How to layer and mask a cake

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This is a short tutorial on cake decorating.  Below is a very easy and quick buttercream recipe that can’ be messed up.  It only takes less than 10 minutes and you will love it.  My simple buttercream is made by creaming together fat such as butter and icing sugar to the desired soft and light consistency.  It should be either easy to spread or to place in a piping bag and used for decoration.  I typically use twice as much sugar as butter by weight.  I generally use different flavourings, in the form of essences, extracts and oils to give a specific taste to my buttercream.

 

Ingredients:

  • 250g unsalted butter
  • 500g icing sugar
  • 5mL vanilla essence (1.2 teaspoon vanilla paste)
  • 60mL milk


Method:

  1. Cut the butter in cubes. Sift your icing sugar to avoid little lumps.
  2. Place the butter in a clean bowl and use the paddle attachment of your mixing machine.  You can also whisky by hand.
  3. Scrape the side of the bowl making sure there are no little lumps of butter remaining – it should all be smoooooth.
  4. Add your sifted icing sugar to the butter and mix for another minute.
  5. Scrape down the side and the bottom of the bowl.
  6. Add vanilla essence and mix for another minute.
  7. Add milk.
  8. Mix for one more minute or until it is all combined.
  9. Scrape down the side of the bowl again and checked for any lumps of butter or icing sugar.  Everything should be soft enough to be able to spread.
  10. Voila, your Vanilla Buttercream icing is ready.  You can make it in advance, place in a bowl or container and cover it to prevent contamination or fridge smell. Or keep it a side on the bench to make your cake.

Tips:

  • Try to have your butter at room temperature for 30 min prior making the buttercream.
  • Pure icing sugar is better than Icing mixture as there is no cornflour or wheat product added.
  • Once you make the butter icing you can keep it up to 5 days covered in the fridge or freeze it for up to 3 months.
  • If you keep your buttercream in the fridge just leave it out for 30 min out of the fridge to be workable again.  If you are in the rush soften it in the microwave in 10 sec burst until it become soft again.
  • I recommend powder colouring or gel food grade colouring for a better result as opposed to liquid ones.

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Contributor: Chef David (aka ‘Cooking with Frenchy) / LG Catering

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