a neurotic germaphobic OCD keep all unsterile tools and hands away from the food kind of baker.
Now if your buttercream is soupy, it's too hot. You can bring it together by chilling. I keep a large malleable freezer pack in the freezer; when needed, I simply wrap it around the base of the bowl. If you don't have freezer packs, a wet towel chilled in the freezer will work just fine. Keep beating while you chill everything down.
This was great thank you so much! I will definitely be more careful next time when checking the temperature of my ingredients. But I guess the question still remains about whether or not mixing it for that long of a time will curdle my buttercream. All my life I've been told by my mother and my grandmother that when beating dairy ingredients I should be careful not to overmix, otherwise it would curdle. So is that a myth or...?
Shortening is a type of fat. Usually what we mean is the brand "Crisco" a vegetable fat. If you read the recipe I posted a link to (& all the comments w/it) you will see that some of the shortening can be replaced with butter......I have never tried it using all butter so can't speak to how it will work/hold up. And for my recipe "2 of everything" when I say beat it I mean mix it on low speed with a mixer....this will emulsify the ingredients.
As to siftandwhisk2 comments about temp I ask how does room temp translate into being too cold? (Yes, I realize the temp of say 70 degrees F to one person might be "HOT" while to most of us it is 'just right' etc.) but I just do not agree w/the reasoning that room temp ingredients are too cold. Remember, what works for one of us does not always mean the same will work/bring the same results for you.
Kakeladi,
i'm not sure what you are referring to regarding "room temperature being too cold." I never made any such statement.
what I did state is I do not use the term "room temperature" because it is not accurate.
room temperature is in constant state of flux. If I leave butter out it a 60 degree room, it will warm up to 60 degrees and be "room temperature". If I turn on my oven and my kitchen temperature climbs to 85 degrees, the butter will warm up to 85 degrees, yet still be "room temperature". I don't use the term room temperature for this reason.
i know from experience 60 degree butter is too cold and 85 degree is too hot to make buttercream that doesn't require fixing. I've never had a fail with butter between 68 and 70 degrees when making buttercream. So that's the standard I use.
My experience is over whipping will cause unwanted air bubbles and will not make your icing smooth for your surface and piping. This was something I was warned about in my first Wilton class in 1991. There was never any mention, nor have I ever heard, of over whipping causing curdling. This is the first I heard that.
You are correct about Wilton. Wilton recipes and pre-made icings are vegetable shortening and/or a blend of shortening and butter. Vegetable shortening doesn't have protein to denature. When mixed with butter, shortening's emulsifying properties will stabilize the animal protein in butter. When an all butter buttercream icing breaks, you can add shortening to fix it.
Quote by @gscout73 on 2 hours ago
My experience is over whipping will cause unwanted air bubbles and will not make your icing smooth for your surface and piping. This was something I was warned about in my first Wilton class in 1991. There was never any mention, nor have I ever heard, of over whipping causing curdling. This is the first I heard that.
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