Italian Meringue Buttercream Tutorial

This buttercream is my all time favourite. It’s smooth, silky and tastes beautiful! Not over sweet like some buttercreams can be. It pipes well and looks great on cupcakes!

Here’s what you’ll need:

• An Electric Mixer (A stand mixer like mine works best but a hand mixer will work ok too.
• Candy thermometer
• 300g Caster Sugar
• 5 Egg whites
• 100ml Water
• 500g butter (unsalted)
• Flavouring (I used vanilla)
• Food colouring of your choice

 

 

 

 

Method:

1. Place 250g of the sugar in a saucepan with the water. Over a low heat, whisk until sugar crystals have dissolved and the solution is semi-transparent.

 

 

2. Turn the heat to high and place the candy thermometer in the syrup. It is important NOT to whisk the sugar solution from this point. The mixture must boil until it reaches 121 degrees Celsius.

 

 

 

3. While the sugar is reaching the right temperature, whisk the egg whites with electric mixer until white and foamy; and soft peaks form. Then gradually add the remaining 50g of sugar and whisk until sugar dissolves and it resembles a meringue mixture.

 

 

4. Once sugar has reached 121 degrees, remove from heat and with mixer running, pour into the meringue mixture (directly into the bowl). Be VERY careful not to burn yourself on the hot sugar syrup. At this point the bowl will become quite hot to touch. Continue mixing until bowl cools to a temperature which is comfortable to touch (should take around 4-7 minutes.)

 

5. Now the mixture should look white and glossy. If you have a paddle attachment for your mixer, swap it over. From here, add the butter, in chunks, over 30 seconds. If it goes soupy, just continue to mix until it reforms to a thicker consistency. The end result will be your buttercream! From this point you can flavour and colour as you desire.

6. Enjoy!

 

 

I hope this provides a good explanation for you, if you have any questions, please post below and I’ll answer them for you

 

Katie x

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Breast Cancer is something which is very close to my heart, and to a lot of yours I’m sure. The prevalence of breast cancer amongst Australian women is rising and as a result, we need to raise money to fund much needed research. I will be hosting a Pink Ribbon Breakfast in a few weeks to hopefully help contribute, and today let some of my decorating ideas loose onto some cupcakes :-) Here’s what I got:


  
I love pink, it’s my favourite colour (can you tell!?) so making these was so much fun! I plan to create a whole heap of pink sweets and treats for my breakfast later in the month so please pop back to see the photos from the big day!

These cupcakes are Vanilla iced with Raspberry (pink) and Vanilla (white) buttercream. Next week I’ll do a tutorial on how to make Italian Meringue Buttercream which I’ve had a few requests for! It’s a really simple way to make an amazingly silky smooth garnish for your cupcakes.

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my Katie’s Sweet Treats, the blog! My name is Katie (obviously!) and I’m so excited to be up and running, and sharing my creations with you all.

A bit about me:

I live in Adelaide, South Australia and have been happily married for 3 years this December. We have a beautiful son who is almost 18 months old and an absolute delight to be around (well, most of the time anyway :)) I work part time as a Nurse and in my spare time, which is not much, I like to bake, read, and get outside to enjoy the sun. I love my family and friends, and am so lucky to have been blessed with the wonderful of both.

I recently decided to turn my love for baking, and all things sweet into a business opportunity. I love learning new recipes, techniques and just zoning out from my mummy duties for a while!

If you see anything you like here, or are after any information about recipes, tools I use, or to get a quote, please don’t hesitate to email me at: enquiries.kst@internode.on.net

Enjoy!