Buttercream

This is the final product.  A beautiful Wedding Cake for Katie and Marcus decorated with fresh Basil and Kumquats.  This is a buttercream cake.  Here is the buttercream part.  

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

• 1 cup Butter, softened, melty, or room temperature
• 1 cup Shortening
• 2 tsp Vanilla extract
• 4 Tbs Heavy Whipping Cream
• 8 cups of Powdered Sugar / Confection's Sugar (2 pound bag / 32 ounces)
• *optional 2 Tbs Meringue Powder

I like to whip together all the wet ingredients first:  Butter, Shortening, Vanilla, and Cream.

Then I add 1 cup of Powdered Sugar and the Meringue Powder and whip that together.

Then add 1 cup at a time of powdered sugar until I get all 8 cups in.  I add more cream as I go until it is a smooth consistency.  Add more cream for a thinner frosting.  Add more powdered sugar for a thicker or stiff frosting.  I find a thinner frosting is best for frosting the cake.  You want thick frosting for making flowers and design elements.

Now to frost the cake.

This is my dirty ice, dirty frost, or crumb coat phase.  I just add a thin layer of buttercream on the cake then let it set in the refrigerator.  This keeps all the cake crumbs together so when I go to frost it there are no cake crumbs sticking out on the final look.

I add more frosting on top of the crumb coat.

Smooth that out and I have a finished buttercream cake.

Me and my (technically Katie and Marcus) wedding cake.

Yellow Vanilla Cake with raspberry filling on the top layer and lemon curd filling on the bottom layer.  Decorated with Kumquats and fresh Basil leaves.