“Not Too Sweet” American Buttercream

If you are not familiar with the different types of buttercream, you may not realize that American buttercream is actually one of the easiest (if not the easiest) buttercream to make! Although easy to create, it does come with it’s tooth-piercing sweetness that drives a lot of people to scrape the icing or avoid sweets altogether! I love my sweets, but in my opinion, baked goods taste best when the buttercream complements and is not too sweet. 

Essentially, American Buttercream is made of two basic ingredients: powdered sugar and unsalted butter. Unlike Swiss and Italian meringues, where the sweetness is cancelled out by egg whites, American buttercream’s powdered sugar is sometimes barely masked by the butter.

However, I took it upon myself to create an American buttercream that complements the baked good it’s paired with and not be too overwhelmingly sweet! To get started, check out the below ingredients and directions! 

Ingredients

To get started, you will need the below ingredients:

1. 150g room temp unsalted butter (prefer a high fat content %, at least over 80%) 
2. 230-250g powder sugar (If would like sweeter, add ½ cup powder sugar at a time and continue to check taste) 
3. 1 tbsp of vanilla extract or other extract flavoring

Directions:

Step 1: Place room temp butter in mixer bowl with beater attachment 

Step 2: Beat butter on medium-high speed until butter is light and fluffy 

Step 3: While butter is beating, sift powdered sugar in separate bowl

Step 4: Reduce mixer to low, and slowly add in powder sugar ½ cup at a time (fully incorporating after each time) 

Step 5: Continue until all powdered sugar is added and then beat on medium-high speed until butter is very light (about 3-5 mins) 

Step 6: Reduce to low speed and add in extract flavoring until fully incorporated

Step 8: Mix in food coloring (optional) 

Conclusion 

This is a great buttercream to use for cakes, cupcakes, macarons, and many other creations! This buttercream has just the right amount of sweetness to satisfy your sweet tooth. Would love to hear about or see the creations you create while using it! And of course, don’t forget to lick the spoon 😉

Happy Baking! Xx