French Buttercream: What's the Difference?

Ah, buttercream. Our cupcakes wouldn't be the same without you, birthday cakes would be a fleeting memory, and licking the beaters wouldn't be nearly as enticing. But all this we know. But did you know that all buttercreams aren't created equal?

Buttercream is a beloved frosting made with a combination of fat and sugar. At my house, we're all about the butter + confectioners sugar variety. But you've probably noticed that some buttercream is just downright better than others.

In actuality, there are many reasons one frosting may taste better than another, but French buttercream is certainly lighter and fluffier than what's typically referred to as American buttercream (what we whip up at my house). French buttercream is made by heating a sugar syrup until it reaches soft ball stage and then whipping it into beaten egg yolks and soft butter. This is the shiny, rich frosting of your dreams.

Now it's worth giving a shout-out to Italian buttercream because it's not too shabby either. It's similar to French buttercream in that you use a boiling syrup of sugar and water and cook it to soft-ball stage but then you pour it over beaten egg whites to create a meringue. As the meringue cools, you slowly add butter and mix like your life depended on it.

The best (and only) way to determine which buttercream is your favorite and which is most appropriate for your particular baking projects? You've got to try them all. No, not all in one sitting. But experiment with different frostings and textures with your desserts and find your go-to frosting, your never-let-me-down buttercream. Perhaps we can help.

Try One of Each:
• American Buttercream Recipe - Pastry Chef Online
• French Buttercream Recipe & Tutorial - Joe Pastry
• Italian Buttercream Recipe - Martha Stewart

Images: Jamieanne via Flickr

Comments (15)

No mention of Swiss meringue buttercream? Equally light, smooth and delicious but no sugar syrup involved.

I'd always been afraid of "real" buttercreams, but I made one a few weeks ago, and it was not that difficult, and more then worth the trouble!

http://www.bakingaisle.com/2010/09/real-vanilla-bean-buttercream/

I have yet to attempt to make buttercream without the aid of an electric mixer. One day, one day.

If you're new to real buttercreams (aka- non-American) don't start with French. Swiss is easiest and many can't tell the difference between it and Italian buttercream. Same ingredients slightly different procedure. But French buttercream is fattier from the butter and yolks and many people don't like it as much because of that. Made well, I think swiss or italian taste like a more rich sweetened whipped cream in taste and texture.

I like a french buttercream when I'm making chocolate buttercream, it's richer and silkier which make it great for chocolate. When I do vanilla buttercream I usually use a half butter half shortening with powdered sugar. I beat cold butter until smooth, add powdered sugar, beat until smooth and add shortening and beat until smooth (it's about 2 parts each butter and shortening 3 parts sugar, by weight) It always comes out fluffy and there's no egg white thing to worry about, which takes a lot of time if you're making multiple batches.

I agree, swiss is much more stable.

When I first started making cakes with buttercream (my first project at the age of 14 was a 6-layered cake with dacquoise and buttercream), it was French buttercream. At the time, no one wrote about Swiss Meringue or Italian (no Martha back then), and I was fine, and it turned out great. The tension of getting it to turn out makes you pay attention to instructions and your technique, so I have to disagree about steering newbies to other forms of buttercream.

As for Italian and Swiss, the flavour and texture just do not begin to compare to a true French buttercream, although they take colours easier (they are pure white to begin with, as opposed to the more yellow-ish French buttercream... although I have seen white French buttercream, maybe made with a "whitener"?). Frankly, they taste nothing like sweetened whipped cream to me... they are okay, but I am making my daughter's birthday cake in the next 2 days, and will go with a French buttercream.

As for American buttercream, I find the term very confusing... as it is only butter (or, heaven forbid, shortening!) whipped with sugar, it is in my mind "frosting" and not "buttercream".

Can't imagine people not preferring a true French buttercream though... What I love about it is that it is not overly sweet (like the American frosting), and has a more natural (melting) texture than the Italian or Swiss (which in comparison feel a tad waxy)... It's definitely my favourite (although I tend not to make a chocolate French buttercream -- I prefer ganaches or a coffee buttercream -- because *that* I do find too rich).

ohhhh i love love love french buttercream! it's so wonderfully light (in terms of sweetness) and luscious and buttery.. i generally hate regular buttercream and will scrape it off.. but french butter cream is.. completely.. amazing..!

Meh, I like the Italian meringue best as a frosting -- tastes lighter.

I make Italian because I usually have leftover egg whites anyways. I haven't made the French version since culinary school. I agree that they are far superior to the "American" butter/shortening and powdered sugar. I've converted many people to "true" buttercreams who swear they hate it because they're used to the sugary, mouth-coating version.

I need to reacquaint myself with the French frosting. But then, what would I do with all of the leftover whites? Oh, yeah, make Italian Meringue Buttercream!

What to do with leftover egg white? Make cookies with royal icing of course!

Me, I have leftover egg yolks from my cookies...!

The buttercream I make this weekend is the Cupcake Café version of French buttercream, featured on Martha's site. Their variation is to use WHOLE eggs -- not just yolks -- for the buttercream. It is a little lighter than the all-yolk version I find... I haven't found anyone else who uses the whole egg in a buttercream, so it is worth noting. The only problem is that the resulting product is -- unsurprisingly -- butter-coloured. Does anyone know how the Cupcake Café gets their white buttercream white?

Ooops... the buttercream I MADE this weekend...

You can buy "whiteners," that work just like regular concentrated food dye gels. I work in a bakery where we do use the American Buttercream (we call it "Homestyle" buttercream), and will use whiteners to get the butter yellowness out for specific applications (i.e. decorations, not all icing). I would just check a bakery supply place, since I don't think it is that unusual of a product (Wiltons, DecoPac). I do believe we order ours from DecoPac.

Leftover egg whites? Um, les macarons, mon amie, les macarons...