Silky French Buttercream Frosting

Prep: 20 mins

Cook: 10 mins

Difficulty: Intermediate

Servings: 4 Servings

Buttercreams made with egg yolks take the richness factor up a few notches, turning it into a silky and sexy, but not-too-sweet, way to frost your cakes. You can pipe decorations with this buttercream, but it is a little looser than egg white or powdered sugar variations so expect softer, more billowy results.

I recommend using very high quality eggs, which often have deep orange yolks and will make a beautiful, soft yellow buttercream. The hot sugar syrup (238°F) added during mixing cooks the egg yolks a bit, but not enough to pasteurize them. If you’re being super cautious about raw eggs, then you may not want to use this recipe.

A stand mixer really comes in handy here, especially when pouring the hot sugar syrup into the egg yolks, but a hand mixer will do in a pinch. I do not recommend making this by hand unless you have very well-developed arm muscles! If after you’ve added all of the butter, the buttercream is too loose or grainy, try any one of these tips from Emma to fix it up.

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2/3 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons water
5 large egg yolks
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

Prep the butter. Unwrap the butter and cut it into large pieces, about 8 per stick. Leave on counter. If your kitchen is particularly cool, you may want to do this about 15 minutes ahead of time. (If your butter is frozen, thaw in the fridge overnight before using.)
Make the syrup. Combine the sugar and water in the small saucepan and place on the stove over a medium flame.
Beat the yolks. While the syrup is coming up to temperature, add the yolks and pinch of salt to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk on high speed until pale and thick.
Add the syrup. When the syrup reaches the softball stage (238°F) remove from heat. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the syrup to the yolks to avoid splattering the syrup on the beaters. Stop pouring every 10 seconds or so and increase the speed to high, then switch it to low and drizzle in more syrup. Do this until all the syrup is incorporated.
Beat until cool. After all the syrup has been incorporated, beat on high speed until the mixture has cooled to room temperature. This can take about 10 minutes.
Add the butter. When the mixture and the bowl no longer feel warm, switch to the paddle attachment and start adding the butter one cube at a time, mixing well in-between each addition.
Add vanilla. Add the vanilla (or other flavoring) and continue to beat until the buttercream is smooth and slightly stiff.