Finishing Touches

 Merengue buttercreams- Swiss and Italian

·      Swiss Buttercream is egg white and sugar cooked over a double boiler and whipped to stiff peak, soft butter is then whipped in

·      Italian Buttercream is a cooked sugar syrup base whipped into egg whites to stiff peak, when cooled soft butter is whipped in.

French Buttercream-

·      Same process as Swiss buttercream, egg yolks replace egg whites

American Buttercream-

·      I am not a fan-butter, powdered sugar, and liquid whipped together until smooth and spreadable

Cream Cheese

·      Similar method to American buttercream, but more delicious

·      Cream cheese and butter are whipped together, then slowly whip in powdered sugar and liquid flavor, then slowly pour in milk

German Buttercream

·      Pastry cream whipped into butter

Ermine Frosting

·      Cook flour and milk until a pudding consistency.
Add sugar and salt to ‘pudding’ and take off heat. When cooled, whip butter separately and slowly add the pudding while whipping. Has a light consistency and flavor, like a whipped cream that melts in your mouth.

·      Vegan adjustment- soy or nut milk (get your mind out of the gutter)

·      Gluten Free- use cornstarch instead of flour

Fondant

·      Not the best tasting when store bought, kind of a pain to make yourself

·      Good tasting fondant: melt marshmallows over double boiler (add food coloring at this stage), and add powdered sugar to make paste, then start kneading in powdered sugar until ‘dough’ forms.

·      Let rest until cool or overnight tightly wrapped

·      There is also a pourable variant

Mirror glaze

·      Can be a pain/scary if you are inexperienced with this technique

·      Whatever you are covering should be frozen or as cold as you can get it

·      Temperature of the glaze is very important so that it does not clump or melt to frosting underneath

Whipped Ganache

·      My favorite kind of chocolate frosting and low effort.

·      Bring cream to a boil and pour over chopped chocolate and let sit for one minute

·      Stir carefully until just combined- do not over mix

·      Let set in fridge or at room temp

·      Whip until light and fluffy

Fudge frosting-

·      Melt butter in a sauce pan and add cocoa powder to create a thick paste

·      Start whipping on low speed and add powdered sugar and milk – alternating

·      Turn speed of mixer up to whip for about 5 minutes until smooth and creamy

Chef’s specialty frostings to check out-

-         Stella Parks’ Marshmallow frosting

-         Christina Tosi’s Cake batter frosting